Fast Fashion Film + Forum

All Together Now Pennsylvania and Phoenixville Area Transition collaborated on an eye-opening educational event to illuminate the dishonest, billion dollar fast fashion industry that is polluting our environment and devastating communities around the globe. The event was held at First United Methodist Church in Phoenixville, PA on July 13th from 6:30-8:30pm.

Attendees learned about the far reaching impacts of fast fashion through a documentary film (Dead White Man’s Clothes) and discussion panel consisting of slow fashion and textile recycling experts. The panelists will shared their knowledge about the industry as well as tips on how to be more sustainably-minded consumers.

Moderator

Samantha Wittchen, Circular Philadelphia

Samantha Wittchen is Director of Programs and Operations for Circular Philadelphia, an organization whose mission is to drive growth of a thriving circular economy in the greater Philadelphia region through policy advocacy, education, infrastructure development, and collaboration. A seasoned sustainability professional, Samantha’s work with manufacturing, municipal and institutional clients has spanned operational sustainability, metrics and evaluation, and outreach.
Samantha chairs Circular Philadelphia’s Textiles Working Group, which works on developing policy and infrastructure solutions to advance textile circularity in the southeast PA region. She has written for over a decade on sustainability-related topics for Philadelphia-based Grid Magazine—including the January 2022 cover story on textile recycling and circularity in the Philadelphia region. An at-home sewist, Samantha is passionate about slow fashion and helping people understand the value of more mindful textile consumption. She is a LEED Green Associate and holds a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Virginia.

Panelists

Rachel Mednick,  All Together Now PA, Drexel University

Rachel Mednick holds a BS from Drexel University in Fashion Design & Merchandising and a Master’s Degree of Professional Studies in Business of Fashion from LIM. Rachel is an advocate for circular fashion and after building and selling her children’s clothing brand, she switched her focus to fashion education in order to make a bigger impact on creating change within the industry. Rachel currently teaches at Drexel University and Moore College of Art & Design. She is active in the Philadelphia fashion community leading the Sustainability Committee for the Philadelphia Fashion and Garments Task Force and is the Clothing/Textile Coalition Leader for All Together Now PA where she is working on building out the textile supply chain for the state of Pennsylvania.

Lindsey Troop, FABSCRAP

Lindsey Troop is the Regional Manager of FABSCRAP, a textile recycling non-profit dedicated to ending the fashion industry’s commercial textile waste problem, diverting as much unused material as possible from being landfilled or incinerated. She also runs FABSCRAP’s second location in Philadelphia and is an active member of All Together Now PA’s Textile Recycling Task Force. Lindsey joined the FABSCRAP team in 2019 after witnessing the waste being created by the fashion industry firsthand while working in styling and merchandising. She passionate about keeping textiles out of landfill and inspiring creative reuse.

Jordan Haddad, Lobo Mau

Lobo Mau is a brother/sister clothing line by Jordan Haddad (CEO) and Nicole Haddad (Designer) specializing in innovative textile design. Rooted in slow fashion values, Lobo Mau is a zero-waste company that produces with local Philadelphia factories and silk screens its original textiles with careful consideration of its social and environmental impact. After being named Best of Philly’s Best Local Sustainable Brand, Lobo Mau took this momentum to open its flagship store in Queen Village, Philadelphia, carrying other like-minded designers and furthering the brand’s slow-fashion ethos.