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Podcast Announcer
Welcome to the Black Entrepreneur Experience Podcast.
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Inside the business buzz and brilliance of Black entrepreneurs. Here is your host, Dr. Francis Arlene.
Dr. Frances Arlene
What happens in Vegas goes all over the world on Blue Black Entrepreneur experience, episode number 550. Thank you for joining us as we elevate the Black Entrepreneur experience by interviewing CEOs, thought leaders, innovative thinkers and Black entrepreneurs across the globe. I'm your host, Dr. Frances Arlene. What if the trend of fashion isn't about trends but transformation? Today we're joined by Manny Jackson, founder of Threadhouse, who is reimagining the fashion industry from the ground up. He's not just designing apparels. He's building a circular ecosystem that turns textile waste into innovation while creating real economic opportunities for underserved communities. This is a conversation about vision systems and what it truly means to build with purpose. If you're thinking about impact, sustainability and legacy, this episode will expand how you will see what's possible. Welcome, Manny.
Manny Jackson
Oh man. Thank you so much, Dr. Francis. Thanks for having me on today. How are you feeling?
Dr. Frances Arlene
I am feeling perfect. Thanks for asking. And I have to say to you, I've given our audience such a brief bio. Why don't you fill in the gaps and share with our audience what you want them to know about you and your business?
Manny Jackson
All right. Well, first of all, I'm a father of two boys. One young man, one little boy, one is 6 years old and one is 18 year old. My 18 year old tends UNLV and my 6 year old is in kindergarten first also. I'm originally from Raleigh, Durham, North Carolina. I reside in Los Angeles, California. I've been in the fashion industry in the fashion field for about over a little bit, over close to a decade now. Two decades going on, I guess. Wow. And also simultaneously, while I worked in fashion, I also worked in the mental health space as well. So a lot of my background comes from a more purpose driven vision, if you will. And I've ran a business called the Gents Closet for over nine, nine and a half years. We shut down during the pandemic, which was a wardrobe men's styling service. And after that I also kind of branched out and that's where Thread House began to pick up his wings. And it also started off with the vision of a nonprofit organization that I was the vice president of and one of the founding founders of. It's called Holt Healing, where we provide wardrobe makeovers to youth with chronic illnesses and disabilities by partnering with different hospitals and other nonprofits, by doing those things. So I've worked in this philanthropic social impact space for just as long as I've been doing fashion. And it's just something that I think is just a part of my DNA.
Dr. Frances Arlene
And let me ask you this, Manny. What got you into fashion?
Manny Jackson
I think fashion has always been a part of my life, to be honest. I've always had a knack for textiles. I've always had a knack for styling and, you know, looking a certain kind of way. One of my stories I like to share is, you know, growing up, my mom would shop from the thrift store, but dressed me a little bit more preppier than a lot of the other kids. And at that time, I really did not like the style. And I was upset about some of the things that she would choose to put me in. But it also helped shape who I am. And then overall, over the course of time, it also developed who I was came to be too. And like my very first job of first business, I was a babysitter. And then I would take my money from babysitting and go buy clothes. And then I would take the clothes that I would buy and people would like what I was wearing and I would sell them an a whole outfit. So I would buy two outfits. And that's kind of where it started. And that landed me to selling clothes in barbershops and going up to New York and coming back down south and selling Them in barbershops and out the trunk. And I was doing that, you know, pretty early, you know, while we were selling bootleg CDs.
Dr. Frances Arlene
What's trending now in fashion? What do you see trending now?
Manny Jackson
I think the trend is. The trend is pretty much all over the place right now. But I will say that one of the trends that I see kind of repeating itself is, you know, wearing a lot of 90s styles, right. I grew up in that era, so a lot of baseball, basketball jerseys, oversized, baggy fits. That was during that era where sagging came in. Now people are doubling up their pants to make their pants look like they're sagging. You know, it's just a lot of that big baggy style is. Is. Is what I see as a big trend as well.
Dr. Frances Arlene
So.
