Meredith Medland Asks Tierra DelForte why Tyra Banks and Helen Mirren Wear DelForte Denim Jeans: The Sassy, Sexy and Sustainability Eco-Fashion Movement is Here!
Living Green
Meredith Medland Sasseen
volume_up

Episode 5 - Meredith Medland Asks Tierra DelForte why Tyra Banks and Helen Mirren Wear DelForte Denim Jeans: The Sassy, Sexy and Sustainability Eco-Fashion Movement is Here!

Meredith Medland, Founder, 3outcomes.com interviews Tierra DelForte, founder of DelForte Denim. You’ll learn why DelForte Denium was picked by the Tyra Banks show as a featured eco-fashion leader. You’ll get a personal look at the excitement around celebrity involvement in eco-fashion shows and get the inside scoop on Helen Mirren’s choice to support organic cotton and sustainable fabrics. Listen to this episode and your next pair of jeans will never be the same. Intimate stories, celebrity insights and a down to earth discussion with a woman who has launched her own sustainable business. Join me and how Tierra creates a world where all businesses are sustainable, simply because, that is what there is to do.

Transcript

Transcript

Meredith Medland Asks Tierra DelForte why Tyra Banks and Helen Mirren Wear DelForte Denim Jeans: The Sassy, Sexy and Sustainability Eco-Fashion Movement is Here!

Announcer:  This program is brought to you by personallifemedia.com

[Music]

Meredith Medland:  Welcome to Living Green.  I'm your host Meredith Medland.  Today we are interviewing Tierra Del Forte of Del Forte denim.  You can learn more about Del Forte denim at Delforte.com.

For those of you who are not familiar with Del Forte denim, what you are going to learn today on the show is why Del Forte denim was recently featured on the Tyra Banks show, why Academy Award winner Helen Mirren is shaking her ass in Del Forte denim and what the new wave is in Vogue, Glamour, and Elle with their green sections and what you may just see with Del Forte denim.

Tierra Del Forte:  Well, the Tyra Banks show found us at an event we did for the Oscars that benefited Global Green.  Her reporter who was on the scene there just fell in love with our jeans.  She actually went into the restroom and tried a pair on.  I guess she went back and reported to Tyra that they had to cover this concept of eco-products.

It was the jeans.  They kind of said, “This is what is going to make the show.”  I found out that the jeans were the deciding point on whether or not to do the show on eco-products and specifically on eco-products that celebrities are buying and wearing and using right now.

Meredith Medland:  What was that like?  The moment when you realized that here is the woman from the Tyra Banks show.  And she's in the bathroom trying on the jeans.  How did you know she was talking to you?  What was it like?

Tierra Del Forte:  Yeah, she was talking to me.  She was great.  She was really friendly.  And it was a wonderful experience, because seeing people put on something that you’ve made and get that happy and excited about them is a big reward.

Meredith Medland:  What was that experience like?  I know you met her just for a bit.

Tierra Del Forte: Yeah, so that was awesome.  She's lovely and very gracious and very English.  She picked one of our Eugenia styles, which is a dark, slim leg jean with a rinse wash.  That's our most eco-friendly wash that we have.  It doesn't use any chemicals harsher than laundry soap.  It was really nice that she picked my jeans, of all the choices she had that she chose those to wear.

Meredith Medland:  Tierra welcome to our show.  Thanks for joining us.  We've got a great show for you today.  We have three segments.  In our first segment, we are going to talk to Tierra about starting this company.  Why green?  Why the challenges?  Why organic cotton?

In our second segment we are going to get personal and learn what it means to Tierra to be living green.  In our last segment we'll get a sense of her looking forward - what she sees in the future and what her opinion is about companies and why they need to be environmentally sustainable.

So first, Tierra, let's start with a few questions about all this press and all these celebrities.  Tell us what you are communicating to the celebrities about Del Forte denim.

Tierra Del Forte:  Well, what I am trying to communicate is that you don't have to sacrifice fashion or style or fit in order to be green.  So you can have the hottest new pair of jeans, look great in them and know they were made from organic cotton.  So you are being good to the environment.

