Regeneration, Circularity & Technology | ECOfashion Corp | PI Apparel

Good afternoon, everybody. Thank you for being here. I'm Marcy Zaroff, and I am the founder— what? Clicker's not up? Wait, yes. Here we go. Founder of Eco Fashion Corp., which is a greenhouse of brands. I don't know if any of you were in my panel this morning, but I've spent the past 30 years driving fashion forward, driving an eco lifestyle across food, beauty, and fashion. I'm the author of this book, Eco Renaissance, which really sums up my life work, which is through the lens of design, we can change the world. If we design systems that serve us, we can co-create whatever reality we wish to see. And everything we see around us today is something that we've created. So the book really builds off of 5 key principles: creativity, community, connection, collaboration, and consciousness. So I'm going to frame my talk today around these 5 principles. And as you can see, I've been on a long and winding road, but my mission has always been to revolutionize the fashion industry through education, inspiration, innovation, and collaboration. And I pinch myself every day to see the number of people and companies that have come into this movement since coining the term eco-fashion in 1995 when people thought I was insane and there were a lot of stigmas then that people who are into fashion would never embrace sustainability or environment because they don't care and people who are into consciousness aren't fashionable. And for me it was not just about making fashion sustainable but about making sustainability fashionable and leveraging the power of fashion to drive transformation. So today the greenhouse of brands that I was referring to is made up of 4 brands which I'm going to speak to, MetaWear, YesAnd, Seed to Style, and Farm to Home. But our core business is really making sustainability easy for other brands and retailers. So I love this quote— oop, I keep forgetting. I love this quote: "Vision is the art of seeing things invisible." Right? So it's about looking to the future but acting now. It's not about doing less bad, it's about doing more good, right? So when we look at the idea of a renaissance, it's a rebirth that we can drive built on literally rebooting our industry. It's desperately need of a reboot all the way from the supply chains to the way retailers and brands work. We have to work as a holistic ecosystem. And at this point, it is about looking at how do we start change from the beginning, from the start, source, which metaphorically starts at our own inner self, right, where we have all those answers. And I think, you know, we're living in this modern-day Star Wars right now, right, where the dark and the light are kind of, you know, at odds, and we need to turn on the light, and that starts here. And again, go back to where things all begin. So I know there's a lot of talk around circularity and a lot of talk around How do we take what we already have and keep that in the system? And that is a critical part of moving our industry forward, going from a linear economy to a circular economy, right? I'm gonna assume most of you know why fashion is such a critical industry to transform. Not only is it a $3 trillion industry, but some of our biggest impacts to air and water pollution are coming out of the fashion industry. And today, the greatest threat ever to humanity, as we all know, is climate change. Right? And when you look at the fashion industry and the fact that depending on what you include, if you include agriculture, you include transportation, you know, you'll see statistics around 8% of the world's carbon footprint is coming out of the fashion industry. It is game on now. As a parent, you know, as an entrepreneur, you know, it's not about, you know, being a part of the problem, it's about being a part of the solution, right? So how can we change our consciousness and how can we all come together to address these issues today that we are all facing. And today I really believe that within the fashion world, it's not about staying ahead anymore. When I started, it was kind of a competitive advantage, right? But today, it's about not being left behind. You see retailers and brands that are not integrating sustainability into their supply chains, into their businesses, and those are the ones that are at risk of being out of the game. In the coming years. OK, so just a moment about MetaWear. So I created MetaWear really as a solution provider, as the intel inside of sustainable fashion to meet companies where they are. It's not about alienating the big fast fashion retailers, I believe. And a lot of sustainable fashion activists, they really go up against the big retailers from a place of really ostracizing them. To me, it's about engaging them. It's about meeting them where they are, holding their hands and helping them because we need everybody at the table. They are part of the problem. They've proliferated our impacts in water, waste, energy, climate, chemical use, but they also have the power to drive positive change, right? So how can we all work together to do that? In fact, when I started working with Target back in 2000, I think 5 or 6, a lot of their sustainability initiatives were being driven by the marketing departments. And as we all know, this is not a marketing story per se. This is about true change. It's about style with substance or style with soul. It's about looking at the product design and development and saying, how can we change what we're doing and incentivize our teams to be a part of that change? And so today, Target, instead of driving sustainability at the marketing level, they're driving it at PD&D. And then they're telling marketing, go away, we'll let you when you can come back and you can tell