S04 Episode 193 | OUTLAND, THE MEGHAN MARKLE EFFECT + DENIM TO END POVERTY

<p><img src= "https://assets.libsyn.com/secure/show/99761/ConsciousChatter-OutlandDenim-libsyn.jpg" alt="" width="600" height="600" /></p> <p class="">In episode 193, Kestrel welcomes James Bartle, the Founding CEO of Outland Denim, to the show. <a href= "https://www.outlanddenim.com/" target="_blank" rel= "noopener">Outland</a> crafts premium denim jeans designed to bring the worlds of their seamstresses and their customers closer together. They made history as the first-ever denim brand to win the Thomson Reuters Stop Slavery Award in 2020.</p> <h2>“It’s like they absorb history — they’re kind of like a song where they take you back to a memory and it’s for that reason that you don’t throw out a beautiful, premium pair of jeans even when they’re worn out — you want to leave them in your cupboard because of those memories that are associated with that product. And again, I think that’s what gives it so much power in being able to impact people.”<br /> -James Bartle, Founding CEO of Outland Denim</h2> <p class="">On this week’s show, James shares more on how he went from being a freestyle motorbike rider to building a denim brand, after learning more deeply about the realities of human trafficking.</p> <p class="">James also shares that with Outland Denim’s model, their seamstresses are trained on all the intricacies to construct a beautiful pair of jeans, so in their manufacturing, their employees actually sew entire garments. Typically in factories, sewers only sew one component of the garment repeatedly.</p> <p class="">As James says, “I guess the reason that we don’t see that as a viable or sustainable option is that it really does trap her into a much smaller variety of opportunities for her to be able to progress in her career and work life.”</p> <p class="">The below thoughts, ideas + organizations were brought up in this chat:</p> <ul> <li> <p class="">“I think one of the keys in the success that we’ve been able to have on a social level is that we recognize that we can’t make the change for them — we jus