In this interview from February 25, Kimberly Miller interviews Marci Zaroff, who will be speaking at the Green Cities Conference taking place May 19-21 in Orlando, FL. Marci Zaroff talks new fiber innovations from Under the Canopy, the real impact of manufacturing  and why being green equals being innovative. This is the fifth in a series of interviews with Green Cities speakers. Subscribe to our podcast and make sure not to miss the rest of the interview series.

“We are all coming together again, telling different stories through different vehicles that ultimately all have this ultimate goal of market transformation and sustainability and world betterment.” – Marci Zaroff

 

 Green Cities Podcast: - Marci Zaroff Interview [14:13m]: Play Now | Play in Popup

Transcript of Interview
February 25, 2009

I’m Kimberly Miller with Green Cities Media talking today with Marci Zaroff. Welcome Marci and thanks for speaking with us.
Thank you, it’s good to be here.

So we can talk first about what you’ll be discussing at Green Cities.
Ok, well the topic that I’m going to be speaking about is essentially how building a green business can set your company apart. Especially in today’s economy, while affecting change in the world and focusing on the no compromise solution to business or the shift in paradigm around focusing on profitability, social responsibility and environmental sustainability at the same time.

So with this economy then how do you think green business is going to come to play?
Well I think at the end of the day being green is being innovative and thinking about, not just about, how we can be responsible but how we can save money in the long run and make smarter decisions that have more sustainable solutions. Ultimately there are times when it costs us a little more up front but ultimately it costs us a lot less in the long run. And so in kind of conventional cost models you often don’t see all the true costs. In a green model it’s really a more transparent model, looking at all the different elements in the life process of either a product or a service and looking at how it impacts human’s healthy environment in the future. And so I think green business is one that is a more holistic method of thinking really and approaching the world. From an economic standpoint it incorporates in the context of a full project it looks at how we can save.

So how have you applied these ideas to your company Under the Canopy?
Under the Canopy is focused on sustainable fashion and home products, and so using Under the Canopy as a model of green business we are always keeping the planet in mind in terms of the resources that we’re using, the amount of energy that we’re using, water usage, the fibers, and the resources that are going into our products and we’re looking at ways that we can minimize toxins in the world and pollution. In the case of our core fabrics for instance we use a lot of organic cotton in our products and what most people don’t even know is that conventional cotton is actually one of the leading causes of air and water pollution. And that there are more chemicals, insecticides, pesticides used on the cotton industry than any other industry, and somebody pays for that. So also in the case of dyes, we minimize toxic use, formaldehydes, and heavy metals. In the case of growing something like cotton there are no GMO seeds and the inputs are more natural, more sustainable, we’re building on organic agriculture and then ultimately it’s more sustainable for the farmers as well, they don’t get trapped on these very costly pesticide treadmills. And then for the consumer and the retailer, we’re providing products that still have great style, fit, comfort, color, and everything the consumers looking for but they also have value on another level. The products are affordable and yet they also incorporate values, so they make the consumer a part of something and feeling as if they are making a difference in the world really by just buying great quality, great styled conscience products.

Great, so you’re making it easy to make a good choice and to also get a good product in return that doesn’t do a lot of harm to the environment.
Absolutely.

So what was the pivotal moment that prompted you to get into this kind of work?
Well actually I have been in the world of organic and natural consumer products for almost 20 years. I started a school in New York City back in 1990; today it’s called the Institute for Integrative Nutrition, and the original inspiration was when I was in high school I picked up a book called Living in the Light and it inspired me and was so of a catalyst for me as a business person knowing that I wanted to give back in the world. And I went to business school at Berkley, naturally I was drawn there from Florida and ended up moving to New York and opening up this school where we had a whole community living and learning center with an Aveda organic spa, organic café, magazine and really understanding and recognizing that the foundation of this entire movement is grounded in education. And that without education the consumer, the average person, doesn’t know why. And they need to understand why to make choices, and so being able to inspire people and plant that seed, to then ultimately being able to cultivate that seed was really the beginning of my career. And it dawned on me through working with so many different products that were focused more on the food and the beauty and life style products, that there was a missing link in this whole sort of eco and wellness equation in terms of basic necessities and that was textiles and fiber, and so I coined and trademarked the term “eco-fashion” to fuse the worlds of ecology and wellness into fashion and style to create a new concept that would give the consumer that choice in that category.

