Tailored for Change: The Journey to Sustainable Fashion with Sarene Alsharif of Tad More Tailoring and Alterations

Kim Allchurch Flick: Hello everyone. This is Kim Allchurch Flick and I am so excited. To have someone who I met at BUILD 2025 in Portland, Oregon through be local PDX. This is Sarene Alsharif, the CEO and Co-founder of tad more tailoring and alterations, a purpose-driven apparel service company, advancing sustainability through repair.

Reuse and ethical employment. A TEDx speaker and community builder, she champions the idea that extending the life of clothing is one of the most practical ways businesses can reduce waste and emissions. Serene leads tad more tailoring with a people and planet first mindset, building workforce pathways while serving customers who value, quality and longevity.

Her work sits at the intersection of circular fashion, dignified jobs, and responsible business. The topic today is tailored to last, how repair, circular fashion, and purpose-driven business can reduce waste and build strong communities. It is so good to have you here. Welcome. 

Sarene Alsharif: Thank you for having me. I’m so excited to talk to you and really share the message of sustainability and how we can all together create a better world.

Kim Allchurch Flick: I agree. And. Just to include the listeners we met at the BUILD Conference in Portland, Oregon. November, 2025, and I was so taken with your talk. Thank you. You had so many statistics that were ho, horrifying and also awe inspiring and as a solution, you’ve done something really amazing. So let’s go back to some early parts about your journey and what did you notice through life and experience that brought you to where you are today?

Sarene Alsharif: That’s a great question. A lot of people don’t know that I’m a licensed dietician and I have my master’s in public health. And the way my journey started is I used to give a talk called the Dark Side of Food, and I would go, I worked at the local hospital and my job was prevention. So my passion, all my life has been health promotion and disease prevention.

I want people to live happy, healthy lives and, so my job is to, was to go out to the different businesses and, talk to them about the chemicals and the additives and the Teflon and all the awful stuff that, that’s in their food. So as a good scientist, you always wanna review the research before you go and give your presentation.

One day I put fast food into the Google and fast fashion popped up. This was in 2016, and I’m like what type of a joke is that? So I went down the rabbit hole because I was intrigued. I’m like, what? What is this fast fashion 

Kim Allchurch Flick: thing?

Sarene Alsharif: And I learned that the fast fashion industry is the second dirtiest industry in the world.

I learned that it’s polluting our air, our water. I learned about the devastation in human rights. Yes. And after I learned that I couldn’t unlearn it because I wear clothes so I can be part of the solution. I started looking around and trying to figure what can I do now that I know this?

What can I do? And the biggest difficulty that people were facing, according to the research is they didn’t have an access to a tailor. So let’s say your shirt, you get a hole in the seam and you don’t know how to fix it, but you don’t have access to a good tailor, so what are you gonna do?

And the solution is. Providing accessible tailoring. It just happened at the time. My husband and I were helping the Syrian refugees who were moving to the US and one of them was a tailor. And my husband asked him, do you wanna start a business? And he said, yes. And that was. The birth of Tad more so we started tad more, and it’s been growing ever since.

So we have our brick and mortar shop in Rockford, Illinois where people can come in for alterations. But in order to achieve our dream of helping reduce waste, we. We started our platform, tm taylor.com, where people can get online and they can request the alterations that they need. They mail it to us, we alter it, and then mail it back so they never have to leave their home.

We get to also reduce emissions because they’re using USPS that goes around anyways, and we encourage people just to use a box that you have at home. It can be any box. You don’t need anything new. So we really try to focus on every step of the way of being intentional with reducing waste. 

Kim Allchurch Flick: That 

Sarene Alsharif: is fantastic.

Kim Allchurch Flick: And how long has the company been in existence? We opened our doors in 2017, so that’s almost eight-ish years. Yes. That is fantastic. And let’s go back before we talk more about the companies. What about fashion? And you and I were talking at the build and it keeps resonating with me. An article that I read from the New York Times, February 14th, 2025.

So it’s still fairly recent about recycling in general and how broken it is and how a lot of what the US creates ends up in other countries and they don’t want it and it’s toxic. But fashion was a part of that as well. And the photographs showing piles of clothing, most of which are. Microfibers microplastics made is, so there’s this big picture, and how big is, do you see the issue?