Manny Jackson
And that that goes on to, you know, from oversized suits to oversized boy, girl, plant pants and stuff like that, things are not as gendered as much as it. As it was right now. Things are more gender neutral, which I really greatly appreciate as a designer as well. And that's some of the things that I definitely pay attention to in the trend and as well. But that's one overall trend that I just see is definitely here.
Dr. Frances Arlene
What is something that we, as consumers, we don't know about the fashion industry that we should know?
Manny Jackson
Well, I think one of the things about the fashion industry that a lot of consumers probably don't realize is how much waste and textile waste is produced from the fashion industry. The sustainability. You know, we was just talking about trend, and that is, I think, now is a trend. Unfortunately, I don't want it to be a trend. But one of the things is with the amount of waste that is produced per year currently and the amount of waste that's already on this planet, right? Which I think is around like 92 million tons. That's enough waste to be on this planet for the next six generations. And we have to think about the idea of over consumerism, right? And when we talked about earlier a trend and sustainability being somewhat of a trend now, it's a trend look. But I need that the consumer should understand that it's not about just a look and a style. And although it looks cool, it is actually about a lifestyle as well as a mindset, right? When we're shopping and we're buying clothes, we have to think about not just that moment that we're shopping for or that occasion that we're shopping for. We need to think about the life cycle of that, of that garment, where that garment came from, and where that garment may end up.
Dr. Frances Arlene
And that's interesting. You talk about sustainability and the life cycle of clothing and, and what I'm noticing is just the quality of clothes and it appears that they're doing using a lot of recycled items. I have very classic clothes that continue to stay around. And then I purchased a dress, it's not quite even a year old and it was considered supposedly a high end quality dress. And I see a rip in the, in the material. So can you speak to that?
Manny Jackson
Absolutely. Clothing is not produced with the same idea and concept that it was 30 to 40 years ago. Meaning now fast fashion is among the amongst us. The industry is about turning over as much and as quick as possible. And some of that has to do with the consumer behavior, right. The way that we consume as a society. And another things have to do with the cost of goods and labor. Right. And people want product made for a certain type of economical price. But the problem is in certain parts of this world we're over polluting, we're over saturating and we're under work and we're overworking and underpaying people. And where we suffer from that on the side of as a consumer is we began to just purchase things and not really thinking about the quality level of the product. And so when we talked about that life cycle is you brought a dress that was probably not made with the same integrity as clothing was once worth. And the quality level is not there. Right. Because it takes a lot more time to make clothing to last longer. That's why you can go and find a vintage garment that's from the 50s and the 40s and it's still intact and it's not falling apart, but you can find something 10 years ago or five years ago or maybe even two years ago and is falling and deconstruct, decomposing, deconstructing. And that's where we have to think about the actual idea of what we're buying, who we're buying it for, buying it from and is the quality level is really going to be there.
Dr. Frances Arlene
I'd like you to speak to something that I heard and in this information age right now, I've actually seen if I can fact check this information. Right. Because we don't know what's true and what's not true. And something that I heard about individuals purchasing high end goods. And for example, we look for items that says made in Italy. But like what they will do and this is a fact check, this is a question, they will have the product produced in China for 20 bucks, then I understand that if in fact they send it to Italy and the last thread that they do, if it's in the last threading is in Italy, they can say it was made from Italy.
Manny Jackson
That is somewhat true. It's not just the last thread. I think it has to be up to like 10 to 20% of the garment. Right. So, and that could be a label, right? So as a brand, I can make 80% of my garment in China, send it to Italy, Italy, put the labels on it and, and it can say made, it can be said made in Italy. And unfortunately this is a way that a lot of higher end brands are kind of fooling the consumer. Right. And this is something that we also have to pay attention to. But there are now going to be laws and legislation that's going to be in place to where that brand now has to prove where that product is made from and also is responsible for the life cycle of that garment. And right now in the uk the it is a very prominent law and legislation that is there for textile recovery and textile responsibility that is going to be placed upon the bigger corporations. And so what people are about to start to see now is a lot of those big corporations are going to be moving out of the UK and finding places else to set up shop where those laws are not as prevalent so they can continue to make money. But that is very much true as far as a lot of the higher end brands can do that. Brands can, can do that and it's unfortunate because they've been able to get away with it. But we are open and we're going to be welcoming legislation here as well. In the state of California there's a Textile Recovery act bill called SB 7707, which is a sustainability bill, Textile Recovery act, that my brand Threadhouse happens to be a part of that bill as well and happen to be strong supporters launching a pilot for that program. And now we're going to be going into another phase of that. But that is where more legislation will be placed upon businesses that's making over, I think reportedly over a million dollars in the textile space. They will be forced to report and have some type of sustainability initiative and some type of circular, circularity support behind whatever it is that they're producing. So they'll be responsible for making their actual product and claiming, and not just claiming it to be sustainable, but actually showing and showing how it's sustainable and responsible for that lifecycle of that product as well. And so that product should be be able to be tracked or trace if not both. So there are laws and things that are going into place so the consumer can be more aware of where their product is coming from and how that product is made. But it's up to us as consumers to actually respect it and appreciate it and understand the value of it. Right.