Meredith Medland:  All right.  So I put on a pair of your jeans at the eco-fashion show in Hollywood.  I felt I was really able to move in them.  They had a little more movement than I was used to.  The fibers were really soft.  And the color of the denim was really quite beautiful.  Can you speak to us a little bit about the dying process?

Tierra Del Forte:  The dying process is pretty much the same as with conventional denim in that it's dyed with synthetic indigo.  At this point there is no natural indigo product that is any less environmentally harmful than the synthetic indigo that most people are using. 

But I think our denim is so beautiful, because we do start with the most high quality fiber that you can get there.  It's a long stapled fiber so it weaves up beautifully and as you said is extra, extra soft.  And we take care during the finishing process to do a lot of handwork and wear it in a little bit before you even put them on.

Meredith Medland:  Oh yeah, putting that love in there.  All right, so let's start at the beginning.  First, give us the distinction between just general jeans and your jeans and why your denim is so awesome.  Let's start there.  Then tell us a little bit about how your company got started.

Tierra Del Forte:  Well, I think the most important reason our jeans are so awesome is because they look great, and they make you feel great and the fit is fantastic.  But really, what is differentiating us is that we are using all certified organic cotton to make our jeans.  That has a significant impact on the environment and on the people who work on the cotton farms.

Meredith Medland:  From where are you getting the cotton?

Tierra Del Forte:  All of our cotton is grown here in the US.  California and Texas is where most of it is coming from.

Meredith Medland:  So let's start with the process of getting the company together.  What were you doing before Del Forte denim?

Tierra Del Forte:  Well, I had been a denim designer since I finished school in 1999.  I was living in New York in designing jeans for a mainstream company.  It was Junior Denim.  So it was very fast, cheap and trendy.  And I got a really good picture of what the mainstream fashion industry is working for a company like that.

Meredith Medland:  And so at what point did you make the decision to come to California?

Tierra Del Forte:  Well, I actually grew up in California.  So it was a decision to come home.  I decided that right before my 29th birthday.  So it was a couple of years ago.  I spent about a year planning and researching and then about a year later I returned here and started Del Forte denim.

Meredith Medland:  Wow.  So in that research and planning process were you working a full-time job and then thinking about, “Now I want to create a company”?  Did you know you wanted to go with organic cotton?

Tierra Del Forte:  I actually didn't at first.  I knew I wanted to have my own company.  And yes, I was working full time and actually raising a daughter, who, at the time was 10.

But it was when I started thinking about what my values were.  And if I had my own company I got to make the decisions about what kind of company would be.  So I really had to think about what was important to me.  In exploring that I realized having an ethical company was the most important thing to me. 

And that really meant two things to me.  One was using sustainable products as much as possible, using a sustainable fiber.  And the second part of that was making sure that any labor I used was treated fairly and that I could feel comfortable with the working conditions of anyone in the production process.

Meredith Medland:  And when you say an ethical company, were there belief or value changes that transitioned or transformed on your way from moving from New York to San Francisco?

Tierra Del Forte:  I don't think my values changed at all.  I think my actions did.  And I think my actions are now much more in line with my values than they were before.

Meredith Medland:  So you were in the research and planning process.  Did you write a business plan?  How detailed was this research and planning process?  Was it like, “Hey I've got an idea and I'm going for it” or did you really do the footwork?

Tierra Del Forte:  No, I really did the footwork.  I wrote a business plan, and it's about 36 pages long.  I don't think anyone besides me will ever get through it all.

No, it was a lot of research.  When I first started looking for organic cotton denim I couldn't find a single mill in the US and the world that was doing organic cotton denim with stretch.  I've been in the industry long enough to know that having a little bit of spandex is really, really important to having a great fit.  And that's what women care about.

By the end of the process, I had found a wonderful mill with which I had actually worked before that was bringing this kind of product into their mix.

Meredith Medland:  So did you have environmentally conscious values prior to learning about organic cotton?  Is this eco part of your life or the new hip, trendy thing that you are riding or was that part of you?

Tierra Del Forte:  Well, I had it in the sense that I’ve bought organic food for years, home and beauty products, I try to buy organic whenever possible.  Learning about cotton was a real eye opener for me, because if it's not something that we put into our bodies we don't think about the impact of what it is.