What did your rabbit hole lead you to? 

Sarene Alsharif: The issue is huge. I review the issue, the research on this every year because every year there’s more and more that comes out. The average human. Consumes 17 credit cards worth of plastic every year. I don’t know about you, but I don’t think any plastic belongs inside my body.

Yeah. And that isn’t because we’re actually like eating plastic. It’s from the microfibers in the water that we’re drinking, in the air that we’re breathing. It’s all over the place. And it comes from a lot of the, it comes from the clothes that we wear, it says polyester or an nylon or spandex, but what that really means is it’s plastic.

So when we wash those items, when we throw them away, when they’re burnt, when they’re somewhere on the shore in Ghana and the waves keep hitting them when they’re thrown in the desert in Columbia and the sand and the wind keep hitting them, those micro plastics break off and get into our environment and we might think, oh wow.

Well that’s in Ghana. It’s not gonna affect me. Yeah, it does because it gets in the water. It gets in the fish, it gets in it’s everywhere. Yes. The, so when we think that, oh, that’s not happening here. To me, I’m in the us. No, it’s not. It’s polluting everything. And a lot of the research shows, like even the microplastics researchers are finding them in plants.

The one thing that they gr agree on is that they are. Everywhere they’re finding microplastics in fetuses. So it’s a huge, it’s a huge problem. But I don’t like to leave with that dark perspective. I also like to highlight that we all wear clothes, so we all. Can have a role in the solution. Yes. And that’s buying less.

Levi’s has great research showing that you don’t need to wash your jeans with every wa every wear. They say, I think they recommend like five to 10 wears. I’ve actually started I used to be one of those people. If I wear it once, it goes into the washing machine. And I’m really trying to be mindful of that and not.

Put things in the wash until they smell or there’s a stain or something. And I’m noticing that my clothes can go a lot longer than I thought that they could go before. ‘Cause yeah, I don’t wanna walk around in stinky clothes. I don’t think anybody wants me to do that. But, to be more mindful about how we’re using our clothes.

The other thing is, what are we choosing because. Those microplastics, they’re also living on our bodies. So when we’re buying something that’s made of polyester. It’s on us. So as we’re moving throughout the day, as we’re moving and the the fabric is touching and these are all microfibers that we’re breathing in.

There’s research showing that these microfibers that we are breathing in are causing lung cancer in some people. So I don’t wanna add to that. I’ve got enough. F pollution in the air that’s gonna give me lung cancer. So try to select more natural fibers. Like cotton, wool, bamboo linen.

There are so many options out there, silk, and they don’t need to be washed as much because they were created to. Be in nature so they don’t get stinky. So you can wear them longer without having, and you know what, I don’t wanna do a lot of laundry. So this whole thing about me not having to wash the things a lot, it’s really nice.

I don’t have as much laundry either. So you know, tho these are choices that you can make that will make you healthier and will make the environment healthier. And one of the things is like thrifting is awesome. The clothing in the thrift stores I’m finding are better quality than the clothing in the box stores because you can find, I’ve bought 100% silk blouses at the Goodwill for like seven bucks.

They’re fantastic and you take care of them, you wear them, you enjoy them, and you don’t have to continue feeding into the fast fashion. Because we right now, if we stopped all production of clothing, right now, we have enough clothing on the earth for the next six generations. So if we can thrift and use what’s already here.

And we buy natural fibers that don’t release microfibers every time we wash them. Think about the impact that we make. Think about how much laundry, less laundry we would do. There’s how much water we would save. Like it’s a simple thing, but the impact is huge 

Kim Allchurch Flick: indeed. So let’s ponder a little bit about what creates.

A need for fashion. Not just wearing clothing but actual fashion and drives it. And what drives, I’m thinking of young people probably starting with peer pressure in schools trends, what’s in, what’s out, all sorts of buzzwords, how glitter is and sparklies are glitter part of fashion, which I know is another horrible pollutant and they may not be.

Aware, but yet the compelling social drive to be fashionable or whatever the words are now is large. A lot of people. And how can that attention be grasped, and I’m gonna say loosely say youth, but beyond people don’t know this information. So what are some of the things that you think are ways to reach people about this?