Dr. Frances Arlene
Okay. And let's talk about fashion and artificial intelligence. And tell me your take on artificial intelligence, AI, and how. And if you're using it, and how is it impacting your business and your
Manny Jackson
industry when it comes to AI? On one side there's a love relationship for appreciation, I will say, for it. And the other side of it, there is also the challenges of the resources that it takes for that. It takes that AI uses, that takes away from the planet. Some of those things will not be able to be avoided because we are, fortunately, we are in that age of artificial intellectual. Excuse me, we are in the age of artificial intelligence and this information age, this data age that we're in right now. I have an appreciation for how it can help manage your workload. I believe that you have to learn how to use and use AI as a tool now, early. Because AI is not something that is going to necessarily replace your job. It's going to a person that's using AI, it knows how to use AI, is going to be who replaces your job. So we have to look at the AI as tools. And. And when you have a tool and you think about technology, you think about just where we are in the technology space. Technology is a tool, and once you start to use the tool, there's a way that it makes your life somewhat easier. But everything comes at a sacrifice. And so that's the realization that we are at right now. We have to realize what we're sacrificing to have the convenience that we have, right, to be able to, at the speed of light, learn and have information available at our fingertips and create flyers or posters or automate a calendar or automate your expenses or whatever it is that you are using AI for. It's a tool that can help you evolve and save on your workload, but it does come at a sacrifice. And so that's somewhat the challenge for me as an owner, because I realize that it comes at a sacrifice, but I also realize that it is a tool. And if I don't understand and use the tool and train and educate myself and my team and others around me about it, then they're going to be left behind because we are in that age.
Dr. Frances Arlene
Absolutely.
Manny Jackson
And it's moving fast. AI is changing not just daily but hourly at times, right? Like so you have to understand what tools are available and what tools are available for you. Every tool might not be for you, but you have to understand what tools are available for you and start to, you know, utilize them as. As you can.
Dr. Frances Arlene
Manny, if you lost everything and you had to rebuild in 30 days, what industry would you rebuild in and why?
Manny Jackson
Wow, that's a really great question. This whole textile industry has been very difficult to build, and I'm still building in it, but I feel I have a grasp and an understanding of it. But I think that there's a lot of information out there in technology, right? And there's a lot of knowledge in technology as well. And if you are able to understand where you want to and what tools and how you want to use, especially in AI itself, right. If you're able to understand those tools, you're actually able to build multiple industries out of one or two tools. So for me, I think if I had to rebuild something, my education and my knowledge would be spent is learning as much as I possibly can about AI and how to use it and not misuse it. Right? Because I think that using it as a tool, it can help me in every industry if I understand the tools. But if I also understand the tools, then I can understand how not to misuse it as well. And that gives me a lot more value to go out and educate people with that knowledge and so they can take it to another industry for themselves.
Dr. Frances Arlene
And.
Manny Jackson
And it also gives me an opportunity to be very broad in what it is that I want to build.
Dr. Frances Arlene
You talked about you also work in mental health, correct? Talk about the marriage between fashion and mental health.
