In Episode 28, Meghan Forest Farmer shares her journey as a stylist turned ethical factory owner and how she founded The Bright Factory to restore dignity to formerly incarcerated women.
Meghan Forest Farmer has woven her way through the fashion pipeline over the past 10 years, but currently works as a fashion stylist, both on photo shoot sets, and in the wardrobes of her personal styling closet. After learning of the unfortunate, darker side of the fashion industry, specifically within garment manufacturing, she made sustainability and ethical fashion a mission for her personal life, and to educate her styling clients on.
While volunteering with a local organization, visiting incarcerated women, she learned of the great difficulty of finding dignified work after incarceration. She made the connection between the fashion industry stealing dignity from the garment workers it exploits, and women in her own city who deserved to have their dignity restored. The idea for her newest business venture was formed; The Bright Factory. A cut and sew factory in Fort Worth, TX, creating sustainable t-shirts, created by the hands of women being given another chance.
When she is not on a photoshoot set, or running a business, she enjoys being a goofball with her amazing husband, karaoke and dance parties, and serving her community and church.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- What lead Meghan to start a clothing factory
- How tee-shirts can change lives
- How our society simultaneously idolizes and and diminishes those who work in fashion
- How Meghan is working to restore dignity to formerly incarcerated women through The Bright Factory
- Why The Bright Factory isn’t taking on outside production yet
- How Meghan responds to conversations about why ethical fashion is more expensive
- The ways The Bright Factory puts people first
- Where Meghan found her support system and team of mentors
- What the ethical fashion community is like from a new-to-the-industry perspective
- What The Bright Factory will be doing with their Kickstarter crowdfunding in the next six months
People and resources mentioned in this episode:
- The Bright Factory website
- The Bright Factory email
- The Bright Factory Instagram
- The Bright Factory Facebook
- Factory 45 sustainable fashion brand accelerator
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