Thoughtfully made, highly informative and accessible, director Becky Hutner’s documentary charts how luxury UK fashion company Mother of Pearl tackles the challenge they set themselves of developing a sub-label, No Frills, that makes only sustainable, ethically made clothing from Global Organic Textile Standard fabric. And lo and behold, the whole process is not as easy as sticking a leaf on the label and calling a product “green”.
In fact, it involves examining every step of long and winding supply chains. Mother of Pearl’s creative director Amy Powney, the daughter of old-school hippies, and her right-hand woman Chloe Marks are seen mulling over whether, for instance, if they are to use wool (a versatile, biodegradable fibre that’s nevertheless a by-product of the meat industry), where can they source wool that’s soft enough for skin-contact but doesn’t involve mulesing and other treatments that are cruel to animals? Synthetic fibres, on the other hand, wouldn’t directly harm furry friends, but most of them are highly polluting if made from petrochemicals.