Sarene Alsharif: I think the more we can get onto different platforms and reach people where they’re at. So most people spend a lot of time on their phones and being vocal about the effects of fast fa, fast fashion. There’s also that psychological effect that. This constant bombarding of we need to do. What do they call clothing? What are they called? Box opening halls or something that the young, younger generations I see them doing, like they get these huge amount of clothes and they open them and try them on. That’s not healthy. That’s not healthy, for your wallet. It’s not healthy for the environment.

Instead of viewing these things are great, maybe we need to start, going into the schools if we can and talking to everybody and educating them. I think whatever we can do to help people is important. Especially when we talk about times like this where there’s that huge economic strain.

Why do we have to feel like we need to buy what we don’t need? 

Kim Allchurch Flick: Indeed and also the turnover of fashion. It is, yes, seem to be driven by the fashion marketing that styles change, so therefore you need to continue to purchase. So you. Whoever’s listening to these messages are purchasing as often as every two months.

Or I heard somewhere that once you’ve worn something five times, it’s too old. Get rid of it by a newer fashion. And that fashion is always like a train just roaring down a track and it’s constantly moving. For the fashion industry is, makes them a lot of money for the planet, can be devastating.

And going back to what do people do with something after they’ve worn it five times and it’s no longer fashionable in the current vernacular of where they are in their, but their friends. What happens to it? And it’s either. And hearing again is, you know what? We’ve known and read about the ruse of donation.

Oh, we’ll just donate it to orphans in another country. That has not turned out well either. 

Sarene Alsharif: No, we don’t know how it gets to them. We don’t know if it gets to them. As we see now in a lot of the reports, it ends up in the deserts or on the shores or river beds, somewhere polluting instead of supporting, one of the things that people ask me a lot is, well, what do I do with the clothes that I don’t need anymore? Because the reality is we change, like our kids grow, our bodies shift. Like we, we do have to, change out the clothes that we have. So what do we do? What I love to do is I try to give the clothes, like my kids, when they grow out of, their two big for their clothes, I try to give them to a friend.

Whose kids are a little bit younger than mine. So I know she’s going to use them. I don’t just give them to Salvation Army or don’t, or whatever these places are. I try to give them to a person and that helps. Like another friend of mine, her daughters are, they’re late, they’re early teens.

And. I give her a lot of the stuff that I don’t like. If my body changes I give it to her and her daughters like it. And then they wear it. Yes. Try to give it to somebody who, you know, will keep it. And one of, one of my favorite things is. When my older son, he would grow out of his clothes and then my younger son would get the clothes.

He’d be like, ha ha, these are my clothes now. And he’d be so excited and, I thought that was wonderful. A lot of people, they’re like, oh my gosh, I only get hand-me-downs. But he was so excited that he got his brother’s clothes and I’m like, yes, please continue loving that.

Another one of the things that’s so awesome. It’s so cute. One of the things the culture that we have at Tad more tailoring is we all love thrifting, it’s a big deal when somebody comes in and like they have something cute on, like it’s showing off to be like, oh, I found it at Goodwill, or I got this out of clothing swap, or we’re proud. When we’re able to get something that’s been used and be been loved before. And I just love that, that we have that culture. We even have some pins that say either proud outfit, repeater. I wear that all the time ’cause like I’ll buy a blazer and wear it and a million times.

And then and we have another one that says I thrifted it and. We, try to give them to customers and stuff to encourage that culture of reuse. What’s the big deal? So what if I wear a dress to three different events or five different events or over the 10 years? Why do I have to wear something new every time?

I’m, I can look just as good and feel just as confident every time I wear it. 

Kim Allchurch Flick: Absolutely. I just love what you said. Proud outfit. Repeater. 

Sarene Alsharif: Yes. I think that’s 

Kim Allchurch Flick: great. And recently because it, I used to be in corporate life, so had to dress in suits and very professionally for a long time. And I’m asked white wardrobe.

And then after being laid off, I became an entrepreneur and spent more time at home on Zoom, but I still had these clothes to, to go out with. And then COVID, ID. More and more time at home. And I started thinking, and it was harder to make donations during COVID because just to keep people safe. But afterward I started noticing how many clothes I didn’t need because my lifestyle changed because professional suits aren’t part of my lifestyle anymore.

