New Documentary Urges Sustainable Fashion Movement Not To Leave Animals Out Of The Picture

A new documentary investigating the impact of animal-based materials used for fashion launches today on free streaming platform, WaterBear.

Co-produced by one of the directors behind Cowspiracy, which made ripples for its exploration of the meat industry’s link to the climate crisis, Slay follows director Rebecca Cappelli across seven countries to track the supply chains of leather, fur and wool.

Cappelli visits tanneries in India, speaks with migrant workers in Italy, explores deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon, tours fur wholesale markets in China and breaks into a farm in Australia with activists to rescue an orphaned lamb.

This documentary is about far more than just animal rights though. Cappelli taps into the current conversation around sustainability and presents an argument that the social and environmental impact of animal-based materials has not been accurately portrayed.

Expert voices featured in the documentary include vegan activist Ed Winters, sustainability advocates Samata Pattinson, Dana Thomas and Bandana Tewari and representatives from professional bodies Fur Europe and Australia Wool Innovation.

I interviewed Cappelli about the making of the documentary…

Why did you want to make this documentary?

Slay came because I think there is a conversation on track when it comes to sustainability and what we’re doing to the planet, and to people in the supply chain, but when it comes to animals, I felt that there was a blind spot. Not just animals themselves, but the impact that it has on the planet and the people who either work in the supply chain or who live in areas that are affected by these industries.

I felt like it was an opportunity to start this conversation and get people who really care about sustainability and social justice to also take in the ethical treatment of animals into the equation.

You specifically focused on fur, leather and wool. Why did you choose those three?

I think these are the three big ones if I look at my own closet and if I look around me. We ran investigations in seven countries, we checked human rights issues, environmental rights issues, animal rights issues, it’s already quite a big scope! Maybe in the future there will be some opportunities to dive deeper into some of the topics that couldn’t be in the film like ostrich feather, down, cashmere, alpaca or silk.

You worked with Keegan Kuhn on this particular project. Do you hope that the documentary might be a Cowspiracy for the fashion world?

What I really liked about Cowspiracy is Keegan did an excellent job of creating that conversation with a very limited budget. For me, that was the inspiration. I would say that in the case of Slay, it’s more about engaging with fashion professionals and sustainable fashion and ethical fashion activist and seeing how we can work together. This is why my partner on this is Emma Håkansson from Collective Fashion Justice. I think that she’s doing an excellent job in incorporating everyone, not leaving anyone out of the conversation, not putting one in front of the other. The hope is to really accelerate the adoption of better practices and materials.

I always made this with the audience in mind and my audience actually was, I would say, me 10 years ago. Someone who, on a daily basis, doesn’t really think or care about this thing, but out of pure ignorance. I think that there are a lot of people out there, whether they work in fashion or not, that actually would care more if they had access to this information. A big focus is to break out of these echo chambers.

One of the most powerful moments in the film is when you break down crying on the fur farm in China. How was that experience?

I am not an overly emotional person. One of my concerns going there was thinking, what if I can’t process my emotions? But when you see them, it just happens.

It was hard for me to understand that I contributed to that and I supported that unknowingly and mindlessly before. But it was a great moment, as well, in terms of personal growth. It was an important moment of my life and I would choose that moment over again any day.

Were you nervous going on the lamb rescue mission in Australia?

I think the most shocking part of it was that, even though I trust the integrity of the activists that are doing this work, I was a bit skeptical. I thought ‘Are we really going to find something?’. We passed that fence and it’s sad to see that you see it right away.

It was a very calm moment. It was very eerie. There was a lot of fog. That’s why the rescue lamb is called foggy. There were birds singing. But to see that little baby alone in the dark trying to look for someone. I’m glad that we were there at that moment.

You address the argument that natural fibers are more sustainable and why that can be a myth. What did you learn about this making the documentary?

This is a complex conversation that cannot be simplified. I think a lot of that we see is an overly simplistic view of things: it’s either fossil fuels, synthetic fibres and microplastics, or it’s animal derived and it’s sustainable. I think we deserve better right now in 2022. With the access we have to data, with the images that we have and the amount of work being done by a number of organizations, we need to have a more balanced approach.

I think we need to understand that, yes, synthetic fibers are contributing to the climate crisis but so does the fur industry, the leather industry and the wool industry, in addition to causing immense harm to animals. We need to be able to address that and to look at innovation that’s going on in this space. Just because something is free of animal material, it doesn’t make it magically sustainable either.

Do you think a ban on animal-based materials for fashion is possible?

We need to also not forget people who are working in these industries. We cannot just suddenly shut down all the tanneries in India, for instance, and leave millions of people out of livelihoods. We need to ensure that the people who are working at the mercy of the supply chains are taken care of and that they have transferable skills to do more dignified work that is less harmful to them.

I think fur should absolutely be banned right now. There is absolutely no justification. It poses health issues as well, as we’ve seen with COVID. The EU is launching this initiative where we collect a million signatures to request not just a ban of fur farms in Europe, but also fur sales. I think that if we are serious about the climate crisis, and addressing the challenge, if we are really serious about our future, and the future of our children, at some point we need to take a hard decision and we need to ban some stuff. I’m not saying that we have all the solutions and it’s easy to do, but I think that we definitely need to move away from exploitation.