Pre-Loved Podcast is a weekly vintage fashion interview show, with guests you’ll want to go thrifting with! For more Pre-Loved Podcast, subscribe to our Patreon!

On today’s show, we’re chatting with Chemitei Janet. Chemitei Is an environmentalist and slow fashion educator based in Kenya. She does storytelling and educational work in sustainable waste management for organizations like Greenpeace Africa, Clean Up Kenya, and Threading Change, and her mission is to highlight the reality of waste and the fashion industry in Kenya.

On today’s show, we talk about how Chemitei got into secondhand clothing, her love of crochet, and the incredible local upcycling community in her area. Plus, we unpack the challenges of sustainable waste management in and around Gikomba market in Nairobi – Chemitei believes the market brings into perspective the reality of overproduction and overconsumption in the fashion industry and it is important that everyone sees what really happens to clothes that end up in countries where they’re not necessarily needed.

I really loved getting to speak with her and learn more about sustainability from her point of view – I think you’re going to really enjoy this episode, so let’s dive right into it!

DISCUSSED IN THE EPISODE:

• [4:05] Chemitei’s experiences with fashion and the secondhand market growing up.
• [11:58] The different kinds of secondhand markets she visited in Kenya over the years.
• [14:57] Whether she knew it or not, Chemitei grew up with a lot of sustainability values from her family.
• [30:47] Why there is so much secondhand clothing in Kenya today.
• [33:40] The Changing Markets Trashion Report, and how the state of the secondhand clothing in Kenya has changed. Today, 20–50% of the used-clothing in bales they buy is unsellable due to poor quality.
• [52:31] The upcycling community in and around Gikomba market and throughout Nairobi.
• [1:05:00] The most cherished pieces in Chemitei’s closet.

EPISODE MENTIONS:

• Chemitei Janet
• Gikomba Market in Nairobi
• Trashion Report by Clean Up Kenya and Changing Markets Foundation
• Rummage Studio
• Africa Collect Textiles
• Mabatini Studio
• 25SW4P

LET’S CONNECT:

• 📸Instagram: @emilymstochl
• 🐦Twitter: @emilymstochl
• 🎥TikTok: @emilymstochl
• 📧 Substack: https://prelovedpod.substack.com/
• 🎧Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/prelovedpod

SPECIAL THANKS:

A special thanks goes out to my Patron Insiders – your support makes Pre-Loved Podcast possible!

• Patty Weber
• Beverley Docherty of Wolfe Pack Vintage
• Danny of Galaxy Live
• Kathy Brand
• Lucero Buendia
• Tricia Zelazny
• Leslie V.
• Lisa of Queenie & Pearl
• Lucille of Galipette Vintage
• KT
• Lydia Welp
• Anastacia Banicke of Goods & Provisions
• Michael A.
• Megan Morris

Pre-Loved Podcast is a weekly vintage fashion interview show, with guests you’ll want to go thrifting with! For more Pre-Loved Podcast, subscribe to our Patreon!

On today’s show, we’re chatting with Lindsey of Fat & Habitat. Fat & Habitat sells plus size vintage clothing in and around the Northeast. Run by Lindsey and her husband Alex, Fat & Habitat has a focus on sustainable materials and quality construction. Their mission is to provide underrepresented folks of the plus size community fashionable, timeless clothing.

Lindsey and I chat about her background in fashion, and love of quality clothing, which sparked the vision to bring inclusivity to the vintage community via Fat & Habitat, and what that means to her. I really loved getting to meet Lindsey and Alex at the Manhattan Vintage Show – they were incredibly kind! – and we talk about all this and more on today’s show, so let’s dive right into it!

DISCUSSED IN THE EPISODE:

• [2:05] Lindsey has always been a fashion-lover, and started making clothes for her Barbie dolls when she was just five-years-old.
• [3:12] This translated into reworking clothes for her own closet.
• [6:55] She moved to LA for college, and to fulfill her dream of working in fashion.
• [15:03] The decision to officially open her vintage business, after selling casually on Poshmark for several years.
• [17:57] What it means to them to be able to offer inclusivity at vintage fashion events via Fat & Habitat.
• [21:16] The vintage brands and styles that have become Fat & Habitat’s specialities.
• [36:50] Debunking the “people were just smaller back then” myth.
• [41:14] Fat & Habitat’s first NYC show!
• [46:42] Lindsey’s most cherished pieces in her vintage collection.

EPISODE MENTIONS:

• Fat & Habitat
• Little City Thrift
• Manhattan Vintage Show
• Pre-Loved Podcast episode about vintage Coach
• Thova Vintage
• The Thicket Worcester
• Femme & Nest
• @indigostylevintage
• Sheryl from Indigo Style Vintage on Pre-Loved Podcast
• Top Shelf Vintage
• Divine Times Vintage

LET’S CONNECT:

• 📸Instagram: @emilymstochl
• 🐦Twitter: @emilymstochl
• 🎥TikTok: @emilymstochl
• 📧 Substack: https://prelovedpod.substack.com/
• 🎧Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/prelovedpod

SPECIAL THANKS:

A special thanks goes out to my Patron Insiders – your support makes Pre-Loved Podcast possible!

• Patty Weber
• Beverley Docherty of Wolfe Pack Vintage
• Danny of Galaxy Live
• Kathy Brand
• Lucero Buendia
• Tricia Zelazny
• Leslie V.
• Lisa of Queenie & Pearl
• Lucille of Galipette Vintage
• KT
• Lydia Welp
• Anastacia Banicke of Goods & Provisions
• Michael A.
• Megan Morris