So what are some of the other projects that you’re currently working on or some upcoming projects?
Under the Canopy is today’s leading lifestyle brand in organic and sustainable fashion and home and most of the work that I’m doing involves either launching our products into a wide array of retailers into different channels of business, so launching first time initiatives into stores like Target, Macy’s, Bed, Bath and Beyond, and then Whole Foods Market, Origins and the list goes on, and those are really exciting projects bringing the concept of “farm- to-finished product” to the retail market for the consumer, and then at the same time working on collaborations with other industries, because we all are in this together. I mean the whole concept of Under the Canopy is that we all live under the canopy of the planet’s ecosystem together. So, to connect the dots from industry to industry and form alliances and collaborations, ultimately provides that much greater impact when we’re out there telling the story to the consumer. And creating this whole lifestyle mentality where people recognize that being environmentally minded or conscience there’s lots of different ways to do that and it’s a matter of taking one step at a time. But working on new fabric innovations, I’m working on new developments in the global market on fiber technology, and it’s an exciting, never-ending journey that there’s never a dull moment, it’s always a work in progress.

So what new and exciting things are happening then in the field of eco-fashion that are really something to look forward to?
Well I’m about to launch a new fiber that’s never existed on the market called “eco-lyptus” and it is essentially eucalyptus that’s been broken down with a recycled non-toxic detergent and it’s manufactured in a closed loop system and it’s grown on a FSC certified plantations that are on our non-arable land and where the fiber itself is three times stronger than cotton so it has a greater contribution to longevity and no irrigation, or GMOC’s or insecticides, so it’s an amazing new fabric that will be coming to market. And I’m blending it with certified organic cotton to bring it to market shortly.

Wow that sounds really exciting.
Yeah, and I’m also working with Coca Cola, they are committed to bringing all of their Coke bottles out of the landfills through their recovery centers by 2015 and one of the purposes in terms of that recycling that they’re going to be focused on is recycled polyester so creating fabric out of the Coke bottles that are being recovered. So that’s exciting. And also there are a lot of new dye processes development right now that we’re working with water based dying and just on every level of the chain looking at ways that we can improve our manufacturing processes including our dye factories actually being fueled by rice husks instead of burning fossil fuels. So it goes from the fibers, to the manufacturing we’re just looking at ways to make the industry better because historically textiles is one of the worst industries out there in terms of destroying our planet and human health.

So what would you like to see happen in the textile industry that’s currently not happening, as it relates to sustainability?
Well one of the greatest challenges that is now probably one of the greatest opportunities to address that question is in the context of standards and compliance and certification. In the early years when I was involved in the business there were no standards and of course at the end of the day that sort of leaves you wide open for what becomes somewhat of the “wild west” where people are sort of making claims without validation or being backed up. I was part of the groups of people that created the first organic fiber standards for the United States and then we collaborated because manufacturing and textiles is such a global industry. We collaborated with Germany, the U.K., and Japan and their standard boards and their standards to create a uniform set of standards that’s known as the GOT Standard, Global Organic Textile Standard, that has now been approved as of this past July and is coming to market later this year for the first time. It is exciting because it’s really going to be a break through for the industry where we can start to train the consumer to really look for this seal when they look for products on the market that are certified organic, telling them that it’s not just about the cotton but it’s about the entire product incorporating even a code of ethics in addition to dyes and finishes and all the other processes that go into manufacturing cotton garments. So that’s a big break through and I’d like to see more of that, and like to see where compliance is more the norm, not the alternative, where textile, where growers of fibers, where manufactures of fibers and products are held accountable for the materials they’re using and the impact those materials are having on the environment because historically none of that was really looked at and now it is sort of with all of the transparency that’s going on we’re pulling the curtain back, we’re seeing how bad it really is, and so everyday there’s a new advancement in this trend in terms of what we need to be looking at and what we need to be innovating and how we need to be innovating to make this better.

It sounds like a lot of progress is happening.
A lot’s been made and a lot’s still to come. I think the beauty of the industry is that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts, we’re all playing a role with the same mission of a greater good and that engagement and when we’re all coming together again, telling different stories through different vehicles that ultimately all have this ultimate goal of market transformation and sustainability and world betterment then our ability to connect through events like this, ultimately can spearhead or inspire even further advancement. Because a lot of times we have to come together to create new ideas.

Well thanks for talking with me today and I look forward to meeting you at Green Cities and wish you the best in all that you are doing.
I’m looking forward to attending the Green Cities Conference.

We look forward to seeing you there!

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Marci Zaroff is the Founder and President of Under the Canopy. She has a degree from the Haas Business School of the University of California, Berkeley. A vegetarian since the age of 16, Marci co-founded a thriving health and environmental educational center, AVEDA spa, national magazine and organic cafe in New York City, known today as “The Institute for Integrative Nutrition”.

After a decade in the natural/organic food and beauty world’s, Zaroff recognized the “missing link” in the wellness equation, and in 1996, seized the opportunity to launch leading lifestyle brand “Under the Canopy”, to coin and trademark the term “ECOfashion®” and to pioneer the market for organic and sustainable textiles. Zaroff is a recognized visionary and leader in organic fiber fashion and home products and has created a unique development, distribution and monitoring business model to ensure that the process and the products remain pure and authentic.

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