ZAHRA BIABANI: founder of In the Loop and author of Climate Optimism - on using artificial intelligence to help resellers generate accurate and detailed listings more quickly.

This episode of Pre-Love Podcast is sponsored by Most Wanted luxury resale. Most Wanted is a luxury consignment boutique that believes in extending the life of luxury by cherishing the history of garments and continuously writing them a news story. Located in British Columbia, Canada, with shipping across North America, Most Wanted is here to build dream wardrobes without furthering the unjust impacts of the fashion industry on both people and our planet. Discover fabulous pre-love clothing and accessories from the likes of Chanel, Burberry, Dior, and more, plus new collections dropping all the time featuring designers such as Jean-Paul Gaultier, Scaparelli, and Vivienne Westwood. Style is all about storytelling. Find your story at mostwantedresale.com and use the code "pre-lovedpod" for $20 off $100 or more. I'll put that information in the show notes so you can check it out. Thanks so much, Most Wanted, for your support of today's show, and let's dive right into it! Hey, vintage lovers! I'm Emily Stokel, and this is Pre-Love Podcast, the show about rad vintage style, and guess you'll want to go thrifting with. This is the space where we talk about all things vintage, secondhand, and pre-loved across the fashion space. And for new listeners, or longtime pals, to follow along with all things thrift, vintage, rad, retro, and sustainable, you can find me, Emily Stokel, across the internet as @emilyimstokel. Come hang out, I'd love to chat with you! Alright, let's talk about today's show because I can't wait for you to hear this one. Today's episode is with Zarbia Bonny, a youth climate activist, entrepreneur, author, and TED speaker. We chat about her recently published book, which is called Climate Optimism, Climate Wins and Creating Systemic Change Around the World, which explores data-driven reasons for environmental hope, something we all need. And we discuss her newest venture, where Zarb is the founder and CEO of a startup in the secondhand fashion space called In the Loop. In the Loop's mission is to make selling used clothing online easier for secondhand store owners by providing a software that allows sellers to generate an accurate and detailed online listing with just a picture of the garment. We learn all about it in today's show, and it's a really fun episode, so let's dive right into it! Hey there, and welcome to Prila Podcast! I am so excited to have you on the show today! To get us started, could you introduce yourself to the listeners and tell us a little bit about what you do? Yes, I'm so excited to be here. Thank you so much for having me. My name is Zarbia Bonny, and I am the founder of In the Loop, which is a software that helps automate the process of generating secondhand listings for retail. And I'm the author of Climate Optimism, which is a book that shares data-driven reasons to have hope for our planet Earth. I am so excited to chat with you about all of these things. You're building something really interesting over in the Loop, but before we dive into the nitty-gritty, I'd love if you could take us back in time with your history with style. Have you always loved fashion and clothes? Yeah, I love how you always ask this. And every time I listen to your podcast, I'm like, "I know what I would say if I was asked this." Because no, I have not. And I honestly still, like, it's not a main passion of mine, frankly, but it is as a function of what it can stand for. So I found out about human trafficking when I was in 11th grade, and someone that I had gone to high school with actually told me that she had been trafficked throughout her high school experience. And I was really shocked and couldn't wrap my head around it. I had never thought about it. So I did a deep dive, learned about the different types of trafficking, and labor trafficking to me seemed like a way that I could really get involved because it really is involved with what we buy and how we vote with our dollar. And fashion was a particularly interesting representation of the inequalities behind trafficking because the apparel industry, as you know, is so wrapped up in injustices and how garment workers are treated, whether it's wage theft or employing underage workers or mistreatment and all of the above. So using fashion, which is supposed to empower us as a vehicle for showing people that, hey, this is this thing that we do to wear what we love and show our true character and personality, but it can come at the cost of exploitation. So fashion to me was like a really visceral way to show people some of that inequality. And so the environmental footprint as well when I learned about it of fashion was really apparent. And for me, then fashion was something that I began to really appreciate for how it can be a vehicle for talking to people about the human and environmental side of what we consume. When did you start to become aware of these issues and interested in, you know, tackling problems related to social justice or environmentalism? Yeah. So in high school, I was always very oriented around social justice, but hadn't really narrowed down what that would look like for me. But when I was talking to this acquaintance of mine in high school and she had told me about her trafficking traffic, that really incited something in me because I didn't think it existed in my country or my state, let alone my upper middle class school district. And then in terms of the environmental perspective, as I was learning about conscious consumerism as a way to tackle trafficking, I learned