Fashioning a way out of the textile waste wilderness

Garner has expanded her warehouse facilities and now has 18 colleagues on board. She has also expanded operations into Singapore.

"When we started we worked on one sale and one customer at a time to change perception," she said. "And then we relied on them to basically advocate on our behalf. But then in the last two years, it's just, you know, climate change, sustainable fashion, e-commerce, everything has just ballooned. So now we have sort of the mainstream support, I would say, of normalizing what we're doing and a de-stigmatizing of it.

"I wouldn't say everybody's on the bandwagon, but it's starting to become a more-normal topic, and at least there's an appetite for testing and trying."

HKRITA's hydrothermal separation and recycling system - now known as the "Green Machine" - has been fully developed in partnership with the H&M Foundation, a non-profit backed by Swedish fashion chain H&M, which also requested a second-generation G2G system be developed for its flagship store in Stockholm in 2020.

"We continue to work on and roll out new systems, and new materials," Keh said. "We also have complementary research efforts in waste water treatment, separation of micro plastics, leather recycling, silk recycling, and waterless dyeing methods. We have also started new projects to address the challenges of biodiversity and carbon neutrality, (like finding) new sources for raw materials that can replace petroleum-based materials, and GHG-absorbing fabrics and yarns."

Bowers hopes her film can continue spreading these positive messages.

"We've all been involved in causing these problems because we've all been the people, you know, consuming with this appetite for the products," Bowers said. "But now we know we've got that responsibility to make smarter choices."

The next screening of reFashioned, directed by Joanna Bowers, is on Oct 27. Click https://www.cinema.com.hk/en/movie/details/13180 for details.