Alicia Lai spent over 20 years in sustainable fashion–including founding Bourgeois Bohème, a vegan shoe brand built on innovative materials. She was deeply committed to ethical production, personally vetting factories in Portugal and sourcing materials that minimized environmental impact. But after 15+ years of running the brand, the constant pressure to compromise on sustainability standards pushed her to make a difficult decision: close the business she had built and start over.
What came next wasn’t a retreat–it was a return to her values. Now, she runs hands-on sewing, mending, and Sashiko-inspired stitching workshops. Her work now focuses on behaviour change, inclusion, and showing that sustainable living happens one small, practical action at a time.
In this episode, Alicia shared what it really means to pivot–not as starting over, but as going deeper into what matters most.
You’ll learn about
- How to know when a business that looks successful on the outside no longer aligns with your values
- Why making compromises in production can erode the mission you started with
- What a real pivot looks like, and why it’s often about returning to your values, not abandoning them
- Why behaviour change matters as much as product innovation in the sustainability movement