Meredith Medland:  What is the impact?

Tierra Del Forte:  Well, conventional cotton accounts for 2 to 3% of the crop growing in the world that it accounts for 25% of the pesticide use.  So the amount of pesticides and chemical fertilizers that are used to grow conventional cotton is just off the charts.

So, not only is this destroying our environment and the land that this cotton is grown on, but it's also that workers are poisoned.  Annually, I think the number is about 20,000 workers die every year from pesticide poisoning in cotton agriculture. 

And entire communities are affected.  Their health and their ability to make money on their land are affected, here in the US a little bit, but much more in the developing countries.

Meredith Medland:  So those are some pretty eye-opening things.  That caught my breath for you to say those things.  But I still want to go back to when you made the choice to build the company.  Did you think organic cotton was going to give you a niche in the market?  Was it that.  And so you thought, “Oh, OK I'm going to make a move toward organic cotton”?  What was fueling your decision to move toward organic?

Tierra Del Forte:  Well, like I said, the first part was my values and deciding that this was what would be the right thing for me to do, and what would be in line with my values.  And the second is I did see a vacancy in the market there.  There wasn't a pair of sexy, stylish jeans for women out there that was made with organic cotton.

So, even someone whose values said, “I want to buy eco-friendly fashion” didn't have that option open to them.

Meredith Medland:  Yeah, that has been the biggest change in fashion.  Now we have tons of hot stuff.  We were talking to Rowan Gabrielle in our first Living Green interview about organic leather.  That was just on the front page of the Wall Street Journal yesterday.  So there are lots of changes and hip new fashion.

So what were some of the challenges once you came to San Francisco, to Oakland actually, and started your company?  That's a big decision.  You left a good gig, changed locations. You came home.  Tell us about that.

Tierra Del Forte:  Well as with any small startup I think the biggest challenge is always money and having enough in the bank to pay your bills.  I definitely have been challenged to find enough organic cotton denim to fulfill my needs and other organic and sustainable products.  In our company we use only recycled chlorine free paper.  All of our office supplies are eco-friendly, wherever possible.

That's a challenge, in that it costs more.  We spend more money on a lot of those types of items.  And then getting noticed as a small company by both the media and buyers, being in the same market as huge companies with huge marketing budgets - just to be heard you have to scream really, really loud.

Meredith Medland:  What do you think has made you be noticed?  What kind of screaming are you doing?

Tierra Del Forte: I think there are a few things.  The environment was probably the hottest issue of 2006, so that's brought a lot of attention to all companies, I think that are trying to be green right now.  Women love our jeans.  We've had incredible word-of-mouth going on in the country.  I think again women stay loyal to jeans that make them look good.  And we do that.

We have another, a second reason to count on customer loyalty, and that is that they know we are looking out for the environment.

Meredith Medland:  Yeah, that makes a big difference.  So you have had a lot of press.  It's really quite amazing.  I'd like to talk to you a little bit more about the Tyra Banks show before we go to our next break.  So tell me what happened and what that whole experience was like.  You are a woman in your 30s, wearing great jeans that you made, and now it's getting a lot of press.  What's it like?

Tierra Del Forte: Well, the Tyra Banks show found us at an event we did for the Oscars that benefited Global Green.  Her reporter who was on the scene there just fell in love with our jeans.  She actually went into the restroom and tried a pair on.  I guess she went back and reported to Tyra that they had to cover this concept of eco-products.      

It was the jeans.  They kind of said, “This is what is going to make the show.”  I found out that the jeans were the deciding point on whether or not to do the show on eco-products and specifically on eco-products that celebrities are buying and wearing and using right now.

Meredith Medland:  What was that like?  The moment when you realized that here is the woman from the Tyra Banks show.  And she's in the bathroom trying on the jeans.  How did you know she was talking to you?  What was it like?

Tierra Del Forte:  Yeah, she was talking to me.  She was great.  She was really friendly.  And it was a wonderful experience, because seeing people put on something that you’ve made and get that happy and excited about them is a big reward.