Manny Jackson
There's a few different ways I can approach that question. One of the ways is I can approach it from how I view that marriage. For me, as a designer for my brand and what I. How I use fashion as a tool to express my own personal message and idea that I feel was very life changing for me. And I feel like it also opened up a conversation in the industry about mental health and the responsibility for us to be responsible and have conversations around mental health. There's a lot of ways that as an artist, you can express yourself. Some of us express it through building things, some of us express it through music, Some of, you know, some express it through talking and conversation. There's a lot of different ways to express yourself as an artist. So your canvas is very broad. But also a lot of times we have to think about the outside noises that's coming in and that could Prohibit us from expressing ourselves and those that art now becomes a tool for you to express yourself. When I look at, and I think about how fashion for me and mental health has a marriage, it was also for me, is expressing where I was at in my own personal mental health journey and how I was able to look at other individuals and see their struggle. And being someone that worked in mental health for so many years, there's a certain thing that you cannot ignore, right? There's something that you can't ignore about it. For me, it was, how do I communicate an efficient message through my fashion of what I'm dealing with that I know someone else might be dealing with? And so we created this collection around mental health awareness called I Dope that dad's Collection to celebrate dope dads, fathers also to also speak about mental health awareness around ADHD and bipolar disorder. And this was my own personal journey, my own love letter, in a sense, to say, hey, this is something that I may be struggling with, but this is a reminder that now what could be an ill ailment can also be turned in, switched around as a superpower. And I wanted that message to be carried on for people to not be ashamed of what they're facing. Right? Embrace some of their symptoms, some of the things that people may look at you a little different from, but those things are what makes you great. And being someone that worked with children with autism as well as adults with autism, and seeing some of the beauty and out of their. From their gifts that made them super unique that people couldn't understand, some of the those elements are the things that made them the most unique and the most beautiful. And once you embrace who you are, then now you disguise the limit of how you want to use your superpower. So for me, that marriage, like I said, for fashion and mental health came in that particular way for me. Because now when I am struggling or I'm having an off day, I can put my hoodie on, I can put my jersey or my shirt on it and remind myself that this is just one day at a time. This is just this symptom here or that symptom here. And it might last for a couple of days. And that actually helps me get through it. And now I have a collection that's available for people to embrace that as well. And we like to put that collection out once a year so people can really just kind of dive into it and just celebrate, like I said, our dope dads and just anybody that's struggling with mental health, you know, as we all do as humans. Right. Because we're human. It's just something that I feel like taking your symptoms and turning into superpowers is a stronger message for me, that I wanted to relate. And my platform is fashion.
Dr. Frances Arlene
And I believe, if I'm not mistaken, I think May is Mental Health Month.
Manny Jackson
Yep. May is Mental Health Awareness Month. Yes, it is.
Dr. Frances Arlene
Absolutely. Absolutely. Talk about your top two influencers and what lessons do they teach you in life or business?
Manny Jackson
Now this is going to be very spiritual. That's okay.
Dr. Frances Arlene
You could do that.
Manny Jackson
I think I would say one of my influences is definitely my savior and my salvation. And I'll say this because one of the lessons that is that I've learned through that relationship is the understanding of resilience. Resilience, perseverance goes hand in hand. And if you understand the struggle of entrepreneurship, you're going to get all sorts of stones and rocks thrown at you. You're going to be shunned sometimes for your creativity because everybody won't reflect or understand it or agree with it. You may not be appreciated in that moment for what you're creating, and you may not understand it or appreciate it yourself, but you have something that just pushes you to do it. This all relates to my story and so many stories of entrepreneurs and business. The first thing is you have to be resilient and you have to understand that you gonna have to pivot a lot in business. You're gonna have to take an idea that you had and you might sit on it for a while and you might want to put it out there and you might not want to put in your struggle back and forth with that. And you have to become comfortable letting it go. You have to become comfortable taking the yeses and sometimes the no's and more the no's than the yeses and understanding that you got to keep pushing through. You have to trust your ability. You got to have faith in yourself. You got to have faith in the vision that I feel like is your vision that has been given to you. That's why I would say that would be my first. Another mentor that's coming to mind right now for me is Les Brown. And reason Les Brown is coming to mind is because I have a great respect for his story and him as a speaker, him believing in himself and seeing what he's been able to take his empire to and still being purpose driven. There's a lot of people that inspire me and there's so many people that can come to mind through those questions. But one of the things that I really can respect about Les Brown is being able to stay purpose driven as well as build a business. That's a challenge to stay within purpose to first of all discover purpose and trust purpose and then build a business out out of that purpose. That's a very challenging thing to do. So for me, when I hear his story, when I look at his numbers, when I look at the things that I personally can say, wow, I can relate to this. I can relate to being able to be resilient, perseverant and also being able to be purpose driven through my vision and through my art and my craft.