I probably need one at the most and rarely, but it’s there. And then just last year. I was at my alma mater, Portland State University and noticed a flyer from the Career Center and it said, we’re taking donations for those students who are going for job interviews. And I lo also love Dress for Success and organizations like that to help people actually get jobs to, to help them look and feel better.

And I, it was like an aha moment. This is my outlet. For all of these clothes that I don’t need anymore, but maybe able to help someone professionally as, as well as casually. And they also include shoes, and they also said that plus sizes, and I’m not in that category, but plus sizes are really needed.

So I, I was hoping that, maybe get the word out for people who can donate that because there’s a need for, there’s some sizing. Things that aren’t always met even in the shopping world. So there are places, and that might be a thing for people listening to think about, is maybe look at your local universities career centers and see what did, what do they do?

What do up and coming people who are need something professional do? And then what do we do with the casual clothes Is actually Serena, a question for you. What is a good. Way to cycle casual clothing so that it’s reused. And if, and I’m going to put a caveat question on this too. And if we’re giving away clothing that’s still gonna be washed and release microplastics, how do we start to transition ourselves away from that?

It’s two questions that may not be great. 

Sarene Alsharif: No, really, really good question. So first, yes. That idea about the universities, I love it. Here in Rockford, there’s also a homeless shelter. They take in suits and professional clothing so that the homeless individuals can also use those for interviews, because that’s one of the biggest, somebody was telling me at the homeless shelter that one of the biggest issues that a lot of homeless people have in getting jobs is.

They can’t dress properly. Yeah. There, you’re right, there are so many creative ways that we can give away our clothes and support other people. Thank you for bringing that up. Casual clothes, like I said, I try to give them to somebody that I know will use them. A friend maybe to those homeless shelters.

There’s the, the domestic violence survivor shelters, they’re always looking for things. And another thing that I noticed that they’re looking for, and I love this idea, is their look, they love the little shampoos and stuff from the hotels. Instead of, throwing those away if you don’t need them, give them to those local shelters, they they give them to a lot of the domestic violence survivors. But indeed, the about washing the clothes. Yes. Some of the clothes that you have are gonna continuously shed those microfibers. That’s a kind of a tricky one. So we’re like, so do I continue using it or do I donate it or do I, if you donate it, it’s still gonna be shedding those microfibers.

Yeah. Either way. I always like to say the most sustainable clothing is this. What’s already in your closet? At least you’re not buying something new. I continue to use it, but when you’re gonna replace it, try to get something that has natural fibers. Now, one of the things that I’ve noticed since I’ve tried to make that shift is not everything is 100% cotton or 100% wool.

But think about this. If you buy something like my jeans that I have on right now, 

They are 97% cotton, 3% spandex. So they’re a little bit stretchy and they’re more comfortable than your regular jeans. But what’s better? Something 100% polyester or something? 3%? 

I would definitely say the 3% is better.

Yes, I’m gonna wash it. Yeah, it’s gonna shed some, but the amount that it’s going to be shedding those microfibers is a lot less. Another one of the, one of the biggest contributors to the microfiber breakdown is actually your dryer. Yes. So if you can find a way to hang them outside or not put them in the dryer would be fabulous.

I know. I’ve done that with my jeans and right now the jeans that I have, they’re. I wanna say 10 years old, almost 10 years old, and they look almost brand new because I do not put them in the dryer. 

Kim Allchurch Flick: So that would help. That makes sense. And I’ve heard that as well. I personally use a dryer minimally and usually only with a hundred percent cotton.

Usually heavy things that take, because I live in the Pacific Northwest where it’s quite humid in the winter. And even on rack, if they don’t dry fast enough there’s mildew. But anything that is. Synthetic fibers. I hang dry on a rack and then in the summer it’s so great to hang them out on the line.

Yes, but the no dryer hint. That’s a really, really important one. I wanna tell you a little story about frustration and why I think it’s so important that your company and your message is getting out there. I was the officiant for. One of my nephew’s weddings three years ago, and they had a color scheme and I couldn’t really find anything used in their color scheme and style.

