Fashioning a way out of the textile waste wilderness

A filmmaker, a scientist-academic, an upcycler of used baby clothes - Hong Kong's textile sustainability crusaders are as diverse as they can get and their tribe is increasing. Mathew Scott reports.

Hong Kong-made textiles once laid the foundations on which the global fashion industry was built but rising costs - and cheaper options for manufacturers on the Chinese mainland and elsewhere - had by the turn of the new millennium reduced the local industry to a shadow of its former self.

Now, decades after the industry's heyday, a new generation of textile designers working on sustainability-oriented goals are changing the way textiles are made.

They are also hoping to change traditional ways of purchasing and the disposal of clothes. A selection of such stories have been caught on camera in the documentary reFashioned, which had its premiere this past month.