Dr. Frances Arlene
And Annie, I want you to tell our audience what is the biggest takeaway? What do you want them to take away from this conversation today?
Manny Jackson
I always tell people when they sit down and talk with me, they ask me those that question, man. The main thing I tell people that I want them to learn and trust is trust themselves. Believe in all your crazy ideas. Believe in all your crazy ideas. All the ideas that you second, third, fourth, triple, quadruple guess. Believe in it because for a reason that you Woke up at 3 o' clock in the morning and you had an idea of doing, creating a jacket that turns into a sleeping bag as well as a duffel bag and yada yada yada, 3am you had this vision for that song, or you had that vision for that podcast, or you had that vision for this business. Believe in it. Because I'm a firm believer that the vision is not given to you by accident. I'm a firm believer that you didn't wake up at 3am, 4am in the morning and can't go to sleep and you got this idea and you can't let it go by accident. You have a responsibility to that vision. So believe in those crazy ideas. Don't worry about how it's going to come to fruition. Just work towards bringing it to fruition. My takeaway is that, and another thing is I want to speak to the sustainability side of things. Support those local businesses that are focused on being more sustainable. The price point is definitely going to be a lot a little bit more higher. But guess what? That price point goes to support so much more than just a large corporation. And there's nothing wrong with the large corporations because I believe you need those as well. But those local small businesses that are thinking about, you know, where that honey is coming from or thinking about the ink that they're using for their printing and that's thinking about how that garment is actually sewn and who sews that Garment, you know, support those businesses because that is helping support our society. That's helping changing the ecosystem in our world, believe it or not. And because of these bigger giants and corporate giants that we may have along the lines with us, you're going to need those small people, those small businesses, those entrepreneurs, those creators, that creative mind to help shift some things. And we are in a place right now where that shift is very prominent.
Dr. Frances Arlene
Absolutely. Tell us that one story that caused you to know that what you were doing for Thread House, it was going to be successful.
Manny Jackson
I'll tell you the one story that if you look behind me, you see this right here, that's what we call our street sleeper. And I can tell you that story of where all of this came from. And everything that I've talked about in this conversation made sense. It was about four years ago. This is a real story. Okay. It's about four years ago, a day before Father's Day, I was sleeping in the car and I was also having a mental health breakdown. I didn't know what was going to happen. All I knew that I was excited about picking up my son and hanging out with my kids for Father's Day, no matter what. And I was like, the next year, daddy is going to have a house. Daddy is not going to be sleeping in a car. This is going to shift. Pandemic. I, like I said, I lost my business. A lot of things just went south. Relationships, all that, right? So life. Life was life. So what I decided to do, something came up and gave me a vision. And it said, you need to be vulnerable about your story. You need to tell your story. Your story is your division is in your story, and the success is in your story, but you gotta let it go. And I was like, I don't know about that. So something that said, record how you feel. So I recorded it and I just sat there and talked on the recorder and just said the story. Hey, I'm sleeping in this car. You know, I started crying. It was the day before Father's Day. It was raining outside. You hear this and everything. And I said, hey, I want to do a collection for Father's Day dedicated to dope dads. And I want to be able to do it to celebrate my own father who struggles with his mental illnesses, right. Which is bipolar. And I want to be able to celebrate him. And also I want to celebrate all dope dads now when I tell you that it's all about being resilient. That following year, we did not only do and release a collection around dope dads. We released it. We had a big, huge event for dope dads at a warehouse. I had a three bedroom apartment. I was able to pick up my kids in a brand new car. And I celebrated dope dads all over and came up with this beautiful idea called a street sleeper, which is a jacket that converts into a sleeping bag. This all happened in a year and I created it as a podcast so you can go on Spotify and find it and you can listen to the spot podcast. I put the actual message in the clothing of the dope dad shirts that we made. And we told that story. I told my story and I'm continuing to tell my story. And I continue to uplift people in the world. And I think that level of vulnerability that I can have with people, it humanizes me. It lets people know that I'm a real person and that I have my own struggles and my own journey. And it's okay to embrace all your crazy ideas and it's okay to embrace those things that make you resilient because that's. That'll get you to the other side.