So I tried to find eco-friendly, formal wear. Casual wear is not as difficult to search, but formal really, really difficult and. I finally found one and I was able to buy a dress that actually ended up being vegan silk and really interesting innovation. So I was able to wear that and get through the wedding.

I still have that dress. If I do anything formal, which is rare in my life, that’s my go-to it. It will stay in the closet for future rare formal events. And what it taught me was people are searching. It’s really hard to find. And in search, I had to go through claims of sustainability, which didn’t ring true.

I had to go through, I looked in B Corps, like I said, casual, wear easier. Formal wear, not so much. And I’m hoping that more and more innovators will be able to get a presence. Innovators like you and. To be able to say, okay this is where we are. This is our claim. This is what the clothing’s made of.

And we do have some good leaders, like we know Patagonia, even though caveat there is also polyesters in some of their clothing. But their mantra is also Buy it. Wear it for the rest of your life. We’ll repair it for you. It’s that kind of thought process. Yes. And. Hoping that the innovators will be able to really help us with more and more natural fiber clothing and vegan style clothing, that that can start to take over and still look good, and also encourage us to hang onto what we have.

I still don’t see us changing the whole mindset of fashion for a vast majority of. Population very quickly, but hopefully this’ll catch on. And could you tell us more and more about Tad more and how you employ people and because it’s more than fixing the clothing too. This is about employing people, supporting community.

And kudos to you. You are, have. I almost completed the B Lab certification. You know, you’re gonna certify, so we’ll celebrate that with you as soon as that comes through. But tell us more about Tad more. 

Sarene Alsharif: Yes, thank you. We’re so excited about the B Corp certification. I can’t wait for that. But tad more tailoring we.

Our mission is improving the fashion industry with every stitch, and our vision is to weave a world where both people and the planet look and feel great. And it’s a huge vision. And it started with where I told you about we wanted to provide a solution for people to continue loving the clothes that they already have because the average American only wears their items seven times.

And our first, our business partner is a refugee from Syria. He still doesn’t speak English and as our business grew, we started employing more and more individuals who were from overseas because that’s where all of, the people who are learning sewing are coming from.

And a lot of the people that we work with don’t speak English. And it’s great. You can go into tad more and you can say hello to people in six different languages. And we had, we called it International Day. It was this December 8th, and everybody, all of our team, they came in their traditional clothing from, their country.

We have people from Ivory Coast and Mexico and Syria and Laos and just all over the world, and everybody brought one dish from their country. Oh wow. And we shared it and it was just such a beautiful moment. And, they brought their spouses and their children and I just saw the kids playing and, you know, the beautiful thing.

There were kids from Syria and Ivory Coast and Laos, and they were playing with each other, like that. With such innocence. There was no, I’m one color and you’re one color and you’re from there, and I’m from here and I’m from, there was none of that. It was just the innocence of children playing and eating and just being kids.

It was so beautiful to see that. I love to hear that. And it was one of those moments that I just, it was hard, I had to fight back the tears. I, it just. Looking and just watching the team then it was so beautiful. And so yes, we employ, we try to employ refugees. We try to employ immigrants.

We try to employ people in the underemployed sections. ’cause a lot of the people that work with us, like I said, they don’t speak English. They wouldn’t be able to get good paying jobs. Anywhere else. The gentleman from Ivy Coast that I told you about, he bought a house. He welcomed his fourth child while working with us.

Another one of our employees is from Mexico. She came when she was in her late fifties. She now bought herself a house and bought a car and houses her daughter and her two grandchildren. And she’s the main breadwinner. And it’s just amazing and so humbling that they. Trust tad more for their livelihood and that they include me in their lives and they make everything worth it. Just to see them grow and to see them, I wanna say, to achieve the American dream, that safety, that housing, that family that love community. That’s what we do. I dunno if I answered your question, but 

Kim Allchurch Flick: You did and I love that and I do wish them all safety.

So when someone finds Tad more, what is the process? How do they convey the information? How long does it take? How many different places does it the item go to? It goes to one 

Sarene Alsharif: place. Okay, I’ll tell you that. You, they can get, people can get on our website, we have our menu of a la carte alterations that people can choose from.

