Sneakers, summits and a different side to my writing

Thoughts on Copenhagen footwear and sharing some of my journalism :)

I’m writing this on the train home from Copenhagen. My standout impression of the city? That everyone who lives there, or indeed visits, has really clean trainers. I’m talking box-fresh. Barely worn. So white and unscuffed it seems they’ve never encountered mud or run for a bus in their life. As someone who was once called out by an airport security guard for the completely battered state of my footwear (after asking me to remove my trainers so he could scan them for explosives, I was hit with “I think it’s time for new shoes” and have never truly recovered), I struggled to fathom how an item constantly in contact with the ground could remain so free of grime.

Of course, Copenhagen is meticulously clean, which probably helps. Compared to navigating Berlin’s street-side cocktail of broken glass, mystery corpses (Pigeon? Rat? Crow?) and just general trash, you don’t have to watch where you’re stepping to keep your shoes pristine.

I was in Copenhagen for the Global Fashion Agenda Summit, a two-day conference on all things circular fashion, which might explain my preoccupation with what everyone in this most stylish of cities was wearing. I received my first fashion compliment of the conference for my (thankfully still pretty fresh) Saucony’s and I went to the launch of the world’s first compostable trainer — so it’s been a sneaker-heavy week.

I learned a lot, networked my freelancer socks off and left with renewed energy to get the heck on with all the things I want to do in my career. It also made me rethink how to best separate the different parts of my work and writing. This isn’t the first time I’ve come across this problem: I don’t necessarily want the business people I network with to read my poems about sex, grief or heartbreak. And I definitely don’t want people who know me for creative writing reading my cringe-inducing LinkedIn posts. I’m still figuring out how to navigate this but in the meantime, journalism feels like a bridge. So if you know me for my poetry, know that I also love to write articles about climate change and circular fashion. Here are a few pieces I’ve written recently that I’m especially proud of:

From Ownership to Access: What the Rise in Subscription Models Means For Circularity

Crowd Impact Reduces Festivals’ CO2 Emissions by Providing Data on Attendees’ Transport Choices

The Blockchain Paradox: Can Its Potential for Digital Solutions Outweigh Its Carbon Footprint?