Texworld USA Panelists to Discuss RiverBlue Film Screening
For denim, RiverBlue might be the film that shook things up the most.
The film, which follows international river conservationist Mark Angelo as he sets out to determine whether fashion can save the planet, will be screening during a seminar session at the upcoming Texworld USA trade show on Tuesday, July 24th at Javits Center, New York City.
Woven throughout the RiverBlue storyline, Angelo examines the destruction of the world’s rivers, how denim has played a role and looks to inspire solutions for a more sustainable future. To make the documentary, it took three years, the crew traveled through 11 countries, post-production took a year, and then it was on to the film festivals. So far, RiverBlue has been nominated 17 times for awards around the world and won 11 of them.
For Roger Williams, who directed the film, this was the right time for the film and for the world to better understand what fashion has done to the environment.
“I saw this as the right time to produce RiverBlue as my research showed this was a very under reported story,” Williams said. “Rana Plaza was reported and other news had come out about workplace conditions, but nobody had taken the angle of the amount of pollution that the fashion industry was responsible for.”
The biggest surprise in his findings throughout the film was how bad conditions really were.
“Trillions of gallons of chemicals are being dumped into rivers in many areas of South East Asia and Africa with no regard for the effect downstream or what it’s doing to our oceans,” Williams said.
To get an idea of what the film has meant to the industry, Carved in Blue caught up with the three panelists set to take the stage at Texworld USA, to get their reactions to RiverBlue.
For Tara St. James, production coordinator and research fellow at the Pratt Institute – Brooklyn Fashion and Design Accelerator, the film was “visual proof” that the industry isn’t taking its responsibility for its impact on the environment.
“While researchers and sustainability experts have long known about this crisis, consumers, manufacturers, designers and workers in the trade need to see the global impact of their decisions,” St. James said. “It is far too easy in this industry to make decisions when the outcome of those decisions occurs in a different country, to other people and environments. It is important that we start thinking globally about the world’s supply chain.”
So, what can denim brands do?
For Jeanologia brand director for North America, Alex Penades, RiverBlue further fueled the companies mission to lower the denim industry’s environmental impact.
“I think RiverBlue has given us many things as a company,” Penades said.
The film, he continued, solidified three key implications for Jeanologia: it reassured them about their sustainability R&D and new technology efforts, it encouraged them to help speed up brands’ transformations so they can understand the importance of change, and it gave them “enormous energy” in knowing its work is meaningful to the industry.
“I think the film is helping Jeanologia to be recognized as one of the precursors and key players in the industry change,” Penades said. “The funny thing is that the movie was shot three years ago when the technology had not yet gotten up to today’s sophistication. The solutions today are way better than they were then, and hopefully this is going to be exponential.”
That hope is a similar one for Tricia Carey, director of global business development apparel at Lenzing Fibers, who will moderate the upcoming screening and session.
“I am looking forward to the screening of RiverBlue at Texworld USA. While it is actually the third time I will watch the movie, it is wonderful to share with different audiences and discover the impact it has on their perspective of the apparel industry,” Carey said. “For some people, they are still shocked about the conditions of some factories which make the clothes they treasure. For others, it is a realization of the social side of the apparel business. The global social, economic and environmental impacts are all candidly addressed in RiverBlue.”
The RiverBlue screening will be held on Tuesday, July 24th 1PM at Texworld USA, Javits Center. Register for Texworld USA here.