#45 Redesigning the System: Nina Shariati on Fast Fashion, Circularity & the Digital Product Passport

Links: Google - Pocket Cast - Anchor - Spotify - Apple 

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Fast fashion isn’t broken. It’s working exactly as designed.

The real problem of the fashion industry?

It’s the system itself, a global system built to prioritize endless growth on a planet with finite resources, while externalizing the true costs of pollution, waste, and labor.

In a world where fast fashion thrives on overproduction, how do we shift from a linear "take-make-waste" model to one that respects planetary boundaries?

In this episode of The Retail Reality Show, Nino sits down with Nina Shariati, founder and CEO of Circular Transparency, and former H&M Group leader, to challenge the industry’s reliance on incremental tweaks.

Instead, Nina argues for system-level transformation:

- Why we can’t expect Gen Z can’t save us: This is a leadership crisis, not a consumer one.
- Digital Product Passports: Necessary not just for transparency, but to enable circularity.
- Policy that balances sticks with carrots: How incentives could unlock innovation.
- The 3 pillars of circular fashion – and why we’re still missing the big picture.

The key takeaway? 

We don’t just need better products.

We need a new playbook – one that aligns profit with planetary survival and makes sustainability inevitable, not optional.

Tune in now on Spotify, YouTube, or Apple Podcasts.