these stories. But ultimately, it is about story doing because today's consumer, unlike when I started, is all about the internet. It's about telling stories with social and digital media and the millennial generation. This is what they want, right? So how do we empower them with good stories but make sure that we have that traceability, that transparency, that authenticity? Embedded into every step that we take, which is why the way that we work at MetaWear, which is a framework for kind of a new chapter in this industry, is instead of starting at the factory level and allowing the factories to work back down the supply chains, where frankly there's a lot of inefficiency, a lot of people don't realize that a garment can change hands even more than 10 times in the supply chain, 7 to 10 times, but in some points even more, right? You get a cotton garment, you have the growing, and then you have the ginning, and then you have, you know, the spinning, knitting or weaving, cutting, sewing, dyeing, printing, packaging, shipping, right? Everyone in that supply chain, ultimately, if it's all a broken supply chain, has a markup. And it's not untypical that a factory is going to use a fabric broker, a yarn broker, a cotton broker, and everyone along that supply chain is going to take a markup. So if you can figure out how to go deeper into the supply chain and start at the source and build up the supply chain or work with providers like Mediaware who are starting at the source, that's the DNA of what we do. I always say it's like water for chocolate for me. It's where it all begins. It's the seed. And the seed represents life. And that is why when I'm in India at our farm project, which is part of Mediaware, And I'm speaking to the women farmers, empowering each other and creating win-win business models is the name of the game. And it's where we're going with regenerative agriculture, it's where we're even going with circularity. It's about working together to find solutions. So this is our D2C brand. This is called YesAnd, and YesAnd really sums up my life work. Yes, you can have style, quality, fit, color, comfort, hand, price, everything you want. And oh, by the way, not instead of, not lead with this, but the end, the value add, is it's also socially and environmentally responsible, regenerative, circular, fair trade, ethically made. You know, people feel that this movement has been so daunting for so long. It's really a matter of one step at a time, right? It's a matter of Seeing where you want to go, setting strategies, and then don't get overwhelmed any more than if you were going to change your diet. You're not going to go into your kitchen and, you know, take everything that you have and just throw it away. You're going to, the next time you shop, think differently, start to embed a different way of thinking into the decisions that you're making. And our whole platform at YesAnd is about co-creation or eco-creation. It's about joining forces with others, whether it's celebrities, it's influencers, musicians. In fact, last night we did a collaboration with an artist named Mago where his art in his gallery was printed on demand on YesAnd garments, all customizable for every attendee, right? So there's no waste in our supply chain when it comes to screen printing or in excess production. In fact, it was interesting to see how many people migrate to one or two of the 10 prints we offered It's just a reminder that we have to find these solutions today that are going to continue accelerating change in our industry. Because of social and digital media, content and commerce are coming together unlike they ever have before. Content creators are looking for ways to tell the stories of what they're offering to their customers, and they don't want to get behind brands and retailers and companies and products. That they don't believe in anymore. So there's tremendous opportunity. I have been in this movement for 30 years and I feel like I'm learning new things every day. Right? It's the journey of 1,000 miles begins with one step. Another one of my favorite quotes. But it's really a reminder that, you know, we haven't even scratched the surface, I think, as an industry of where we're going. There's so much opportunity. This is not about sacrifice and deprivation. Sustainable fashion, sustainable textiles is about added value. It's about getting more. It's about the "and." And we lead with creativity. This is my favorite quote. "We cannot solve today's problems with the same consciousness that created them. We have to climb the ladder of consciousness and change our perspective." Perspective. Climb higher. Look at things from a different lens. Right? I'm a mother of actually 5— count my 3 stepkids, 2 kids. Never a dull moment. But another favorite quote is, we don't inherit this land from our ancestors. We borrow it from our children. Right? We have to leave this Earth as good, if not better, than the way we found it. And we have to plant seeds of consciousness, which is why I wrote my book. Because we don't know where people are going to be inspired. Is it going to be— Is it going to be beauty products, clean beauty on the shelves of CVS? Is it going to be the next time they buy a garment? Is it going to be just looking through a different lens in business, at an ESG lens instead of just about profit? Governance is changing. B Corps are growing, the number of B Corps. It's about people, planet, profit, passion, and purpose. That's the next chapter of good business. And so now we'll move on to consciousness. I don't know how many of you were in the talk this morning talking a little bit about where it starts, right? Regenerative agriculture. Why is this so important? Because a third of the textiles in our industry are made