Hello!
and nice to meet you!
below we share our stories from the omniscient third-person point of view.
After moving to Copenhagen, Denmark, Sarah discovered a new approach to sustainable living. On a student’s budget and with an empty apartment, she followed a friend's advice to furnish it “the Danish way”—by exploring Big Trash Days in affluent neighborhoods. Known as "storskrald," this practice involves leaving large, discarded furniture on the sidewalk, often ready for a second life in a new home.
This experience, combined with Denmark's vibrant “loppemarkeds” (communal flea markets), sparked Sarah's passion for sustainable consumption. The normalization of second-hand culture—where it wasn’t uncommon to purchase designer pieces directly from a famous designer or influencer at the community second-hand market—led Sarah to focus her research on sustainable fashion.
Her Master's work centered on making sustainable fashion accessible, affordable, and desirable. Since then, she has worked on projects with Mistra Future Fashion, Rent the Runway, H&M, Deloitte, and others.
Now, through California Copenhagen Collective, Sarah is putting her research into action, building a vibrant community dedicated to sustainable lifestyles.
Originally from France, Stéphanie elevated California Copenhagen’s humbly named “loppemarked,” (flea market), into the French inspired bon marché (good market) that it is today. Say what you want, but some languages are simply not created equally.
With a background in environmental science, Stéphanie keenly understands that what we consume is not only important to our health but also to the future of the planet. Her known enemies are plastic and the landfill, and Stéphanie pioneered the first zero-waste refill store in Berkeley (Fillgood) to thwart them. She’s made a career out of helping consumers push through the barriers that prevent them from behaving in the ways they know are best for themselves and the planet. As any visitor to Filgood’s beautiful space can attest, she knows how to make sustainable consumption lovely, easy and enjoyable.