We have a notes section. People will write their notes if they know like they’re in seam or, let’s say you wanna hem your pants and you don’t know what your ins sea is, but you have this pair of pants that fits you perfectly. You just put the past, the pair of pants that fits you perfectly in a box that’s sitting around your house with the pants that you need altered.

You send it to us, you can get on the website just 10 pants. We will send you a prepaid shipping label that you just print out and tape onto your box. 

You can schedule and have the post office pick it up from your house. That way you’re not driving around. And once it arrives to tad more, it usually takes two to three days.

To get from your house to tad more depending upon where you’re located. If we don’t have any questions, it’s usually out within 48 hours, and then it’ll take another day or two back to you, so it’s faster than your local tailor. If you do have questions, people, they’ll send us pictures via email or they can book a virtual fitting and one of our seamstresses will get on with you and walk you through the process and help you with the measurements.

Really what, however people wanna get us their information. It’s it’s not very complicated and we try to meet people where they’re at. And I like your question about how many places does it go to? We are very particular about it going to one place for multiple reasons.

Number one, we don’t want it going from one place to another because that’s a waste, that’s more carbon emissions. We want it in one place because that’s the more sustainable option. The other thing is. We have our sewing team, our quality control team, our customer service team, under one roof. So that way, you know, you get the best quality possible and the communication thrives between the team much better.

And it’s, I’m very particular when it comes to that quality, the quality control. We wanna make sure that everything gets quality checked before it leaves. 

Kim Allchurch Flick: That’s remarkable. How is the word getting out and how is the customer base growing? 

Sarene Alsharif: The word it’s getting out, it’s getting out a little slower than I would like it to.

We’re trying to use social media ads. We try to do, Google, we have our website. But yeah, word of mouth and things like this. The ta, the podcasts, and that’s just that general kind of slow growth. But it’s good because, we don’t wanna get this. Landslide of things.

We get to grow slowly with, the alterations. 

Kim Allchurch Flick: Indeed. And we’re talking about the beauty of repair. Or resizing or do you do things like if someone didn’t need to repair, say a jacket, but wanted to change it out and have different buttons or something, is that another thing that Tad Moore would accomplish?

Sarene Alsharif: Oh, definitely. We do that a lot. We have people who bring in their suits, for example, and it’s like a black suit and they want purple buttons or, some, we had one gentleman, he would come and he wanted us to remake the Buttonhole different colors. So like the button holes on the front of his jacket, like yellow, red, and blue or wow.

You know, just fun, creative things. There’s another woman that we’re working with, she’s in Tennessee and she is. Fashion designer, but she used vintage clothes. So we take the sleeves off of one shirt and put it on another one, and then she’ll take like a tie and like reline the outside. Like it’s really cool, the stuff that she does.

One of the pieces that she sent us was a vintage Army coat from I think the Korean War, and we’re taking off the sleeves and putting on the sleeves from another wool coat that’s like. It’s really cool. And then there are moth holes because it’s 100% wool and it’s 50 or something years old.

So she we’re making these cute little embroidery stars to close up those holes and it’s just so fun and unique and yeah we get creative with a lot of items. They’re fun. 

Kim Allchurch Flick: Is there a possibility, because there are groups of employers who still require uniforms, are there, is there possibility of working with.

Uniforms and refurbishing. Some as say employees rotate in and out, or there’s a style change or a name batch reset is it possible too? Absolutely reach employers. We do 

Sarene Alsharif: that a lot. Okay. The Chick-fil-A, that’s in Rockford, they do that like they will, when an employee leaves, they’ll take the shirts and we’ll take off the name tag and put the name.

The new name tag on another one that I had no idea about was. I guess it’s not that cold in Portland, but in Rockford it is freezing. It’ll get like subzero degrees. So the people that serve in the drive-throughs, they have these full blown snowsuits and at the end of the winter, they have like holes in them and there’s zippers will be broken, and those are, few hundred dollars a pop.

So they bring them to us and we replay the zippers and we’ll patch up the holes and stuff like that. So it’s usable still. They’re not throwing it away, but also it’s safe and it looks good for the next year. So yeah, there’s a lot of 

Kim Allchurch Flick: opportunity. 

Sarene Alsharif: Sorry. That’s 

Kim Allchurch Flick: so awesome. And what is your supply chain like for things like zippers?

