Our latest episode of Sustainable Solutions with Planet Aid is here, and it’s all about resilience! It’s the kind of resilience found by military veterans after painful and life-changing experiences. Additionally, the episode also talks about the resiliency of secondhand clothing, which is a topic you probably wouldn’t pair with the military veterans, but it’s the intersection of these two entities where the story connects.
In episode 19, hosts Monica Johnson and Haley Chitty talk to Valérie Coulloumme-Labarthe, the founder of the nonprofit organization Encore. They discuss the organization’s upcoming sustainable fashion show and its use of wounded veterans as models. The show shares their stories of resilience by combining the mission of Encore—empowering vulnerable and resilient people— with sustainable fashion.
On the podcast, Valérie shares the one request she makes of the veterans. She asks them to smile. By smiling, it allows the audience to focus on the model.
She shares that regular fashion shows showcase the clothes; therefore, the models don’t smile. However, in this show, which highlights the beauty of vulnerability, the focus is on the model. It’s also about the many obstacles the veterans/models had to overcome to get back their smile and walk in resilience.
Models from the upcoming fashion show will hail from the U.S., France, and Ukraine. Since the recording of this podcast, the date has been postponed, but visit Encore’s website for further details about the new date.
Read about one of the models from the first resilience fashion show in November 2023.
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