Episode
Beth Jensen of Textile Exchange on fashion's complex history with data, how the organization is addressing it through their open-source reporting and the need to ensure the search for *perfect data* doesn't hinder real action
- Podcast
- Conscious Chatter
- Published
- Feb 3, 2026
- Duration seconds
- 3019
- Processing state
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Summary
In Episode 339, Kestrel welcomes Beth Jensen, the Chief Impact Officer at Textile Exchange, to the show. Leading the organization's efforts to achieve beneficial climate and nature impacts, Beth oversees key functions at Textile Exchange including impact data and Life Cycle Assessment studies; impact tools and reporting mechanisms; reports and research; fundraising; and public affairs/policy. "A big part of vulnerability is really admitting that you don't have all the answers. So in sustainability, in fashion, apparel, and textile space, this is just the way we have to operate. If you said you had all the answers, you wouldn't be taken seriously in this space … What you present as data might change the next time you present it because you have new and better information. You just have to be able to work in the gray and really take the best available information and make informed decisions based on that information." -Beth THEME — DATA & FASHION: METHODS & ACCESS Before we dive in, I want to take a moment to remind us all that FASHION IS POLITICAL. Whenever a big politically-charged moment arises in the U.S., there is this narrative I see creeping around that expects fashion (brands, designers, creators, etc) to stay silent on quote unquote political issues – that fashion should stay in its so-called lane, detached from the world around it. Here's the thing – FASHION IS POLITICAL. It always has been and it always will be. It doesn't exist in its own little vacuum. If you care about the fashion industry, and its impact on people and the planet, it's imminent to pay attention and engage in so-called politics, because it's entirely interconnected. Just to mention a few of these significant overlaps – The origins of the fashion industry in the United States – cotton grown b…