about the environmental footprint of what we consume. And that kind of was a gateway to learning about the climate crisis. So where it is now and how the passions have evolved is really thinking about how exploitation of land and labor is really tied into our lives and how we can extract ourselves from those systems. And those systems are so intersecting, like you said. It's like once you start learning about one thread and you pull on that a little bit, it all starts to unravel. Right, exactly. When did you start sharing? So I know you mentioned your book and your platform has kind of become known for sharing climate optimism stories online. When did you start doing that? Yeah, so I started the platform like a long while ago. It was called Soulful Seeds. That was around the time that I had learned from that acquaintance about her terrible experiences. And she actually reached out to me because I had written a piece on mental health. I was writing about a wide variety of things. And she said it resonated with her because of her experiences. And that's how we really got talking on that topic. But as I dove into these other topics that I began to grow passionate about, I explored them on the blog and then realized that sharing on social media would be great to draw attention back to those long-reformed blog posts. And so really in college, that really accelerated because I studied climate studies. And so sharing what I was learning in the classroom online was something I really loved to do. And then in 2020, when the pandemic came, I myself felt really despondent about the change that I could actually affect. And I know a lot of other people did as well. And so I was inspired by my friend Catherine Kellogg, who's going zero waste on Instagram. She's like the first person who started the Good News series for environmental news specifically. And so I just, I asked her and she was like, yes, of course, you should do it. And so started posting these weekly earthwinds week after week and just really saw that it resonated with a lot of people who needed that source of hope in a time of darkness. What were you noticing about some of the most popular or resonant climate optimism messages that you shared? You know, like what were some of those stories that really seemed to connect with people? Yeah, the stories that really resonated with people were kind of the overarching, more structural signs of change, which I really focus on in the book. So things like institutional divestment, major institutions, nonprofits, universities, divesting their financial assets from extractive industries, and reallocating those funds into clean energy, land back. So, you know, the return of land to Indigenous people who have been exploited and who are the best stewards of the land. So things like those areas where it shows signs of progress that are really promising, that extend past a kind of feel good, quippy story of one person doing one thing. This is more like the result of many people putting forth many efforts to achieve a goal that is really important for the climate and its people. It's so interesting that, you know, even as you're sharing stories of optimism, that you felt people were resonating to the systemic shifts, which is like so important that we get that message across to people. And I think it shows how much our space has really changed that people are thinking about those shifts as opposed to just like eco swaps or things like that. Oh yeah, 100%. And I think that was super encouraging because I sometimes, you know, week after week, it was difficult to find a positive story. And sometimes I felt like I had filler stories that were not as exciting as some of the more kind of, you know, the divestment oriented or land back oriented or one of the many other kind of larger movements. But I was encouraged by everyone's response and that they realized that, you know, every small win is a win. And that there were reasons to celebrate, but even more reasons to keep fighting when we acknowledge those celebrations. Yeah, that's so important for people to connect. And obviously, this eventually led you to write your book about climate optimism. Why do you think, you know, the time was right for that story? And why does climate optimism resonate so much with people now? Yeah, so it was definitely an unexpected kind of opportunity. The publishing agency that I worked with actually identified that this was a good time for this book. And they reached out asking me to write a book on it. So I was not anticipating doing so, but really wanted to take advantage of that opportunity. And I think the agency picked up on the fact that so many people are inherently passionate about this issue because it affects us so deeply. But they don't know how to mobilize for systemic change. And what I had focused on, like as we as we just spoke about with the weekly earthwinds is really those systemic solutions to the systemic crisis. And so a book on this topic that really uncovered ways that people could get involved that were more impactful than simple swaps was something people really yearn for. And did writing this book, you know, based in stories of climate optimism, but also data and, you know, fact filled information help you with how you're personally dealing with the emotional weight of the climate emergency? Yeah, 100%. Like, I had been collecting the weekly stories. So there was a 100 page document or a little bit more than 100 pages with each story and a little blurb about it. And so like going through and kind of clumping them together based on section, and then also looking into who were the movement leaders behind each, each movement, and talking to them was