Blue Cast: Marci Zaroff on Styling a Sustainable Fashion Industry
Sustainability has become a ubiquitous topic in fashion today, but it wasn’t always.
One of the pioneers to envision an improved industry was entrepreneur Marci Zaroff. Marci originated and trademarked the term “ecofashion” in 1995. In the mid-‘90s, she also discovered TENCEL™ fibers and began using them in her collections. During the most recent episode of our Blue Cast podcast series commemorating our 30th anniversary, Marci shared her earliest memories of TENCEL™ and spoke about her sustainable work in the industry.
“I want to style the world of change and change the world of style,” she said. “And I want to give back and I want to serve not just human and environmental wellness and farmer and worker welfare, but future generations, like my children.”
Marci’s entrepreneurial spirit has been with her since her childhood days running a lemonade stand. As she explains, “I had a calling from a very young age that it really is about doing well by doing good in the world.” Right out of college, Marci co-founded a health and environmental education center, which is now the Institute for Integrative Nutrition, offering training for health and nutrition coaches.
Seeing the connection between food and fashion, Marci moved from health and wellness into apparel. Inspired by what her mentor, Aveda founder Horst Rechelbacher, had accomplished in beauty, she set out to have a similar impact on clothes.
“We’re not just what we eat, but we’re also what we wear, because food and fiber are interconnected, both in agriculture and in popular culture,” she said.
Marci has always been driven by five P’s: people planet, profit, passion and purpose. She was also on the founding advisory board for the Cradle to Cradle Fashion Positive movement, which promotes practices like material reuse and renewable energy sources. This year, Marci’s company ECOfashion Corp will be debuting “biodynamic” apparel and home textiles that infuse circularity into farming practices.
“We have this symbiotic relationship with nature, with the environment; we’re not outside of it, we’re a part of it,” she noted.
Looking ahead, Marci foresees a shift from “eco fashion to smart fashion” as her “next chapter.” She is exploring how technology could be used to power transparency, a blend of content and commerce, and services like on-demand customization. The goal is to inspire action and sustainable lifestyles.
In addition to being an entrepreneur, Marci is also an author. Her first book, “ECOrenaissance,” published in 2018, and the “seed is planted” on a second book. She intends to dive deeper into how design can have an impact.
“We have to be the change, and we have to wear the change we all wish to see in the world,” she said.
Listen to the episode here.