103. The Curious Case of Leicester Part 1: Welcome to the Conundrum

Jennifer Wascak is an American lawyer and the co-founder and managing director of Justice In Fashion. Eight years ago, she shifted her focus to business and human rights. During the pandemic, media exposés of the garment industry led her to Leicester to seek justice for the vulnerable. In this episode we explore the ideas, assumptions […]

Shaista Jakhura is a former garment worker who, in the recent years, has been engaging with apparel workers and the local community in her roles with Leicester City Council, Hope for Justice, and most recently as funding manager for the Garment and Textile Workers Trust.  After getting married and moving to the UK around 32 […]

Councillor Adam Clarke is a former Deputy Mayor of Leicester City Council. Dr. Martin Quinn is a Reader and a political economist working on regional development and the development of public policy at Lancaster University. We begin by discussing how Leicester, a city that’s seen as a shining example of best practices when it comes […]

Sajjad Khan, the founder of the Apparel & Textile Manufacturers Federation (ATMF), began his journey in the textile industry when he returned to Leicester to care for his father and help his wife start a manufacturing company, Arisetc Ltd., in 1991. Today, in his role at ATMF, Sajjad helps bring together manufacturers from across the […]

Jennifer Wascak, co-founder of Justice In Fashion, joins co-hosts Kim van der Weerd and Dr. Divya Jyoti to wrap up our deep dive into the Leicester conundrum. Throughout our discussion, we focus on the recurring theme of inequity within the value chain. We explore the role of inequity, questioning whether it stems from the business […]

In the final episode of the Crossover Moments mini series, Kim reflects on the key themes that emerged throughout the series. What were the beliefs guests held prior to their “crossover moment”? Why did they decide to let go of these beliefs? What did they replace them with?   Her personal experience, and the one […]

In this episode, Kim and Jessie are in conversation with Ebru Debbag, the Executive Director of Global Sales and Marketing at Soorty Enterprises Pvt.Ltd. As the daughter of a cotton farmer, Ebru spent most of her childhood running around fields. From a small atelier making doll dresses to a successful career spanning 27 years at […]

In celebration of Manufactured’s 100th episode, hosts Kim and Jessie sit down with Bergson Wang, a social and environmental compliance auditor (among many other roles) from China. As someone with a diverse career spanning over two decades, Bergson shares his journey and aspirations in sustainable fashion. He discusses how and why he began to question […]

In this episode, Kim reflects on the complexity of her relationship with production staff during her time as a garment factory manager. She addresses how integral the prevailing narrative of good workers versus bad factory managers was in shaping the way she engaged with her staff, and how it fails to capture the real, multi-dimensional […]

In this episode, Dr. Divya Jyoti and Kim sit down with Ken Pucker, former Timberland COO turned sustainable fashion critic, who now works as a Professor of Practice at the Fletcher School. Fun fact: Ken’s career began in manufacturing, and at the time he joined Timberland, they were still producing much of their footwear. Though […]