from cotton. A lot of merch, right? We're talking about cotton t-shirts and hoodies, and then you've got bedsheets and towels, then you've got denim, and there's— a tremendous amount of cotton out there, and we can't just say, "Let's just focus on the circular economy," and not focus on the fact that there are 570 million farms around the world where people are depending on farming for their livelihoods, right? It's about, you know, not all cotton is created equal. We have to look at a different way to grow cotton, one that is regenerative, one that supports soil health, that builds the immune system of the soil, right? Just like when we're building our own immune system, and this is where my whole background in food comes in. I actually started my career in the food industry. I co-founded a school that is the largest holistic health school in the world called the Institute for Integrative Nutrition with over 200,000 certified health coaches. So I kind of came into fashion unlike a lot of other people that come in from conventional and then start learning about sustainability. I came in saying, You can't support one part of the equation without the other. That in farming, these crops are all growing side by side, and 60% of a cotton plant actually goes back into the food stream, right? So when you gin cotton, all the seeds that are removed are going into cottonseed oil. They're being pressed for cottonseed oil for breads and snack products and tons of food products that are on the shelves. They're going into feed for dairy products. So if you eat dairy, I mean, the— amount of chemicals, the magnitude and multitude that go into the production of cotton is alarming, right? And this has created degradation of soil health, which ultimately means we've turned soil into dirt. So when you talk about irrigation and you talk about how to grow cotton efficiently and you talk about the systems that are, you know, all over the world today with genetically modified seeds, you know, in conjunction with chemical cocktails, that system has been perpetuating what we call a pesticide treadmill. Farmers in India, I can tell you, if you haven't seen this statistic, there is very heavy suicide rates in India where every half an hour a conventional cotton farmer commits suicide because they can't support that system anymore. When you break down the soil with chemicals, you break down the resilience and the ability of that plant to actually support when there is climate change occurrences. Think of it from the same lens as your immune system. When you're healthy, when you're strong, you're more resilient. Resistant to germs and bugs, right? When the soil is weak, the plants are weak, and the bugs keep coming back. You spray, it's a superficial Band-Aid. They eventually build resistance, just like antibiotics we build resistance to, and the bugs keep coming back. And over time, these farmers are leveraging their farms to the banks in partnership with the seed companies and the chemical companies, and ultimately they're going into despair. So there's social ramifications to the current system. But then there's soil health, right? And again, for those of you who were there this morning, you know, describing soil health as soil is the skin of the earth, just like our skin is the largest organ in our bodies. It's our primary organ for absorption. Soil is meant to protect us. It's meant to capture carbon out of the atmosphere. When you have biodiversity, it's a living, breathing ecosystem. It is not just dirt. Right? But that's what it's become. And that is actually now contributing to the problem of climate change, where we can now reverse that. And it's not about, you know, cotton being less bad anymore. It's about doing good with cotton and turning it into a sponge that can sequester carbon. And it's all hands on deck across all categories— the food industry, the ingredients for supplements and for beauty products and for textiles, whether it's hemp, whether it's cotton, whether it's— now there's a whole movement around banana and other agricultural products that are going into the fashion stream. And it's about connecting agriculture to popular culture and not only serving, you know, farmers along the way with healthier, more sustainable ecosystems, but at the end of the day, you know, 76% of millennials say that they will switch brands if they know that that brand is focusing on offsetting carbon emissions and looking to do well by doing good in the world. The millennial is changing the game and the younger generations. I know that, you know, my kids have grown up this way, and when, you know, they used to go to school when they were little and people used to look at them like, what are you eating? What are you doing? And today, you know, they're role models for their peers. And if any of you have kids, you know, you know that this isn't going away, right? They can pull the curtain back and they can ask, What's in my clothes? Who made my clothes? Where are they being made? Right? And they want those answers. And so the farm-to-table movement has segued now into the farm-to-home, the farm-to-closet, to people asking about the source of their products and being a part of the solution. So why does this matter so much? This concept of biodiversity that I've been talking about for my whole career now is actually front and center in our industry. Why? Because biodiversity matters. We rely on our Earth's ecosystems, right? Land, our oceans ecosystems, and we are seeing a decline at an unprecedented rate of biodiversity. Over a million species right now are primed for extinction. And apparel is a huge contributor to biodiversity loss through soil degradation, as I explained, through water pollution, through synthetics that are ending up in