Dr. Frances Arlene
I like that. So what is on the horizon for the business in the next six months?
Manny Jackson
Okay, so what's on the horizon? I'm so excited about this. Right? Right. We're a couple days away from Climate Week. Climate Week actually is the kickoff of it is today, April 7th. So we're very inspirational in Climate Week here in Los Angeles. We have a huge event coming up around Climate Week and Earth Day as well. We have a huge collaboration coming up this year with FIFA and the World cup where we're upcycling over 600 jerseys and turning them into apparel to represent each country that's a part of the World Cup. Thread House is also looking for its own new facility so we can expand so that we could run our operation to have our workshops, our retail space and our manufacturing hub all in one location. And we have a couple great collaborations and partnerships coming out coming up this year that we're very excited about. So in the next six months, you will see that also. We plan on doing something very, very special for one of the loved ones in our community that I'm very excited about doing. That was a part of our documentary around our Street Sleeper that we also will be releasing sometime this year as well, is in collaboration with a company, a tobacco company called Backwoods. They supported our Street Sleeper initiative. So we did a documentary around my story as well. As a young lady that was sleeping behind my store for over 20 years, and we did not necessarily know. So I had to tell her story in this documentary docu series that we created. So those are some of the things that's on the horizon for Thread House. We're continuing to look for more strategic partnerships, more opportunity to tell our story and build and share our vision.
Dr. Frances Arlene
I love that.
Manny Jackson
Also, we are looking to partner up with more schools and institutions. So another thing for us this year I will share. I'm very excited about this is we created this idea as an incubator about three and a half years ago, and we've had. When I talk about pivot. When you talk about pivot, I've had to pivot, pivot, pivot and pivot. So one of my pivots actually led me to start reaching out to colleges and institutions to have them host our workshops. We were able to host our first workshop recently with a school here in California, Santa Monica College. And we've also been invited to work with four other institutions as well. So I'm very excited about that. Those, that, that first cohort, those students get to be a part of Sustainable Fashion Week that's taking place in September. Also, they get a chance to be a part of our World cup experience and collaborate with Thread House as well. And we will be supporting them with the materials and everything that's needed. And that's courtesy of Salvation army, who's also one of our strategic partners now as well. So we are looking forward to building that up and building that as a really cool program around Sustainable Fashion and more colleges and institutions to come.
Dr. Frances Arlene
That's awesome. Manny, if you conducted this interview, what is the one question you would have asked yourself? I want you to ask the question and answer it.
Manny Jackson
The one question I would have asked myself was, why do you do what you do? And my answer is simple, as it's been a vision that's given to me to do it. You know, that's my answer is I do what I do because it's part of my story. There's a lot of layers to me, and there's a lot of layers to us in life. And my layer of working in mental health. You know, you don't work in mental health if you're not passionate about people. Let me just tell you that that's something I've always have had a passion for, right? And working with youth. And I've always been passionate about clothes. I've always been passionate about style and everything. I do what I do because I've been able to find a way to bring everything that I'm passionate about all together and also kind of carve out my own lane. I don't know where I'm going to end up. I don't know where it's going to go. Right. But I feel that I'm carving out my own lane to bring in whatever I'm supposed to bring in and inspire whoever I'm supposed to inspire.
Dr. Frances Arlene
I like that. We've come to come to the part of our interview. It's called the rapid round of fun and I'm going to ask you a series of questions and I'd like you to give me very quick answers. And if there's something you desire not to answer, feel free to say pass. Are you ready for the rapid Raptor fun? What is your favorite comfort food?
Manny Jackson
French fries.
