S05 Episode 240 | Maxine Bédat on why circularity won't save us, how the origin of business was not to maximize profit & what that context tells us about the current fashion system

<p><img src= "https://assets.libsyn.com/secure/show/99761/Ep240-MaxineBedt-libsyn.jpg" alt="" width="600" height="600" /></p> <p>In episode 240, Kestrel welcomes Maxine Bédat, the founder and executive director of New Standard Institute, to the show. A think-and-do-tank, <a href="https://www.newstandardinstitute.org" target="_blank" rel="noopener">New Standard Institute</a> is dedicated to turning industries into a force for good. Maxine is also the author of <a href= "https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/611479/unraveled-by-maxine-bedat/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><em>Unraveled: The Life and Death Of A Garment</em></a>.</p> <p><strong>"The society in which we live in is very much a result of the rules of our society — in that, it is people who change the rules, who create them and can change them, I should say. And so, I think that was definitely my biggest takeaway, is like, nothing about this system that we live in right now is inevitable. You know, where women garment workers are exploited and we’re just trashing rivers and throwing up climate change-causing emissions into the air and creating this product that isn’t making us happy — that’s not an inevitability, it’s just the systems of rules that we create and have to change.”</strong><br /> <strong>-Maxine</strong></p> <p class="">On this week’s show, Maxine shares more on her past journey, from law to fashion, and what has culminated in the writing of her new book — <em>Unraveled: The Life and Death Of A Garment</em>.</p> <p class="">Maxine and Kestrel quickly discover their mutual love of “context”, which plays into the overall conversation. They explore more on the origins of business — something Maxine discusses in her new book — and how corporations were initially founded on democratic ideals with the intention of being for the peoples’ benefit, where citizens were also considered as shareholders in the model. This may be surprising, considering how businesses have now become aligned with profit, profit, and profit, at the expense of everythi