As the Global Vice President of Product Innovation and Customer Creation at Nike, Jalaj Hora sat at the cutting edge of digital technologies in fashion design and manufacturing. From that perspective, he worked on and witnessed many positive moves towards sustainable practices, but also identified areas where things weren't joining up.

In this episode, we find out how he's looking to fix some of those issues to help brands design in ways that move the needle when it comes to sustainability. We discuss fashion manufacturing challenges, how brands typically calculate their carbon footprint, AI as a design tool and much, much more.

This is our sixth episode of series one, and after this, we'll be taking a little break so that our student team can focus on their assignments. Miriam, Laura and the crew will return to the airwaves before they graduate, with one (or maybe two) last episode(s).

We hope you've enjoyed the series so far. Thank you so much for your support, reviews, comments and feedback. We have loved making Wear Abouts and hearing it start conversations around the world. 🫶🌍

Did you enjoy the episode? Send us a text. 💬

Subscribe now for new episodes every other Monday. Please take the time to rate and/or review us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your pods. We cherish every rating and review, they help to ensure this project continues.

Follow Manchester Fashion Institute on Instagram for bonus video content: instagram.com/mcrfashioninstitute

Check out our courses here: fashioninstitute.mmu.ac.uk

University is often a journey of ups and downs and plenty of us get in some scrapes along the way. When Ellie Louise Brown fell over the "tiniest step" and badly broke her ankle during her time at Manchester Fashion Institute, she found herself feeling pretty frustrated. The experience of losing her mobility sparked an interest in designing for those whose disability makes finding usable, stylish clothes a huge challenge. Fast forward three years and Recondition is an award-winning fashion start-up based in Manchester, that's just shown at London Fashion Week.

With the UK Government proposing sweeping cuts to a huge range of disability benefits last week, businesses like Ellie's go a long way to acknowledging the needs of the disability community. Everyone deserves to feel empowered through their clothes and we're delighted to welcome Ellie to the show this week to learn more about her journey as a fashion entrepreneur and disability ally.

Follow Ellie on Instagram here.

Follow Recondition here.

Did you enjoy the episode? Send us a text. 💬

Subscribe now for new episodes every other Monday. Please take the time to rate and/or review us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your pods. We cherish every rating and review, they help to ensure this project continues.

Follow Manchester Fashion Institute on Instagram for bonus video content: instagram.com/mcrfashioninstitute

Check out our courses here: fashioninstitute.mmu.ac.uk

Luxury shoes have long been resoleable and considered an investment piece that, properly cared for, can last a lifetime. Trainers (or sneakers if you prefer) have been the dominant segment in the footwear sector for a while now and look set to hit almost £70 billion in revenue in 2025. Luxury sneakers are established as a go-to fashion item and the re-sale market pushes lots of models into a luxury price range. So, why aren't we taking care of them like they're major investments?

Sneaker Pharm* founder Vinnie Tao launched his business in 2019, offering a cleaning service to restore his customers' prized kicks to their former glory, but over the years his offer has expanded. Now, he repairs, resoles, adapts and creates, bringing a new generation of consumers round to the idea that their trainers can go the distance.

In this episode we learn about Vinnie's journey into fashion, how he thinks brands could extend the life of their products and pick up some great tips on how to get our favourite trabs looking mint again.

If you don't already, follow Sneaker Pharm* on Instagram here.

Did you enjoy the episode? Send us a text. 💬

Subscribe now for new episodes every other Monday. Please take the time to rate and/or review us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your pods. We cherish every rating and review, they help to ensure this project continues.

Follow Manchester Fashion Institute on Instagram for bonus video content: instagram.com/mcrfashioninstitute

Check out our courses here: fashioninstitute.mmu.ac.uk