Meredith Medland:  So she's in the bathroom, and you're waiting, “Oh my God!”  What was it like?

Tierra Del Forte:  Well, I was trying to keep my cool.

[Laughter]

Tierra Del Forte:  There were people around.

Meredith Medland:  Yeah, exactly.  Well, congratulations.  That's pretty exciting.  Now Helen Mirren is also wearing your jeans.  What was that experience like?  I know you met her just for a bit.

Tierra Del Forte: Yeah, so that was awesome.  She's lovely and very gracious and very English.  She picked one of our Eugenia styles, which is a dark, slim leg jean with a rinse wash.  That's our most eco-friendly wash that we have.  It doesn't use any chemicals harsher than laundry soap.  It was really nice that she picked my jeans, of all the choices she had that she chose those to wear.

Meredith Medland:  And how did she find you?

Tierra Del Forte:  She found us through the Global Green Oscar event as well.

Meredith Medland:  Oh, how exciting!  I was just talking to her on the runway at this Santa Barbara International Film Festival right before the Academy Awards.  She is one sexy woman I must say.

Tierra Del Forte:  That she is.  I know she's going to look great in the jeans.

Meredith Medland:  That’s right.  Even sexier.  All right.  Well after the break, we are going to learn about what it's like to be living green in the personal life of Tierra.  We are going to learn a little bit about her 13-year-old daughter and what it's like at the Park Day School in Oakland.  It was just certified as a green school.  We are going to hear a little bit about fashion trendsetting for teenagers. 

And now we are going to take a break and take a listen to our sponsors.  My name is Meredith Medland.  I am your host of Living Green.  And I’m with Tierra Del Forte of Del Forte denim.  We’ll be back right after this.

[Music]

[Commercial]

[Music]

Meredith Medland:  Welcome back.  My name is Meredith Medland and I’m your host of Living Green.  Today we’re in the middle of speaking with Tierra Del Forte of Del Forte Denim.  You can find out more about Del Forte Denim at delforte.com.

Before the break we were talking about how fun it is to have Helen Mirren wearing your product and something that you’ve made.  Now Tierra you’ve been in Nylon Magazine, Style Watch, which is part of People Magazine.  And Vogue just recently interviewed you.  What was that like?

Tierra Del Forte:  To me, that was amazing, because Vogue is the Bible of fashion.  And the fact that they are interested in sustainable fashion right now means that the industry as a whole is recognizing how important this is and how much their customers want to see it.

Meredith Medland:  What’s the most important thing to you when you are in interviews?  What are you thinking about?  What do you want communicated?

Tierra Del Forte:  Well, I just want people to really realize that fashion and being green are not opposed to each other.  I think most of the people involved in eco-fashion right now really are coming from - so much of it is coming from designers who are first and foremost amazing designers, and it just happens to be that they care about sustainability, which is why they have chosen to make their designs in sustainable fabrics and use sustainable products.  But they're not sacrificing any style or beauty for it.

 

Meredith Medland:  How are the press people interacting with you at an ecological level?  Today I am going to ask you about your values and what it means to be living green.  But are you getting scanned and are you under the microscope and little bit more now?

Tierra Del Forte: I haven't really felt like I am under the microscope.  I think bigger companies like Wal-Mart who are now going into organics are much more under scrutiny because most people are wondering why they are doing this.  It doesn't actually align with what we think of as Wal-Mart.

Whereas with my company it is very much what we are.  This is what we do.  We use organic cotton.  We use sustainable processes.  So people take that for granted when they are learning about my product.  The reaction across the board from press and consumers has been overwhelmingly positive.

Meredith Medland:  Well, it's definitely positive from me.  I like the feel of organic cotton.

So you have a 13-year-old daughter.  Her name is Valentina, right?

Tierra Del Forte:  Yes.

Meredith Medland:  Yeah, Valentina.  She goes to Park Day School in Oakland, which was recently certified green.  And I wonder when you and your daughter are spending time together what are you doing where you are living green?

Tierra Del Forte:  Well, I think we are doing what a lot of people are doing living green, in that we are eating organic food.  We are spending time in the outdoors, which I think is incredibly important, to remember what we are trying to preserve here.

