'There's a lot of talk and no action': designer Amy Powney's quest to make sustainability more than just a buzzword
Not every luxury fashion designer invites the Uruguayan sheep farmer who supplies the wool for their collection to their east London studio to view the finished product . But Amy Powney isn't all luxury fashion designers - and a new film charting her 18-month journey to create an entirely sustainable collection shows that in spades.
Fashion Reimagined follows Powney, the owner and creative director of hip British brand Mother of Pearl, as she tries to create clothes that - bear with me - are organic, traceable, socially responsible and animal welfare friendly; produced in the smallest geographic region possible; and using minimal water and chemicals while being comfortable to wear. Spoiler alert: It's not easy.
As the movie explains, a normal cotton shirt will have gone through about eight stages before being shipped to the customer, including many involve harmful substances. chemicals, and the average garment will travel to five different countries. "I hope people watch and see how complicated it is," she told me in a video call this week, "but you can do it, you just have to work hard." p>
She and then Chloe Marks, Mother of Pearl product designer, begin the journey with more questions than answers. Among them: “What is a sustainable fabric? and words to the effect of "Please, can we come and meet your sheep?" , the cotton and the people who grow it and process it in a way that meets their strict criteria. They travel from Uruguay to Peru via Austria and Turkey. They have unexpected things on their to-do list – “1) Order 20 yards of fabric. 2) Check the Isis Affiliation of Turkish Cotton. 3) Need more zippers” – and lots of turn-ups. It makes for surprisingly compelling viewing.
The reasons why a more ethical industry is urgently needed are, by and large, well known. But it doesn't hurt that the film reminds us of that. Dotted with stats that highlight fashion's impact on our planet: "If the fashion industry were a country, it would rank third in carbon emissions after China and the United States." On the rise of overconsumption: "We're buying three times as many clothes as we did in 1980. And we're wearing them for half as long." Not to mention the industry's impacts on human beings: "Only 2% of the people who make our clothes earn a living wage."
The sustainable fashion world has come a long way since Mother of Pearl's No Frills line debuted at London Fashion Week 2018. Now it's in the mainstream. At the time, Powney was an outlier. "If it's not in the media or you don't hear people talking about it, maybe I sound a little crazy," she says at one point.
< p class="dcr-1b64dqh">Growing up -grid in a caravan in Lancashire, she had felt like a fashionable outsider for years. It was while standing with sheep that she had an epiphany. “You see it in the film: I arrive in a field with farmers. That's how I grew up,” she says. “I grew up picking cabbage. This is who I am, and I suddenly thought, "I'm not going to run away anymore." I'll celebrate.'"
Not every luxury fashion designer invites the Uruguayan sheep farmer who supplies the wool for their collection to their east London studio to view the finished product . But Amy Powney isn't all luxury fashion designers - and a new film charting her 18-month journey to create an entirely sustainable collection shows that in spades.
Fashion Reimagined follows Powney, the owner and creative director of hip British brand Mother of Pearl, as she tries to create clothes that - bear with me - are organic, traceable, socially responsible and animal welfare friendly; produced in the smallest geographic region possible; and using minimal water and chemicals while being comfortable to wear. Spoiler alert: It's not easy.
As the movie explains, a normal cotton shirt will have gone through about eight stages before being shipped to the customer, including many involve harmful substances. chemicals, and the average garment will travel to five different countries. "I hope people watch and see how complicated it is," she told me in a video call this week, "but you can do it, you just have to work hard." p>
She and then Chloe Marks, Mother of Pearl product designer, begin the journey with more questions than answers. Among them: “What is a sustainable fabric? and words to the effect of "Please, can we come and meet your sheep?" , the cotton and the people who grow it and process it in a way that meets their strict criteria. They travel from Uruguay to Peru via Austria and Turkey. They have unexpected things on their to-do list – “1) Order 20 yards of fabric. 2) Check the Isis Affiliation of Turkish Cotton. 3) Need more zippers” – and lots of turn-ups. It makes for surprisingly compelling viewing.
The reasons why a more ethical industry is urgently needed are, by and large, well known. But it doesn't hurt that the film reminds us of that. Dotted with stats that highlight fashion's impact on our planet: "If the fashion industry were a country, it would rank third in carbon emissions after China and the United States." On the rise of overconsumption: "We're buying three times as many clothes as we did in 1980. And we're wearing them for half as long." Not to mention the industry's impacts on human beings: "Only 2% of the people who make our clothes earn a living wage."
The sustainable fashion world has come a long way since Mother of Pearl's No Frills line debuted at London Fashion Week 2018. Now it's in the mainstream. At the time, Powney was an outlier. "If it's not in the media or you don't hear people talking about it, maybe I sound a little crazy," she says at one point.
< p class="dcr-1b64dqh">Growing up -grid in a caravan in Lancashire, she had felt like a fashionable outsider for years. It was while standing with sheep that she had an epiphany. “You see it in the film: I arrive in a field with farmers. That's how I grew up,” she says. “I grew up picking cabbage. This is who I am, and I suddenly thought, "I'm not going to run away anymore." I'll celebrate.'"What's Your Reaction?
