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Like many of you, I love when EconTalk host Russ Roberts welcomes real-world entrepreneurs to the show, as he did this episode with Elizabeth Suzann founder Elizabeth Pape. Their discussion included the start-up story of the company, a fascinating exegesis of the price of an Elizabeth Suzann garment, and the practice of shopping ethically.

I hope you were as taken with this episode as I was. (And yes, I ordered a Georgia Tee, and I’ll report back! And I want to know how many other new customers were created by the “EconTalk spike!”).

1. To what extent can/ought Elizabeth Suzann be a model for the entire apparel industry?2. Despite my “confession” in the introduction, Pape asserts that Elizabeth Suzann is not trying to capture new customers. Isn’t that counter-productive? Why does she argue that this strategy makes sense for her company, and how applicable do you think it might be to others?

3. Russ calls Elizabeth Suzann “such a 2017/21st century story.” What does he mean by that, and how does this relate to the history of the women’s apparel business over the last few decades?

4. What is Pape’s biggest trade-off for efficiency in her production process, and why does she say that she’s essentially running two businesses?

5. What does Pape mean by shopping ethically, and how widespread do you think this trend is? To what extent do you shop ethically? To what extent did this episode change the way you think about apparel shopping?