I wanted to start something in New York that focused on making products locally, and because I'd just had my second child didn't want to be traveling halfway across the world anymore. The idea was to have something wearable that fit with my reality, which was being a mom with two young kids and not always wanting to wear jeans. I still wanted to wear interesting clothes, and the options out there I found were either very expensive or very cheap. There was a big gap in the middle.

Knowledge creates the demand. The more people know about it, the more people will be interested and demand for things to be produced in a careful, conscious way.

People aren't buying blindly anymore, they want transparency. They want to know informed about where their clothes were made. I think that's why we have a loyal clientele.

For us, every day is Earth Day. It's like with Women's Day recently, I said, "Every day is women's day - we're women!" It's something that we sort of take for granted.

When people wear our Bolivian knits and see who knitted them, they are excited because they know they are supporting this women's cause in Bolivia. And it shows you that we are all connected. It's not a machine making your clothes in a black hole somewhere. There is a human being behind it, and a community there.

I've always been very aware of environment. When I was a kid I wanted to be a marine biologist until I realized I hated being underwater. I think a lot of that came from traveling and seeing the levels of waste produced by so many factories around the world.

It would be great if everybody got a conscience. If we started to take more responsibility for the pollution in the world caused by the fashion industry, and to produce less, but better-thought-out goods. Then it becomes worth saving up to buy something beautifully-designed because you can and will keep it, rather than buying a bunch of disposable fashion items you'll probably wear once before throwing away and adding to the waste stockpile. I do think people used to buy clothing with a more thoughtful approach.