Dr. Frances Arlene
You relax. Doing what?
Manny Jackson
Watching tv?
Dr. Frances Arlene
Your favorite singer or rapper?
Manny Jackson
Jay Z.
Dr. Frances Arlene
Your favorite dance song?
Manny Jackson
Escapade by Janet Jackson.
Dr. Frances Arlene
What food you eat every week, no matter what.
Manny Jackson
Potatoes.
Dr. Frances Arlene
And your ideal car.
Manny Jackson
I say my childhood sweetheart car, which is a 300zx T top.
Dr. Frances Arlene
Work out or hit the couch.
Manny Jackson
Hit the couch.
Dr. Frances Arlene
Manny Jackson, thank you so much for joining us on black entrepreneur experience podcast. Share with our audience the best way for them to connect with you and to do business with you and and feel free to leave all your social media handles.
Manny Jackson
Absolutely. First of all, I would love for you all to connect with me on LinkedIn. Check me out on LinkedIn. My LinkedIn handle is LinkedIn.com in Manuel Jackson. So that's the first handle. Our business is thread house co and house is spelled H A u s. So all of our handles on all social media is thread house co, C O and also our website is threadhouse. Ha U s co. So you can find me on all platforms from YouTube, Instagram, Pinterest, you name it, Twitter, X whatever. Find me there. My name is Manny Jackson. You're welcome to Google and see what we got going on and everything. If you want to AI, you can ask AI what they think about me as well. It's kind of interesting what they say is. But thank you so much, Dr. Francis, for having me. Really, really enjoyed the questions that you asked me and made me think a little bit. So appreciate it.
Dr. Frances Arlene
Thank you. And you were not paid for that commercial.
Manny Jackson
I was not paid for that commercial. I like Dr. Francis and I love her questions.
Dr. Frances Arlene
Thank you. That's a wrap.
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Guest: Manny Jackson, Founder of Threadhouse
Host: Dr. Frances A. Ince (Chief Encouraging Officer)
Date: June 3, 2026
Theme: Turning Textile Waste Into Tech, Jobs & Justice
This episode dives deep into the transformative journey of Manny Jackson, founder of Threadhouse, who is pioneering a new paradigm in the fashion industry: turning textile waste into innovation while simultaneously generating jobs and championing social justice in underserved communities. The discussion explores the intersections between sustainability, fashion, technology, and mental health, all while highlighting the importance of building business with purpose and legacy.
Quote:
"I've worked in this philanthropic social impact space for just as long as I've been doing fashion. It's just something that's a part of my DNA." (03:41, Manny Jackson)
Quote:
"I’d buy two outfits...people would like what I was wearing and I would sell them a whole outfit." (05:29, Manny Jackson)
Quote:
"We need to think about the lifecycle of that garment, where it came from, and where it may end up." (08:02, Manny Jackson)
Quote:
"Clothing is not produced with the same idea...it takes a lot more time to make clothing to last longer." (10:10, Manny Jackson)
Quote:
"AI is not going to necessarily replace your job. A person that knows how to use AI is going to replace your job." (16:49, Manny Jackson)
Quote:
"Taking your symptoms and turning them into superpowers is a stronger message for me." (24:52, Manny Jackson)
Quote:
"You have a responsibility to that vision. So believe in those crazy ideas." (28:45-29:52, Manny Jackson)
Quote:
"Your story is your vision...all this made sense when I became vulnerable about where I really was." (31:39-33:11, Manny Jackson)
On AI and Work:
"A person that's using AI, it knows how to use AI, is going to be who replaces your job." (16:49)
On Fashion Sustainability:
"We have to realize what we're sacrificing to have the convenience that we have." (17:25)
On Resilience:
"You have to be resilient and you have to understand that you gonna have to pivot a lot in business." (25:29)
Defining Story:
"I was sleeping in the car...something came up and gave me a vision. It said, you need to be vulnerable about your story. Your story is your division." (31:29)
Dr. Frances:
"Green is the new black, so keep your bank accounts and your business in the black." (42:32)
This episode is a masterclass on resilience, purpose-driven business, sustainability in fashion, and how vulnerability and vision can spark real systemic change.