Buttons? 

Sarene Alsharif: So those, we try a couple buttons. We try to get from the goodwill you be, surprised at how many buttons we find there. There are different places within the US that supply these. We try, there’s a, there are a couple American based businesses that we try to work with to get our things from.

But every once in a while we have to get something from outside, 

Kim Allchurch Flick: but we do our best. That makes sense. There may be people listening that are like me for all those suit purchases I used to have. They always have an extra button. On it or there’s a little button in a bag and I always kept them in a drawer and it’s been a very long time and they are still there and I don’t really need them.

So I always thought there would be an art project, but it seems like I could send them to Dad more or take them to Goodwill. Absolutely. I’d rather send them to you and so that they could have more of a second life. Absolutely we would do that. 

Sarene Alsharif: There’s an artist, she’s Turkish and she uses trash, like she uses cut up jeans and buttons and every piece of art is will focus on one piece of trash.

And one of them was buttons and she makes these elaborate human faces with like different colored buttons or another one. She used pill, the. Plastic pill thingies that the pills come out. That you pop the pills out. Yes. She used that to make art or she used electric wires and the art that she makes is phenomenal.

So people are getting really, really creative. And it’s optimistic to, to see how people are using more and more of the things. 

Kim Allchurch Flick: Yes. Well, you’re so upbeat. What, what makes you optimistic? 

Sarene Alsharif: I believe that. Human beings are good in nature. And then when we know. We can have a positive impact and that we can make the world a better place, we will do it.

So like we all, like people right now might not be making the correct environmentally related decision when it comes to close, but I’ve seen so many people change when they find out the impact and that what keeps me optimistic is that we have the power. To make a difference, and it’s just spreading the word that will, that’s the only thing that’s gonna help change.

So yes I definitely believe in that. Also, if you think about it, during COVID when the world shut down for a little bit, we started to see how the world started healing itself. Yes. For decades there were no dolphins in the canals in Venice. Within a week they returned. The world can heal itself if we give it the chance to, and we just have to spread the knowledge enough to give the world a break so it can heal, but we can make a positive impact.

Kim Allchurch Flick: Yes, that’s a beautiful tee up for this podcast. I want it to focus on those types of things like land, healers, innovators, ways that in where I live. Dams have been removed that have been there for 60 plus years. Wow. And they have, salmon habitat became non-existent. And once the dams were down and there was some replantings, salmon were showing up in four to six weeks.

Sarene Alsharif: Oh, that’s 

Kim Allchurch Flick: beautiful. And so you’re worried about the planet can heal. It makes, it really does help. And during COVID. We saw mountains we’d never seen before because they’re mountains, behind mountains. And just the clearing of the air was so inspiring as well. So it’s a reminder that what you’re doing and what other innovators are doing and what we can think of, and also how when we make decisions, what’s the first decision aspect.

And I find in fashion that it’s changed from, I like how that looks. Two, what is it made of? The first decision point is what is it made of? And if it is not friendly to the environment, it’s a dismissal. And I live my life, so I don’t need to be fashionable all the time. So I do wanna have empathy for those who feel fashion pressure.

But I’m also hoping innovators, and you’re doing it with Tad more making. Good clothing, even more stylish little things here and there. I also love that people still love vintage and in Portland there are some vintage stores and those are fascinating. There’s so much fun. And anytime I wear something vintage, I always get a compliment.

I always get someone who says, oh wow, that looks amazing. So vintage is is another way. Yes, definitely. 

Sarene Alsharif: Yeah. How can 

Kim Allchurch Flick: people 

Sarene Alsharif: reach you? They can get on our website, tm taylor.com. We’re also on a lot of different social media. You can visit us on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, LinkedIn. You just need to put Tad more tailoring and we’ll pop up.

Kim Allchurch Flick: And I, I love that and I’m definitely going to, as I find things, keep you in mind as a first choice. Also, using the clothes we already have, spiffing them up. Not purchasing as much is, can really help the planet. And also remember that they’re the big box stores. They’re mega manufacturers of fashion, but there are also local handcrafted, absolutely organic cotton types of, there are purveyors in most of our towns that have something as well.