our water systems, to destroying our natural ecosystems. And 70% of that degradation is coming from fibers and materials. So we have to be looking not just— in fact, at our project in India at Reset, which is the cotton project I was standing in in between the lentils and the cotton, right, because it's all about crop rotation. It's part of the methodology of building soil soil health. But being in our project, we now have 3 tracks that we've ignited. One is regenerative in conversion to organic. Regenerative principles mean you're building soil health, right? But you're not necessarily certified organic. Then you have organic, which is regenerative and free of all harmful chemicals, free of GMO seeds. And then you have biodynamic, which is a 3rd track at our project, which means 10% of the cotton farm, is actually preserved for biodiversity. And I was in our farm in India in January, and I wanted to cry. I had butterflies literally landing on me in a cotton farm. You just don't see that. If any of you have ever been in a cotton farm, that's unprecedented. And it's because we're building a system here, right? We're all part of an ecosystem, i.e., Eco-Renaissance is the rebirth built on this understanding that we are a collective ecosystem. We breathe out carbon and nature breathes it in. And nature breathes out oxygen and we breathe it in. And as we learned in the pandemic, we're all in this together, right? People across the world that are making our products, they're homebound as well. We're like seeing things that we didn't see before. Who would have ever thought if you would have told someone 3 years ago, 4 years ago, the whole world would be at home together, right? Kind of surreal. So Okay, so material change. This is something that is very important in regenerative fibers. You know, first of all, we're seeing not just in the cotton industry and in hemp and other natural fibers, we're also seeing regenerative fibers from companies like Lenzing with EcoVera. We're seeing, you know, now food waste, pineapple, orange, seaweed, banana, apple. I mean, it's amazing the amount of innovation that's going on out there to actually keep our food and our fiber systems healthy and circular and connected where the byproducts and the waste is used for other purposes. And we are just scratching the surface of this movement. And then there's circular. I mean, most of you probably know of UNIFI, right? They've taken 25 million plastic bottles out of landfills to turn them into the Repreve yarns, right? Where you have 2.5 million plastic bottles being thrown away You know, every half an hour. It's, it's crazy, right? So how can we take all the issues out there and turn them into solutions in our industry? Even biomimicry, right? You know, companies like Bolt Threads where they've, you know, looked at spider silk, right, to emulate that. How can we learn from nature and work with nature as we continue to innovate from a fiber level? The Textile Exchange. How many of you familiar with the Textile Exchange? So I'm one of the founders and founding brands and vice chair of the board and been growing this industry for the last 20-some-odd years as the Textile Exchange. We now have the biggest membership we have ever had in our history of companies from masterclass all over the world making a uniform commitment to reduce our collective carbon footprint by 45% by 2030. So we all have to be at the table now. We all have to work together. This is about cooperation, not competition. Right. And it starts, you know, we all have to start somewhere. Right. This is about all hands on deck, meeting other companies where they are, collaborating to drive change together and looking at business as a force for good. They are now, as I mentioned, B Corps, over 3,500 B Corps around the world in over 70 different countries. We're seeing a paradigm shift in business. We're seeing the Great Resignation. What is that really? It's the next generation saying, I don't want to work with companies that aren't out there trying to make change happen. They're playing with our future. I mean, when have you ever seen this many natural disasters? It's gone from one every, call it, 5 years 4 years to almost, you know, a few a month now, right? You have Pakistan, a third of the country underwater. You have Mississippi, people can't even get fresh water right now. This is not going away and we need to engage with each other and remember that, you know, the millennials, they want transparency. They are demanding it and this is now just as important to them as price, quality, style, and all the other attributes that they're looking for. And we have to make— we have to make a shift from fast fashion— there we go— we have to make a shift from fast fashion to slow fashion, right? And thrifting, recycling, reusing, remaking, I mean, These are all new, very disruptive business models that are showing that it's not about I need something brand new, it's about I want style, I want quality, right? I want comfort. And that customer today, 71% plan to keep the items that they already have longer, and 57% are willing to repair their items. This is about wearing the change we wish to and empowering the next generation of consumers through cradle-to-cradle principles, right? In a cradle-to-cradle or fashion-positive circular model, it's about what we take from the Earth, we have to give back to the Earth. Material health, material reuse, water stewardship, renewable energy, social justice— these are the pillars of a circular economy, of a cradle-to-cradle economy. And now about connection, right? We've all learned we're interconnected, and so is food and fiber. And I've talked about food and fiber being connected from 60% of the cotton plant, but also, you know, and I mentioned