really important for me because I wanted to acknowledge their work. Obviously, I couldn't interview everyone who has played a role in each movement, but that too gave me a really resounding sense of hope because I got to hear from people who had been successful in paving the way for systemic change. Very cool. I'm going to, of course, link to where folks can find your book in the show notes for this episode, but I want to take us over now to what you're doing within the loop, which is also very exciting. But before we do that, have you always been, I know that fashion isn't like a huge passion of yours, but I'd love to hear how you got into the world of thrift and second hand. Yeah, so immediately after I had that kind of learning about labor trafficking and how the apparel industry was really involved in it, I was like, okay, I want to, I want to start thrifting. So I've been thrifting ever since. I'm definitely, like, as I mentioned, I don't think I'm like the most fashionable person out there, but I love thrifting. And I think second hand consumption is, in my opinion, the most sustainable option other than shopping what you already have, because it doesn't involve environmental footprint of producing something new, even if it's with less resources. And also the labor implications. It's really hard to run a transparent supply chain, which is one of the complexities of the issue. But when you shop second hand, you're reducing a lot of those complexities involved in both labor and the environmental side. So I've loved doing so for about seven years now. And, you know, all that you're up to just like amazes me because we talked about your book that you were working on. And in the meantime, you're also founding your first startup. Tell us about the origins of In The Loop, like how it started and then your pivot that the startup has gone through recently. Yeah, yeah, definitely. So I, in July of 2022, myself and my friend Megan McSherry started a company called Rent In The Loop. And we had both been on social media for a while interacting with conscious consumers and sharing education that resonated with them. We realized that there was a big gap between the people who wanted to support values aligned, sustainable fashion brands, and those that actually could support those brands. And that was really because of the price barriers and accessibility barriers, even style and size barriers. So we wanted to use rental as a way to bring down those barriers to entry so that everyone who wanted to support values aligned brands could do so. So we operated for a few months and there was a ton of interest. And it was really cool working with these sustainability oriented brands that we vetted for certain measures and practices. But I realized pretty quickly that a reverse logistics business is really capital intensive. For that was one reason to I since I had been buying second hand for around six years at that point, it just felt a little weird for me to be buying new. And thirdly, there was still kind of a gap in the amount of styles that many brands offered to customers. And we found that our customers wanted more more styles. The concept of rental is really, you know, having a rotating closet. And that was a little bit at odds with with like our ethos and mission. So for those reasons, I decided to pivot the business. And I did what's called a listening tour, which is where you kind of go and do kind of customer discovery, problem discovery in kind of hot spots of whatever you're working on. So I went in in thrift stores in LA in New York, and just camped out there, asked people questions, and identified a new problem in the related space that hasn't been solved that I wanted to solve for. And that's what I'm working on now within the loop. So the problem here is that buying second hand online is really difficult because selling second hand online is not easy. And we are trying to make selling second hand online super easy, so you can submit a picture of a garment, and we'll generate a detail rich resale listing for you so that the buyer gets consistency in what they see. And they have the confidence to make a purchase. So let's start with some of the problems. Like what were some of the things that you were hearing from people as you were doing this listening tour that helped you figure out like the void that you could fill with in the loop? Yeah, absolutely. So many of the problems were people saying that they don't have many second hand thrift consignment stores in their area, so they have to go online if they want to shop second hand. But with online, there's inconsistencies in listings. Measurements are oftentimes missing, and that's really important for people to make sure that something's going to fit them, especially because you can't return items on many of these platforms. Two, for people who are not primarily motivated by sustainability and more so motivated by fashion but interested in sustainability, resale listings that have not the best quality photos and are just not as nice as retail listings are a big turn off, and so that it prevents them from from shopping on these sites. And thirdly, there's a lot of price gouging on these second hand marketplaces, and some second hand items are way more expensive than they should be. And so a lot of people took issue with that and stopped buying online second hand because of the the pricing factor. I realized then that selling on these apps took too much time. I had never experienced that personally, but so many people I talked to, this this was the main answer in what inhibits them from engaging in these platforms is the time it takes to list an item. And they all, well, many people said