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Sustainability in vogue: new documentary looks at three Hongkongers changing the fashion industry

  • Joanna Bowers’ ‘reFashioned’ examines the environmental damage caused by fast fashion, and explores how technology and innovation can drive change
  • The director says she hopes the film prompts viewers to understand their power as consumers and embrace a circular economy

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The fashion industry produces 10 per cent of global carbon emissions, and is on track to use up a quarter of the world’s carbon budget by 2050. Photo: Shutterstock
A former corporate executive, a scientist, and an enterprising mother are at the centre of a new documentary produced in Hong Kong, which highlights the environmental damage caused by the fashion industry while telling the stories of those creating solutions for it.
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“The main protagonists in the film are everyday people with busy lives and hopes and fears about work-life balance, but in their own ways slowly striving to do something to curb the damaging effects of the fashion industry,” said filmmaker Joanna Bowers, who previously directed The Helper, a documentary focused on the maternal sacrifices of Hong Kong’s migrant domestic workers.

With reFashioned, which premieres next month, she hopes to help individuals realise they too can effect change.

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“I was already interested in the environmental impacts of the fashion industry, having worked on some short-form documentaries, and so I was keen to further explore the sustainable fashion landscape in Hong Kong,” Bowers said. “We want our audience to understand the power they have as consumers.”

The topic resonated with her not only as a filmmaker but also as a parent.

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