this this morning, but, you know, in our oceans today, this isn't even just about our land's degradation, it's about the degradation in our oceans, that every single synthetic garment ever produced in the history of mankind It doesn't biodegrade, right? So what happens to it? We wash it, it goes into our washing machine, it sheds microfibers. The microfibers go into the water system, into the rivers, into the oceans. The fish are eating them. They're destroying the ocean's ecosystems. You'll see statistics vary, but as high as 90% of fish are showing traces of microfibers in them, right? This is a serious issue we need to solve for in our industry at the fiber and material level. So we're talking about new technologies, help. Some, you know, this is about accelerating change and addressing all the impacts that we have. This is a major issue that is in our industry right now. And for those of you who've seen the movie Don't Look Up, you know, we're all sharing the same planet here. This isn't about two different camps, although it might appear to be that way, right? This is about, you know, we're all washing our clothes, we're all buying clothes, we are all part of the It's a global problem, and we all need to be a part of that solution. So just some disruptive business models around Rent the Runway, about Wardrobe, and even Recurate, which is now— we have that at YesAnd. A lot of companies have joined Recurate about a resale program, right? So it's about secondhand. It's about tonight I'm going to an event with the Global Fashion Exchange. They're building a whole circular economy with swapping, empowering people all over the world. There's so much creative creativity and other streams of income that can be generated in a secondhand resale market. As an example, you know, who would have thought that the Yes& brand or the companies that we work with would have another life, you know, another whole life, right after the consumer is done with it? And that's the name of the game, is really looking at, you know, all of the— how to make fashion more positive, and how to make it more net zero for our collective future. And so here we are now, which is why I think PI, you know, big part of this conference, which is technology, game-changing, right? New chapter. You know, it gets me so excited. I feel like a little kid in a candy store. You know, I've always, as an entrepreneur, got to do what I love, make a living, and change the world. And now you layer on all this exciting innovation and where things are going. And it's like, wow, the sky's the limit with possibilities. Looking at this $3 trillion industry and saying, how can we create new chapters in manufacturing, in retailing, in wearing, right? Consumers are hyperconnected today. And fast fashion is so yesterday with this whole digital transformation that's going on because we need to work with fast fashion retailers to slow down fashion make it more efficient, make it smarter, right? And the technologies that are out there today are game-changing, right? We can reduce our impacts while increasing even speed to market. We can drive zero waste. We can drive less chemical use. Things like 3D sampling and fitting. We can eliminate huge amounts of sample production as brands, as companies. So it's time to decode the complexities of our industry industry and set our collective net zero, carbon zero goals and really start to roll our sleeves up for this next chapter. And so some of the things that are key, blockchain technology, we have that now at MetaWear and YesAnd where we're digitizing our supply chains and there's a QR code at the end product that customer can engage, scan the QR code and get the entire story of the product from farm to finished fashion. Meet your farmers, meet your factory workers. What are the inputs in the product, the certifications? How far has the product traveled? What— you know, where has it gone? Every single touchpoint is monitored, and by this fall we'll be integrating ESG data, so we'll have a carbon, water, energy, and wage footprint for every product on the blockchain. And, you know, as you can see, you know, more than 82% of consumers say if a company makes social or environmental commitments, they will hold it responsible for sharing results. Well, I don't know how many of you also are familiar with the New York Fashion Sustainability Act or the Fabric Act that is, you know, underway, or in Norway, the laws that have just come into play. This is mind-blowing what's happening in terms of demanding transparency at the government level. There are laws that are brewing that if these laws go through through. And even if they don't, they're creating a bit of a frenzy in our industry, and everybody's waking up saying, we have to get ready for these things where we're going to be required to expose 50% of our supply chains, our climate-based— our science-based climate target. And then consumers today, if you've all been watching, like, the Remake movement and some of these consumer movements, when you make that commitment, you need to figure out how to get there, and you need to to start moving there. You don't have to be perfect, but you have to be moving in the forward direction, and you have to be transparent, not just about what you are doing, but what you're not doing, right? Because nobody wants to get caught with their pants down, right? And we're going from seasonality to sustainability. We're looking at the connection between content and commerce. You know, two-thirds of millennials now prefer to even shop online. Obviously been accelerated by the pandemic. And, you know, the next chapter is lean manufacturing, on-demand production, continuing to leverage the power of technology to keep moving our industry forward. And so, so