they have a chair of garments in their room. A couple people even said they had a bathtub full of garments that they intend to list, but just like haven't gotten around to it. I even talked to one person who was telling me she almost hired a VA, a virtual assistant to help her list her items, and she was like not a professional reseller. She just like had a bunch of stuff from quarantine she wanted to put online. So that was really the the biggest pain point. And then I realized the same pain point of the time it takes to list and selling a second hand item online was one that professional resellers are experiencing. So those who sell on peer to peer marketplaces as a part or full-time job and business owners who have managed marketplaces think like huge second hand online marketplaces that sell a thousand plus items per month. They also are dedicating a lot of time and resources to each individual listing. And I realized that that is something we could really solve with technology. There is so much to unpack in what you have just shared, but something that you said that really jumped out to me was that you talked to a lot of people who were interested in shopping second hand, but they're not primarily motivated by the sustainability factor. And I think that this is something that the space has to just like get really honest about is that data shows that like people think of that as a perk, but like second hand shopping also has to be fashionable and affordable and accessible and easy. That's just the reality of like if we want mainstream customers to make that shift, it has to have those elements. And I think it's really smart and key that you identified that. Yeah, no, I absolutely agree. And like what we kind of are our tagline is we want to make second hand online shopping as easy as retail in order to displace the whole that fast fashion has on the apparel industry altogether. And you're completely right, like especially the statistics about Gen Z show a major discrepancy in what many people say they want to value and say they want to support when it comes to fashion brands, and what they actually do. So, you know, many people say that they don't want to support fast fashion brands, but their buying history does not line up with that. And that's really because fast fashion is so easy. There's listings that are, you know, really clear. Pictures are great. We know we're going to get it shipped in a day. Returns are a huge part of that. And there's all the information on sizing and everything like that. And that's not yet the case for second hand marketplaces. Yeah. And so I think that it is important for us to think about like, what are those other reasons? I mean, we know that part of it is just like, you know, wanting to to have the trendiest thing or whatever. But there are these other reasons that have drawn so many people to buy fast fashion in this way. And so what can the second hand industry learn from that and improve the buying experience? I think so many people listening are going to relate to what you said about the time that it takes to list something. I mean, I know I personally like it's a chore to list things that I want to resell. And I know that like, even though I can make money from it, and I know that it's what I want to do, it still feels like a chore. And then professional resellers, again, it's like, how are they valuing the time that they're spending listing that item online? Because it really does take so much time. Yeah, absolutely. Our average client from our pilot tests spent around five minutes per item generating a listing, which is a lot of time, especially for professionals. So that is definitely a huge expense. And also, there's a lot of error in that process. And then describe to us a little bit about how you are using AI to improve the listings, because for folks who just don't know anything about that space, I think that could seem like a little bit of a foreign concept to them. Yeah, absolutely. So we use a couple of different kinds of artificial intelligence. We use computer vision, which, as you might deduce from the name, takes images and derives an extracts data from it. And then also, we use textual recognition. So when clients submit an image of a garment with the tag, we're able to pull information, textual information from that tag. So the process looks like a client takes photos of garments on like laid flat. And one picture of a spotlight and one picture of a tag. They keep going with however many garments they want to list, and they just submit it, drag and drop it to our software. And on our end, each garment, we run the models that we have to predict the color, the suggested price, the fabric, the brand, and measurements. So the measurements one is really the most interesting for most people. We basically detect the key points of the garment based on its category, which is another field that we predict. And then, once we know the key points, we measure from the image pixels to actual inches. And that is currently operating with a fourth of an inch of an error rate. So we do that for each garment that the client submits. And we have a human team that checks to make sure that the fields look correct. And then we basically submit the results in a CSV or an Excel file back to the client so they can upload it to their shop. So it can tell like how the waist measurement, for example, it can tell these things by looking at the pixels in the photo. Yep, exactly. How wild is that? It's pretty crazy. With their moments as you were trying to solve all of these problems that like gave you trouble and how did you begin to tackle that? Yeah, absolutely. There's like, you know, if a garment is