What if fashion wasn’t about more, but about meaning? About slowing down long enough to remember the land, the hands, the lineage behind what we wear?In this conversation, Sara sits down with Allie Feldman, who is reviving the ancient art of plant dyed-clothing and textiles through her line Rooted Botanics. Together, they trace the rebirth of craft: from ancient dye traditions to modern sustainability. Allie shares how plant color reshaped her connection to the land, the beauty of imperfection, and why making and mending with our hands matters more than ever. Expect to learn how plant dyes actually work, the chemistry of mordants, beginner-friendly plants (and food scraps) to start with, how reciprocity changes the way we harvest and buy, the environmental impacts of natural vs. synthetic dyes, and why embracing seasonality and slowness may be the most radical fashion statement of all.-Timestamps:(01:01) Meet Allie Feldman: the fashion detour that became a devotional path(02:13) Color since 4000 BCE: how cultures carried plant dyes across millennia(03:27) The “wake-up” class: one lecture that changed her career -and conscience(05:12) From thesis to practice: the first sustainable collection + early experiments(06:11) First dye-bath wonder: avocado pits, onion skins, and a heart ignition(07:50) What’s really happening in the pot? mordanting 101 (and why color lasts)(09:01) Coming home to natives: dyeing with what grows under your feet(10:45) Curiosity as compass: field notes, pH play, and backyard breakthroughs(12:57) Reciprocity in action: ethical harvests, seed spreading, tending places(17:54) Surrender to the seasons: when materials run out, and why that’s wisdom(20:20) Rewrite the story: letting imperfection shape the craft (and the self)(20:48) Classroom wonder: the eco-print reveal everyone remembers(22:04) Plants vs. petrochemicals: non-toxic color and what’s at stake downstream(23:41) The water reckoning: why the t-shirt in your drawer isn’t “just a t-shirt”(24:58) “At what cost?” slowness, price, and paying the real bill(25:10) Vintage as heirloom: garments that keep telling stories.(26:50) Buy less, choose better: quality, capability, and ancestral skills revived(32:16) Wabi-sabi wardrobe: stains, fades, and the beauty of becoming(35:10) Building a niche: the challenge of explaining plant dye (36:42) It takes a village: the women, the wisdom, the backend of a heart-led biz(38:28) Return to your why: living in rhythm with land, body, and community(44:53) Beginner’s kit: surrender, mordant like a pro, start with marigolds(47:08) Wearing better questions: how plant color changes how we consume(48:39) For future hands: what Allie wants the next generation to inherit(49:20) One last lesson: be a lifelong student of the dyepot(49:36) Rapid-fire: two life-changing books, a Mary Oliver mantra, awe in the alpine(52:18) Candlelit ritual: pre-dawn pages that anchor a creative life(52:42) Where to find Allie: Rooted Botanics online + IRL in Ventura-Links:Rooted Botanics Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rootedbotanics/Rooted Botanics Website:

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