I am incredibly grateful for the opportunity to interview Sara Milanes, the co-founder, and director of HOPE Made in the World, a conscious, ethical, child labor free, clothing brand focusing on the essentials. I interviewed her alongside Duc-Duy Pham, co-founder and creative director of Be1More, a PR, marketing, and ad agency that assists businesses in working with non-profits, and introduces sustainable practices for businesses to become CSR (corporate social responsibility) companies.

Photographer: Tawfick Espriella

Duc asks all the right questions to bring to light Sara’s incredible knowledge about the processes within her brand, and the impact of the fashion industry on the environment. Sara offers solutions by example through the practices of Hope Made in the World. You can read an excerpt of the interview below, and listen to the podcast here on the blog.

Deena Danielle: For companies that have not yet jumped on the conscious bandwagon what do you think their first step should be? Do you have any advice?

Sara Milanes: Information is power. The more you read, whether they’re physical books, whether you enroll in a course, or enroll in an online course, go to seminars, or workshops, information and having knowledge of something you wish to do is important. So my advice is, we all need to read more. I think me included, we’re sometimes very lazy. Human beings are getting lazy. Due to technology, we want things quicker. We want things already solved. We want things to happen now.

It’s thought, just because I put it on my site then it’s happening. Just because I put it on my “about” page, we’re already there. It’s not that easy. So a first step could also be really look into your sourcing. Before you get agitated with, “I need to have product ready now because summer is coming, and December is coming, and I’m not going to have what it takes”, take your time! Do your due diligence. Do your research. Get into the cold calling. Ask questions. Be curious. Don’t be afraid to not know how to ask in the beginning, or to not know how to respond in the beginning. The idea is to start to care, to be passionate enough, to have that curiosity, to read, because if I have the information I can implement, and execute.

We mention The Good Trade in the interview, which is a wonderful resource for learning more about ethics in fashion and finding more companies that agree to conscious fashion being a priority.