We live in the Bay area.  It is one of the most beautiful places on earth.  So I think it is important to stay in touch with our environment.  Just the other day, we just moved to a new apartment.  It's about a 10 or 15 minute walk from her school.  I told her that I would still drive her to school in the morning, because I know that's a bit of a walk.

She told me, “You know, I think I'd rather walk every morning and then not to have a worlds to grow up in.”

Meredith Medland:  Whoa.  Wow.  These children are definitely tapped in.

Tierra Del Forte:  She is.  And that surprised me because she hasn't seemed like she cared so much about what I was doing.  I didn't realize that the message had really gotten through to her - that cars are destroying our environment.  But I guess she knows.

Meredith Medland:  Yeah, it certainly sounds like it did.  Now we were talking about Helen Mirren.  She is this wonderful, attractive, sexy woman who is definitely - she holds sexiness for women.  What is it like being a denim manufacturer, you would say, and denim has this sexy, ‘shaking your ass’, there is definitely this fashion ‘yum yum’ sense of jeans, and you have a 13-year-old daughter, who is just blossoming into her sensuality.  How do the to play a role?

Tierra Del Forte:  Well, I think my daughter happens to be really independent and has a great sense of style.  She wears my jeans.  They are, for the most part, pretty tight and pretty sexy.  But she wears them with big oversized band shirts and Converse and studded belts.  So she adds her own style, which is kind of rock and roll and it's kind of tough and is not at all about being a sexpot.

Meredith Medland:  Yeah.  What are some of the things that you do together?  Where do you go when you are in nature together?

Tierra Del Forte:  Well we go around to the parks around here.  You know, Tilden Park is right here.  We just went up to Tahoe.  The drive is beautiful.  You are surrounded by beauty.  You can do all this wonderful outdoor stuff.  We go to the lakes.  We go to the beach.  There is just so much around here to enjoy.

Meredith Medland:  Those are living green.  In the second podcast of Living Green, they are all laid out by episode; we interviewed Richard Louv, who wrote ‘No Child Left Alone’.  He is responsible for coining ‘Nature Deficit Disorder’.

He feels that one of the ways that we solve childhood obesity and reduce the amount of medication is to just get the kids out in the environment so they understand the importance of organic cotton and sustainability.

Tierra Del Forte: I think that's great.  I think that's really important.  Not only for kids, but also for adults, I know I feel a thousand times better when I've spent the day outside.

Meredith Medland:  Yeah.  That's awesome.  Now we talked earlier, before our interview about the Sustainable Cotton Project.  I'd like you to share with us a little bit more about that.

Tierra Del Forte: The Sustainable Cotton Project is part of an organization here in California.  They are promoting the use of organic and sustainable cotton here in California.

They are doing a few important things.  One is helping farmers transition from conventional cotton to organic and/or sustainable cotton.  Sustainable cotton is cotton that is grown with drastically reduced chemical input.  So they reduce the chemical inputs by about 75 to 85% although it is still not certified organic.

The second thing they do is actually connect these farmers that are growing sustainable and organic cotton with manufacturers so that once these people put all the effort and time into growing their product they have someone to buy it.

Meredith Medland:  So why is this important to you?  When you really run it down to the core reason?

Tierra Del Forte:  Well, I think the core reason is because when you look at the production chain in fashion, the first step there is the production of fiber.  I think that's really where you have to start being sustainable.  If it's too hard or too expensive for farmers to grow organic cotton they are just not going to be older do it.

But if you have an organization like the Sustainable Cotton Project that comes in and helps show them how and provides the on site support for them, then it's going to become a possibility.  Whereas without someone like the Sustainable Cotton Project maybe for a lot of these farmers it wouldn't be a possibility.

Meredith Medland:  Now let's talk price points.  Give us a little bit of a description.  I know there are several different lines of jeans that you are carrying.  Where do they fit and how does that compare to other jeans in the market?

Tierra Del Forte:  Well, our jeans are definitely in the premium, luxury market.  Most of our long pants retail in the $180 to $190 range, which is very comparable to other premium labels.  We definitely have a very niche market.  I don't expect that everyone is going to run out and buy a pair of jeans, but I think people in the premium market understand the value of what we are doing.

