Top image: Samantha Jones.

“As much as we wish we didn’t, we all have problems. Some may just shrug them off and accept them, others – like Samantha Jones – get up and do something about them.”

That’s what we at Idealog wrote about Little Yellow Bird founder Samantha Jones back in 2017. The winner of the Young New Zealand Innovator Award at the 2017 Innovation Awards – and not to mention a recipient of a prestigious Edmund Hillary Fellowship (read our story about that here) – Jones has been on a mission to change perceptions and prove you can do good, while still doing good business.

As Jones told us late last year: “My vision is to eliminate exploitation in the garment industry. Child labour and unsafe working conditions are two problems that particularly resonate with me. I’m also passionate about the environment and I see the fashion industry as a sector that is quite wasteful but has huge potential to do things differently.”

And that’s not all. “Little Yellow Bird was developed with the vision of improving social and environmental sustainability throughout the garment supply chain…more and more businesses are wanting to become more sustainable.”

Needless to say, Jones has been doing quite a lot to promote sustainability – and to promote better working conditions for people in the garment industry, too. She recently spoke with us while on a business trip with the Asia New Zealand Foundation in Thailand to talk about those things – and more. Have a listen below.