not laid completely flat, there can be issues there. Some vendors like to take pictures on mannequin. And that can be, that's a different process than a flat lay. The lighting matters a lot. And so these kinds of issues or discrepancies are why we wanted to start working with professional resellers because we know that they really care about image quality and consistency. And so we can set up systems where we're getting the data in a way that's consistent and can be helpful to them. And so we run a pretty tight loop with with these clients and establishing systems of efficiency. There's definitely moments where we're like, things are not working. But we that's kind of where the human team comes in. So we have a team that knows garments pretty well and is able to identify the field that we currently don't have accurate models for. So we only deploy models on our server that have a 95% plus accuracy rate. And right now, like, for example, a neckline, we're not at that accuracy rate yet. So we have taggers that will select what kind of neckline it is. And eventually, at around, you know, 50,000 data points, we'll be able to build out the model that predicts that. So the more information that can be absorbed, the smarter it gets essentially. Exactly. And how does this information so we mentioned that like one of the holdups of people shopping secondhand online is that listings lack information that buyers need to make informed shopping decisions. How does having all of this information help make people more informed in their shopping choices? Yeah, great question. So we took an internal survey. And we found that of people browsing secondhand marketplaces, 78% of people were more or much more likely to make a purchase if the listing had information on condition and measurements. So those are just two factors that are that we are helping to identify for the potential clients to help them make a more informed and confident purchase. And tell us a little bit about how having something like this can help a secondhand business really scale up their online operation. Yeah, absolutely. So for our initial clients, we had a couple that didn't have an online store yet because of this kind of barrier. Which is labor intensive. Exactly. And it's just like a whole new space, you know, you've dominated the physical space. And it's like, now you're saying have to go online, which you don't have to. And I think there's a lot of beauty to stores that operate, you know, only in person brick and mortar. But I think we all know e-commerce has obviously been growing for decades now. And it's not slowing down. And since a lot of secondhand sellers have a high volume, there's so many use clothing out there, there's a huge potential to create a new revenue stream when you sell online. As mentioned, our average client takes around five minutes to list an item. And so we bring down that baseline time by around 70%. So between 60 to 80% by using our software. So our clients still have to take a picture of the garment. But that's literally all they have to do. And we do the rest. And that really removes a lot of the barriers to entry for businesses who want to sell online. Because everyone knows how to take a picture. And it makes the process a lot easier and less intimidating. And that's that's really our goal. I can picture how like, I mean, you know, we talked about people understand the amount of labor and time that goes into listing items online. But when you think about that at the scale of like, a very large thrift store, for example, the sorting, the listing, you know, we've talked about on the show before, just like the knowledge that you have to have to identify everything about these pieces. It's so hard to imagine these stores being able to process very much very quickly. And you can see how something like this could truly revolutionize that space. Yeah, absolutely. It takes, you know, with these large operations, like you were just mentioning, there are our businesses that are moving 100,000 single skew items, meaning single stock keeping unit items per week. And that takes a lot of human expertise to tag and sort and list and photograph and all of that. And so we really want to help automate that and decrease inefficiencies and inaccuracies in that process. And our goal is like, imagine that instead of having these fast fashion giants, there were more secondhand sellers online that were big names that people could buy from because they're affordable, they're consistent, they're good quality. That's really like what we envision for the future. Exactly. And I also think it starts to help solve the problem that there's like so much unsold inventory that is sitting. I think people don't realize how much unsold secondhand inventory is sitting out there and how we could start to begin solving this huge problem by getting some of that processed and listed. Absolutely. Like I always, you know, think ideally we would not produce any new garments because there is so much resistance. Now, I don't necessarily believe that can happen, but we could get a lot closer if we saw the full spectrum of what exists, but is just not in our eye range, in our eyesight. Yeah, exactly. So talk to us a little bit about where you are within the loop. You mentioned you're working with clients and you're actively developing it with their feedback. Would love to hear about this stage in the process. Yeah, absolutely. So as mentioned, we are starting with like really kind of high volume clients. So our clients are moving at least a thousand single skew items per month and listing them on their website or on eBay. We currently have three that are fully on the platform and are looking