Meredith Medland:  And listeners, if you understand the value, which I hope you definitely do, you can go to delforte.com and check out the jeans there.

Tierra, I'd love to know what is going on for you in the next three months.  So if you could flash forward ahead, and I had you on my show again, and you had created three specific outcomes - not pie in the sky, but things that you actually did both in your professional life and in your personal life - would you share three of them with us so we can get to know you a little bit better?

Tierra Del Forte:  Sure.  So I would say the first one would be to make sure we reach our sales goals for the next quarter.  I've got a very specific number written down, and I would like to see us hit that or surpass it.

Meredith Medland:  What is the number?

Tierra Del Forte:  I can't tell you.

[Laughter]

Meredith Medland:  [laughs] I’ve got to ask.

Tierra Del Forte:  And for me, the second goal is that we have recently started working with Barney's, which is one of the more influential department stores in the US and in the world.  I would love to see our products be - you know, I would love to see an order from them sometime in the next three months.

The end of the third goal, I think would be personal, for myself to have a little more balance in my life.  Make sure I am getting three meals a day; make sure I am getting to yoga at least twice a week.  I'm going to make sure that I am out of doors, every day.

[Music]

Meredith Medland:  Every day.  Thank you for sharing that with us.  We are going to take a break now to thank our sponsors.  Right after this we will talk to Tierra about leaving a legacy and what her message and mission is for the future.  We'll also learn more about her future plans.

My name is Meredith Medland, and I'm your host of Living Green.  You can learn more about Tierra Del Forte at delforte.com.  We'll be back right after this.

[Music]

[Commercial]

[Music]

Meredith Medland:  Welcome back.  My name is Meredith Medland.  I'm your host of Living Green.  And we are right at the end of a fantastic conversation with Tierra Del Forte. 

Tierra, you're looking great in your jeans.  Do you wear jeans now all the time?

Tierra Del Forte:  Yeah.

Meredith Medland:  [laughs] I knew you must.  Would you be willing to stand up so I can describe what the pockets look like?  I want our listeners to know.  Actually, I'm going to let you describe them, because you know how to sell your product.

Tierra Del Forte:  Sure.  So I would say that we have got a couple of key things that go across all our styles that people started to recognize us by.  One of them is the embroidered patch on the back, which is actually an Art Nouveau image that to me is very reminiscent of a cotton plant.

Our back pocket has a curved seam with tricolor stitching.  So it's very simple but super flattering.  There is also a custom-made rivet on the front that is very intricate.  Most people recognize it immediately when they see it.

Meredith Medland:  Yeah, thank you for sharing that.  So, we've been talking about ecology.  I mean this is Living Green, the whole thing.  Where are areas in your life where you're not living green?

Tierra Del Forte: I would say that is my car.  I have a 1976 Mercedes.  So in some ways I am getting a lot of use out of this car.  But it's pretty bad on gas, which as we all know is a really bad environmental criminal I would say.  And it's expensive.  So I would like to bike as much as is realistic.

Meredith Medland:  And is a new car maybe in your future?

Tierra Del Forte:  A new car is definitely in the future.  It will definitely be much better on gas.

Meredith Medland:  When you think about the way you treat the environment and the actions that you take, what are some of your thought processes?

Tierra Del Forte:  Well, my thoughts, and it's pretty simple, are basically with most everything that you buy or you use you have many, many options.  That's one of the great things about living in America.  We have choices for everything.  For most products I'm finding that there is a green option out there.

Often it will be a little more expensive.  Sometimes it will be a lot more expensive.  But I think it's really important to use those options when they are available.

Meredith Medland:  And when you flash forward in 25 years from now, Valentina will be about 38 years old - oh dear, my goodness says mom - so she will be 38.  If she looks at your life and says, “What did you create?  What is your legacy?”  What do you think she would say?

