{"podcast":{"title":"The Fashion Translator","slug":"the-fashion-translator-7762815","podcast_index_feed_id":7762815,"rss_url":"https://api.substack.com/feed/podcast/7272337.rss","website_url":"https://clairelysbastienwald.substack.com/podcast","image_url":"https://substackcdn.com/feed/podcast/7272337/255920ba332cb298a041d65742815136.jpg","author":"Claire-Lys Bastien Wald","episode_count":53,"summary":"Behind-the-scenes insights on fashion, manufacturing, and how AI is reshaping the industry—from someone who’s spent 15+ years inside it.","last_synced_at":"2026-07-31T00:18:48.605136+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-fashion-translator-7762815"},"episode":{"title":"Episode 29 – Elif Akaydin • Patent of Heart | Building a Purpose-Driven Handbag Brand Across Global Artisan Networks","slug":"episode-29-elif-akaydin-patent-of-heart-building-a-purpose-driven-handbag-brand-across-global-artisan-networks","published_at":"2026-05-05T13:00:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-fashion-translator-7762815/episode-29-elif-akaydin-patent-of-heart-building-a-purpose-driven-handbag-brand-across-global-artisan-networks","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-fashion-translator-7762815","url":"https://clairelysbastienwald.substack.com/p/episode-29-elif-akaydin-patent-of","audio_url":"https://api.substack.com/feed/podcast/196442265/4981e073bf736a824adf3c2ac2c62ffb.mp3","summary":"🎙️ In this episode of The Fashion Translator, I spoke with Elif Akaydin, Founder of Patent of Heart, about building a fashion brand where product, craftsmanship, and social impact are structurally interconnected — not just conceptually aligned. What starts as a handbag brand quickly reveals a much deeper system: one that connects women artisans across India, Lebanon, and Turkey, while funding education for young girls through every sale. This isn’t about adding purpose to a product. It’s about designing a business where every layer — from sourcing to production to revenue — reinforces a mission . From building cross-border artisan collaborations to structuring her workflow between creativity and sales, the conversation highlights what it actually takes to run a purpose-driven brand without losing operational control. We explore:• Why building a mission-led brand requires structural decisions — not just storytelling• How distributed craftsmanship (India, Lebanon, Turkey) becomes a unified product system• The reality of balancing design, sales, and production as a solo founder• Why separating creative time and operational time becomes critical to survival• The limitations of manual wholesale follow-up — and where automation starts to matter 🤍 Beyond the brand itself, Elif also supports the “I Have a Daughter in Anatolia” program, contributing to education for young women — with a donation link available for those who want to support directly. https://www.cydd.org.tr/pages/i-want-to-donate-34/ 📍 Alongside her wholesale activity, she is currently running a summer pop-up in New York’s West Village , offering a direct way to experience the products and meet the story behind them. 🛍️ Listeners can also access 20% off with the code FashionTranslator20 on her website — a way to…","meta_description":"🎙️ In this episode of The Fashion Translator, I spoke with Elif Akaydin, Founder of Patent of Heart, about building a fashion brand where product, craftsm…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":1422,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/the-fashion-translator-7762815/episodes/episode-29-elif-akaydin-patent-of-heart-building-a-purpose-driven-handbag-brand-across-global-artisan-networks/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-fashion-translator-7762815/episode-29-elif-akaydin-patent-of-heart-building-a-purpose-driven-handbag-brand-across-global-artisan-networks.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}