to onboard more. A couple clients are quite large and they have their own software for their inventory management. So they actually connect with our APIs and that basically means like we send them data based on our machine learning models so they can integrate it with their own native software. So we're looking to like continue expand with these continuing expanding with these kind of high volume clients that have a system in place that we can just help to automate. Fascinating. And how do you think that this is going to play a role in the changing second hand market? We really hope to accelerate the proliferation of new second hand online stores but also just the momentum of current second hand stores. Both manage marketplaces where there is a central warehouse where all these items are shipped and packed from and also these marketplaces where it's peer to peer and it's really reliant on people, individuals selling their used items. We're really open to feedback for very early stage so if you are someone who sells a lot on marketplaces or is interested in we would just love to hear like your feedback on what we're building because we just want as many people to be part of the movement as possible. Building it as a tool to serve the second hand industry. We love it. Okay I'm going to take us over to some personal style type questions now. I'd love for you to tell us a little bit about your style and what kinds of outfits you like to wear. I have been really into layering basics as of late. So like body suits, baggy jeans, a vest and then also like stacking vintage jewelry. So I've been pretty like on on a staples closet for for a bit now but I also love some fun colored statement pieces especially jackets that's one thing that I like really need to be conscious about thrifting because I feel like I have a lot of statement jackets. So yeah I don't really know what I'm sure people say this a lot but like I don't really know what I would specifically categorize my style as but I'm really into basic for now. And what are some of your favorite spots to shop pre-loved? So I love Goodwill bins. I'm the biggest fan of Goodwill bins. I know it's like a whole experience and it's not like I go there super frequently but when I go it's like I'm there and I'm there for a mission and I've got my gloves on and you know the whole setup. So like some of my favorite finds are from the bins and I went to college in Nashville and we had the most amazing bins I've ever been to. So I've been trying to find a bins that meets that kind of caliber but haven't haven't done so yet. But the bins and then also like if I'm ever looking for something specific Poshmark is in my go-to. And recently I've really been loving Detour. They're actually one of our clients and they are America's first influencer thrift store meaning they take like inventory and garments that have you know been gifted or worn by influencers and they sell it on a platform. And they're just like a lot of cool unique pieces and really high on brands as well that I've really been loving shopping on there. I want to hear some of your best bins stories and also I like I totally think there is something to be said about people always tell me that their college town thrift stores are like a romance that they continue to chase for the rest of my life. Like there's just something about it they're just good. I'm glad it's not just me. One time I found this is my favorite one. One time I found a chicken wing in the bin. This is so real. But my favorite find from the bins I think they have awesome shoes that are really slept on. I got these 90 I think they're 93 vintage Nike golf shoes and they don't have like spikes or cleats on the bottom so they're just like sneaker bottoms but they got like the little flap and they're white and they're just so cool and I always get a ton of help on them. How fun is that? I would love to hear about something that you found secondhand like forever ago and it's still in your wardrobe and will always be in your wardrobe like it's a go-to forever piece. That's a great question. I would say there is this dress that is like very I honestly think it might have been from Zara but I got it at I got it at Salvation Army and it's just like this beautiful like knit new dress that works for like any season. I layer it with a ton of stuff in the fall and winter or I wear it just like sleeveless in the summer and it's honestly like such good quality. I don't know why or how it's it's held up for years and years but it's also funny because I went to the Ritzia store to a company of friend like two years ago in New York and like three of the employees and Ritzia is known for having like some some kind of not so very friendly employees. They came up to me and they're like oh I love that dress like what season of ours is it from and I felt like it's from Salvation Army and I got a little look but that was very satisfied and it's yeah I wear it like probably once every other week honestly. It's so funny to think about like pieces that you love that have no label in them because obviously like that's something that you're trying to solve within the loop. Yeah yeah no exactly and it's difficult obviously no we can't that our limitations are definitely like vintage items that are earlier than the 90s like we can't they're not online and so unless they have been posted online already by somebody else like there's no way for us to easily identify it but that's something we're really interested in so I guess that's another thing like we're always looking for people to talk to and compensate of course that have like a lot of experience and like vintage archival work because that's an area we're