Tierra Del Forte:  Well, I certainly hope that she says that we were a leader in the eco-fashion movement.  I hope that she is able to say that I created something lasting and that Del Forte denim will still be around.  I hope I'm not working there everyday still.  And I think she will say that Del Forte denim showed people that it really is possible to have a brand that is both super fashionable and environmentally friendly.

Meredith Medland:  So let's take a little transition before we wrap up the show.  An Inconvenient Truth, Global Warming, Environmental Sustainability - the hot buzzwords.  What do you think is possible if our listeners take action today, just today in simple ways to assist in the beautification of the planet?

Tierra Del Forte:  Honestly I think it's not even assisting in the beautification of the planet.  I think it's assisting in the survival of the planet.  What I think is going to happen is once you start going down the path of being greener, you'll find it's pretty easy, it's pretty enjoyable and people in your life become interested in what you're doing.

So one person starts buying organic food.  Their friends come over and realize, “Oh my God this apple tastes better than any apple I've had in the last year!”  And they start buying organic food.

To me it's not about making people feel guilty about what they are doing.  But it's about showing them how great the options out there are also good for the environment will come.

Meredith Medland:  And if you were sitting in front of someone aged 25, who had a household income of let's say $65,000, maybe living with her boyfriend or something, and was interested in looking sexy and could definitely invest in jeans because jeans are one of those kind of products, what would you share with them that would make a difference for their whole lifetime in the way they thought about ecology?

Tierra Del Forte:  Well first I would have them try them on.  And once they were in the jeans and realize how fantastic they looked, to me the most compelling thing is really the human cost in terms of doing things in the conventional way.

For me, just knowing that if you are buying jeans made from conventional cotton, there is a possibility that somebody died in that process whereas with organic farming you take away that danger.  To me, that's what I found the most compelling.  And I would think a lot of people would too.

Meredith Medland:  Thank you.  That's a bit of a uuuh but also a pleasurable experience to think about the benefits of buying organic cotton and eco-fashionable clothing.

Are you showing in any places coming up here in the future?  Do you have any shows coming up?

Tierra Del Forte:  Well the ‘Catwalk on the Wild Side’ here in San Francisco is coming up in a couple of months.

Meredith Medland:  What Tierra is saying in secret here is when you have interviews and things you have to be careful about what you are mentioning because you never know when the press is going to print!

But we can share that you had a fantastic interview with Vogue.  We talked a little bit about that earlier.  So I just want to wish the best of luck to you.  And I really appreciate you taking the time to educate us and let us learn from you.

I do have to say that eco-fashion is on its way so get out there and support these products.  You can find out more at delforte.com.  And if you look on the episode page of Living Green you will find out more about Tierra and how to get in contact with her.

Listeners, you can contact me at [email protected].  And I'm more than happy to answer your questions or take your requests for guests.  And again we are coming to the end of the show.  So this is the last opportunity Tierra.  You get to end the show.

Tierra Del Forte:  Well, thank you Meredith so much for having me here.  You had some really interesting questions that I had not had asked of me before.  So this was quite an illuminating experience for me.  And I hope I was able to share something with you.

Meredith Medland:  All right.  We are getting ready to wrap up our show.  One of the things I have learned about the guests that I have interviewed here on Living Green, is they have lots of secrets.  All of my guests are luminaries.

So Tierra, if you just dig into your heart and think about the thing that needs to wrap up our show, illuminate the psychology of ecology for us here on Living Green.

Tierra Del Forte:  Well I think for me the most important thing that I hope someone takes away from this is the importance of all companies becoming sustainable.  It's not going to be a question of choosing between a green company or a not green company in the future because all companies are going to have to go that way for them to survive financially and for us to survive as a planet.

Meredith Medland:  All right.  That sounds like a great opportunity to live into.  My name is Meredith Medland.  I'm your host of Living Green.

Thank you again Tierra Del Forte of Del Forte denim.  We'll be back next week talking to more exciting guests.  We'll be talking to Alex Steffen of Worldchanging.

For text and transcripts of this show or other shows on the Personal Life Media Network you can visit www.personallifemedia.com.  This is your host Meredith Medland, illuminating the psychology of ecology for you right here on Living Green.

[Music]

Announcer:  Find more great shows like this on personallifemedia.com