About this Event
The Fashion and Race Database Conversation Series is launching with a three-part panel series entitled, ‘Retail as a Portal,’ that explores how retail can empower us to produce and consume with positive, social impact and ignite systemic change. This series is hosted by professor and Founder of The Fashion and Race Database (www.fashionandrace.org), Kimberly Jenkins, and she will be joined by figures in the fashion constellation who are leading through visionary thinking and doing. The first installment of this series, ‘Retail as a Portal for Change,’ will feature an acclaimed design duo and an ethnobotanist who are transforming retail in both concept and practice.
Thank you to our title sponsor, Holt Renfrew’s H Project which carries a mandate of connecting consumers, causes and communities to inspire a new generation of purposeful luxury and drive positive change in the world. The mandate of the Fashion and Race Database aligned with Holt Renfrew’s commitment to honour diversity and inclusion and we're thrilled to have their support and leadership in bringing these conversations forward.
All events are free to register and open to the public. The conversations will be recorded.
Byron and Dexter Peart are twin brothers and the co-founders of Want Les Essentiels, a cult high-end accessories label focused on making stylish and comfortable luggage and travel bags for frequent travellers. In 2017, they launched GOODEE (www.goodeeworld.com). GOODEE is a leading curated marketplace offering essential homewares and lifestyle products for better living. GOODEE leads the way in curating a marketplace that brings together the values of good design, good people, and good purpose.
Leigh Joseph (ancestral name Styawat), is an ethnobotanist, researcher and entrepreneur from the Squamish First Nation. She contributes to cultural knowledge renewal in connection to traditional plant foods and medicines.
As founder of Sḵwálwen Botanicals, Leigh brings together Indigenous science and self-care rituals, crafting skincare experiences grounded in the natural world. Sḵwálwen (skwall-win) translates roughly to “heart” or “essence of being” in the Squamish language. This name honours the inspiration behind the business: building connections to the land through working with plants in a way that feeds one’s heart and spirit. Sḵwálwen has been featured in Elle Canada, Flare, enRoute, HuffPost and Chatelaine. Learn more at www.skwalwen.com.