Who is leading the way for a more sustainable future in film?
Above: Little Women (2019), who's costumes were worked on by Sinead Kidao, founder of the Costume Directory.
The global textile industry has a huge social and environmental impact and is the second most polluting industry in the world, after oil. The majority of textiles are produced in developing countries such as India, where the industry relies on cheap labour and exploitation, working millions over-time with little to no pay. These garment manufactures are usually working in unsafe conditions, without proper protection against dangerous chemicals. By nature, costume isn’t a sustainable sector as many pieces are made to fit a particular person for a limited use. The short-term nature of contracts, budgets and restrictive deadlines often means that environmental considerations are rarely a priority. The amount of energy that goes into outfitting actors on a single project can be massive. Working in film creates a new set of sustainable challenges, although improvements are being made.
There are however, an intrepid group of costume designers and buyers who are making changes to the way they work in the hopes of making the industry less wasteful and more environmentally sustainable. One such pioneer is Irish costume designer Sinead Kidao and her company, the Costume Directory. Kidao has worked in the costume department of film projects including Little Women (2019) and Beauty and the Beast (2017).
The Costume Directory connects designers and buyers with suppliers and brands who prioritize sustainability, fair trade and environmental responsibility. This company outlines things that should be considered when choosing a supplier, brand or factory, and furthermore provides links to individual artisans and weavers around the world who are sustaining traditional crafts in local environments. There are many things to consider when deciding which element of “ethical” costume designers are trying to address, whether that’s vegan, organic, recycled, or fairtrade. The Costume Directory removes this hassle out of finding suppliers who prioritize sustainability. Kidao's aim for the company is to create useful resources and share information and ideas about sustainable material sourcing and procurement with other costume departments including in film, TV and theatre.
Kidao hopes the directory can be the change for a fairer less wasteful film and TV industry. What this would look like is an industry whose costume department can easily and cheaply re-use, recycle and redistribute fabric. But for this to happen there needs to be a fundamental shift in the industry’s infrastructure.
In her Costume Directory handbook, Kidao states how in the costume departments she has worked in, she always looks for ways to source ethical fabrics and strive to reduce the departments carbon footprint. Through doing this, it has allowed her to gather information about the environmental but also social impacts of textile production. The Costume Directory is not a set of rules, but its goal is to get the costume department to collectively address the decisions made when creating costumes and implement more ethical and efficient practices. While the most important job of the costume designers on any given set is to support the visual look for a film, simple choices can be made that will contribute to a growing movement for change. And that’s exactly what Sinead Kidao is doing with the Costume Directory.
Another pioneer in greening the film and TV industry is Earth Angel. They’re a sustainability agency whose aim is to reduce the environmental impact of entertainment productions, including live entertainment events. They work with both major and minor productions, including on sets such as Black Panther (2018). Just like the British Academy of Film and Television Art’s albert project, Earth Angel work on set with producers to try reduce the waste and energy consumption in each department and introduce more sustainable practices into filmmaking. They’ve been established since 2013, and already they have reduced productions carbon footprint by 16,016 metric tons and have diverted more than 19,000,000 pounds of production waste, including costume, from landfills.
While the industry has a long way to go yet in reducing its carbon footprint, it's the work of people like Sinead Kidao and her Costume Directory, and Earth Angel that make taking the step for filmmakers and producers to a more environmentally friendly set and a greener future easier.