really interested in like how can we help determine like what era something is and authenticate it. Yeah I mean it's a fascinating problem for the space to solve like no one all those those pieces are so one of one that it is just a whole interesting story in itself. Yeah 100%. What's the longest that you've searched for something and then you found like exactly the one that you were looking for? You know I don't honestly think that because I feel like my experiences on Poshmark and eBay I've been able to find pretty much any time I've wanted a specific item. You did it just comes to you. Like a specific item. Yeah yeah yeah maybe that's a hot take. No I honestly kind of feel the same way I'm like I feel like most of the time anything that I want second hand it comes to me. Yeah I don't know. Is there anything you're looking for second hand right now? Yes I'm looking for black loafers and there are a lot of like you know with shoes especially like I would love some like nice quality not one of the you know not ASOS brand loafers which are most of what I've been finding online so looking for some good quality lightly worn black loafers that are going to last you a long time. Exactly and then I'd love to hear about a second hand piece that you are sentimental about maybe it has a special memory associated with it something like that in your closet that you love. Yeah absolutely my favorite and most sentimental second hand piece my as I got accepted into Vanderbilt which is where I went and it was like my dream school and one day before I got the acceptance letter my friend and like a rural town an hour outside of Dallas was at a Goodwill and she picked up this Vanderbilt sweatshirt and she didn't tell me until I got in and she gave it to me and like yellow is my favorite color and it was like this yellow that they don't really use anymore and it was just so special because I just couldn't believe she found it at this random Goodwill that was actually four hours away from where I live because I don't even live in Dallas and I still wear it to this day. Sometimes like you just find those second hand pieces that just feel so meant to be and like you just can't replicate that experience. No you can't and I'm like sometimes I'm like I've been wearing that sweatshirt for days at a time when I'm working from home and my boyfriend's like have you changed? So something that you know I always love to do on the show is give people the chance to do some shoutouts it could be style shoutouts who's inspiring you in the space vintage shops you love whatever you would like to share so the preload podcast community can check out some new folks to follow so I'd love to give you a chance to do some shoutouts. Yeah absolutely. I really am inspired by Stephanie Benedetto from Queen of Raw. She's built this awesome amazing business that basically takes action on excess inventory and helps turn like pollution into profit so I'm really inspired by her and how she's been really intentional about building out her business. Stylistically I need to be you know I'm actively on the lookout for inspiration so that is something that I if you if you are a style queen please like I need to follow you I need to because I just like have again been been in a little bit of a rut with all of that but there's this really cool app um called Fomenno F-O-M-E-I-N-O and it's kind of like Pinterest for like thrifted and secondhand fashion um and the founders are really cool there's this group of girls and so I've been getting inspiration from that but I love browsing that app so I definitely recommend checking it out. How fun is that I'll link that in the show notes for folks to check out. Well sorry thank you so much for coming on the show and sharing what you're up to it's so exciting and I know that it's really going to pique the interest of a lot of people uh any last things you'd like to share with listeners just to send us out um I would just say that I'm well I'm really thankful for for you having me on I've been a listener for a long while um and I'm super excited to just connect with anyone who's listening about in the loop or life or secondhand fashion more generally. We love it. Thank you so much. Thank you. All right everyone that's our show thanks for listening to Pre-Love Podcast and being a part of this community. We'll be back with a new episode next week on Monday. In the meantime coming out with me Emily Stockel found across the internet as @emilyamstockel or join our community over on Patreon at patreon.com/pre-lovepod. Big thanks to all my Patreon subscribers because you make Pre-Love Podcast possible. A couple last housekeeping items. Check the show notes for links to everything we mentioned today. I'll make it super easy for you to find the details, tags, and links there and something new I'm trying out this year. I've started a sub stack newsletter which is pre-lovepod.substack.com and you can find the show notes to the podcast episode there. You can subscribe and the podcast show notes will be delivered to you in an email newsletter so you are sure you don't miss a thing we talk about on the show. And of course if you enjoyed today's episode don't forget to subscribe in your podcast app so you get all the new episodes right when they come out on Monday morning and you can also take a screenshot and share that you're listening on social media so friends can find us too or drop us a quick reading or review in your favorite podcast app because that kind of stuff really helps new listeners discover the show and together we can grow the secondhand loving community. All right that's all I've got for you today. Thanks for listening and talk to you all next week.