many amazing companies here. I wish I could have everybody up on the screen, but, you know, we have forged a partnership with Kornit. I'm actually wearing our new Optimus jacket, which printed on cornate technology, zero waste, no toxins, GOTS-certified inks that they create that are printed on our GOTS-certified garments, our denims, our knits. Obviously, AI is changing the game. We can be much smarter by analyzing data and making decisions and forecasting trends. The Internet of Things, we haven't even started, the wearable tech and smart clothing, online design. I mean, just like everybody's an online creator today, everybody can be an online designer. Companies like RepSketch and digital clothing. I mean, I started with Bitmoji and it's like now to see what's out there is blowing my mind. Companies like DressX, right? Companies like Style3D. That are now creating these virtual showrooms and e-commerce integration and the ability to try on clothing in a virtual world so we can minimize our dependency on the physical world and we can find that balance so people can have that newness on their social media handles. Right. That's what they want. They want to, you know, they want to tell stories, but they also want to, you know, show off their different looks. It's a form of creative expression. And people are looking. For those positive ways to express themselves in a world that, you know, as I said, has a lot of darkness, right? But now we're looking at virtual reality and augmented reality and marrying the physical and the virtual, and just the beginning. So just remember, alone we are smart, together we are brilliant, right? 1 1 11. We are collectively stronger together than we are apart. And this is just, you know, a So this is just a small example of some of the companies that are out there working together to drive positive change across circularity, across regenerative agriculture, and across all the new technologies. And it's all about collaboration and finding other companies that share your core values that you can pilot these new technologies. And at the same time, there's organizations out there that are there to support, like the Textile Exchange. And, you know, Lenzing is doing incredible work in innovating in their fibers. You have the Apparel Impact Institute now, and all of the certifications. I am a big believer that we need that traceability through third-party verifiable supply chains because there's so many— they're not perfect, believe me, I know, there have been some missteps out there, But we have to keep raising the bar. We have to keep driving things forward. And at the end of the day, I'm going to leave you with a couple of final thoughts. One is, as I said in my first slide, work is love made visible. If you love your work, it's not work, it's love, right? So just think about that every day that you wake up and every day that you're working in your companies. How can you drive abundance in the world? How can you be a part of the rebirth of this industry? Setting carbon reduction goals, and engaging and empowering all the stakeholders in your company. Number 2, remember, we do not inherit this land, as mentioned, from our ancestors. This is our children's futures. We need to protect them. We need to build tangible strategies with timelines and roadmaps and engage everyone in our companies. And finally, as said, the journey of 1,000 miles, take one step at a time. Collaborate, find companies that you can work with, and join the regeneration generation personally and professionally, right, with a circular mindset and embracing smart fashion so we can all wear the change we wish to see in the world. So I'm going to open up to questions. This is how you can reach me, and thank you all for being here and being a part of this movement. So questions? Anyone? Anyone? Anyone?

Hi, Katie O'Brien from New Balance. First off, I just want to thank you for all the work that you've done to really pave the way for so many in the industry. It's super inspiring. So thank you for that. I was also curious. I hadn't heard of the New York Fabric Act specifically. Specifically, can you tell us a little bit more about that?

So Kirsten Gillibrand, who is a senator here in New York, she put this bill forward. It's now in Congress, and there are some other sponsors. It's brand new, but it is about demanding and driving transparency in supply chains and the requirements around that. And also, there's efforts to fund bringing manufacturing back back to the U.S. as well. So I think a lot of people kind of ask where does U.S. manufacturing fit into this whole kind of paradigm shift in sustainable fashion. We need to actually balance our sourcing strategies where we have a foot overseas to get our needs met in higher volume productions especially because the truth is until we actually keep driving the technologies and the on-demand production and the lean manufacturing in this country, we're still dealing with a lot of broken supply chains here, right? Where you gotta configure your own supply chain and it can be incredibly complicated. I've been there, done that. And I can make actually a garment faster, for less expensive, better quality, and fully sustainable overseas and get it to the US sometimes faster than I can do it in the US. So there's this misconception that doing things in the US is gonna be faster. That's not always the case. Which is why we need these technologies, these on-demand, these lean manufacturing technologies. And what was your— did I answer your question?

You did, yeah.

Okay, thank you so much. Awesome. Okay, great. So if anyone has any other questions, I'll stick around in the back, and feel free to come up and/or reach out to me. And again, thank you all. Have a wonderful rest of the day.