So there are alternatives and it takes a mind shift and I have empathy for that. So the last question is well first, do you have anything else you’d like to add? Just 

Sarene Alsharif: something small. You inspired me when you were talking about how you, how when they fixed the, when they removed the dams, the salmon started to return.

Yes. And it made me think of the story of the logo of Tad more tailoring. The tad more tailoring logo is AAR Orex and it’s a gazelle that is indigenous to the Northern Sahara and the Middle Eastern region. That was extinct in the wild. And that’s the reason that. When we decided on the logo, that’s why we chose that logo, because we wanted it to serve as a reminder of why we do what we do.

We never want that to happen to another animal, that it went extinct because of pollution and because of humans encroaching upon their land. And, that was in 2017 when we decided on that logo. And fast forward to 2024. And somebody said they one, a photographer, a wildlife photographer, was at Tad Warren was showing me pictures of the wildlife that he had taken pictures of.

And he looked at the logo and he said, isn’t that a cinema orex? I said, yes, it is. How do you know? And he said, because I’ve seen one. I said, where’d you see it? And he said, I saw it in Jordan. I said, you, you saw it where he said, I saw it in, when I was in Jordan. It was at a reserve. But he saw it in like in the reserve in the wild.

He showed me pictures. So I went and I looked it up and it turns out in 2023. The Simar Orx, they reclassified it as endangered in the wild, not extinct, because the Simar Orx started to make a comeback. And now when I look at that logo, it gives me so much hope that we can make a difference if the Simar Orx was able to make us come back and is slowly coming back and getting back into the wild as humans.

We can make a positive impact That can you imagine it went from like extinct in the wild to it’s now, it’s still endangered, but it’s coming back. Like how inspiring is that? 

Kim Allchurch Flick: So I What a beautiful note to end this on. That is so encouraging. I am, thank you. So appreciative of you and that story. So the last question is, if you could have dinner.

With anyone up to three people. So you have a table of four, or it could just be a one-on-one. Who would it be and why? 

Sarene Alsharif: I’ve been thinking about that for a while. The first person would be Yvonne Chenard and he is the founder of Patagonia. 

Kim Allchurch Flick: Patagonia. 

Sarene Alsharif: I just wanna talk to him about how he did what he did.

I wanna learn, I’m reading his books. I just wanna absorb so that I can make a positive impact and hopefully, do great things like him. The other person is Adam Grant. Adam Grant is an organ organizational psychologist. And he talks so much about how to make the workplace better for everybody and how, I just love his research.

And I just wanna talk to him about what can I do better? How can I serve my employees? Because I believe that as a business owner. I serve my employees first, and then when they’re happy and they’re taken care of and they’re supportive, then they can support the customers. My job isn’t to make my customers happy, my job is to make my employees happy.

Yes. I wanna talk to him more about what can I do better? And then I was a toss up between Simon Sinek and Peter Drucker. I couldn’t decide. Simon Sinek are you familiar with him? He has a wonderful Ted Talk, but I love his mission in life. His dream is to create a world where people live with a purpose and love to go to work every morning.

He says that all the time, and he’s I just dream of a world where people wake up excited to go to work and I wish for the everybody that I work with, that that’s. That’s how they wake up in the morning, happy and excited to go to work because how awful would life be if every day you dreaded going to work and you work almost every day?

That’s I don’t want that life for myself or the people in my, I don’t want that life for people. So that, and then Peter Drucker is the the father of modern management and he has great, some great. Ideas and teachings. And I don’t wanna really talk to them, I just want all of them to sit at the table and I just want to listen to what they talk about.

And how they come. What should this management that benefits people, the planet, and then is profitable, what does that need to look at look like and what needs to happen to achieve that in the world for every business? And yeah, I just wanna sit there and. Have them go at it and see what they come up with.

Kim Allchurch Flick: That sounds so delightful. And Yvan, I Patagonia, also a B Corps. The other two have voices of wisdom and business acumen, but also just caring. Because business can be a force for good. It can be a platform for caring, and I appreciate everything that you’ve said. I wish you well. Thank you.

Please let us know when Blab gives you that logo and the official stamp so we can start. Sharing that good information, celebrating information, and celebrate that. Tad Moore is a B Corps everyone. Thank you for listening.

Take care, and we’ll talk to you soon.