Wise Traditions

What if one of the most important health decisions you make every day has nothing to do with food—and everything to do with what touches your skin?   Michel May, founder of AIZOME Textiles, joins us to explore the hidden world of modern fabrics, synthetic dyes, and the chemicals woven into many of the clothes, bed sheets, towels, carpets, and other textiles that surround us. After witnessing his mother's reaction to conventional textiles during cancer treatment and discovering traditional Japanese dyeing practices, Michel began a journey that led him to question the materials most of us rarely think about.   In this episode, Michel explains why many clothing labels may be far more misleading than informative, how synthetic dyes and fibers became the industry standard, and what researchers are learning about microplastics, the skin microbiome, and the potential health effects of modern textiles. He discusses athletic wear, fast fashion, indoor air quality, environmental pollution, and why textile fibers make u