While documentaries like The True Cost have pulled back the curtain on the grim reality of fast fashion, sustainable brands are eager to expose their own clothing-manufacturing processes. And, in the case of Woolmark, they’re finding creative ways to showcase transparency. For more than 50 years, the Australian-based company has marketed wool as a fashion staple that’s simultaneously luxurious, durable, and eco-friendly.
The company has successfully branched into high-fashion territory by hosting international designers to compete for the prestigious annual Woolmark Prize. Now it's bringing more focus to the sustainable side of the brand with a new "farm to fashion" video, which proves that your favorite sweater and your organic farm-to-table meal have more in common than you'd think. Woolmark attached GoPro cameras to a flock of sheep to document how wool gets made — from grazing in the Australian pasture, to getting sheared, to having their pelts spun into fiber.
It's a clever take on the Woolmark design philosophy, which centers around the idea of respect for animals, along with the world around us. As two-time Woolmark Prize winner (in 2013 and 2014) Rahul Mishra explained to us during the 2015 International Woolmark Prize, "The rule is very Buddhist to me because...you respect the animal. You respect the environment. You respect everything. For me, Buddhism is a natural fit for my brand philosophy. I'm a completely sustainable luxury brand, so when it [comes to] sustainability, I think [wool is] one of the most sustainable fibers known to mankind."
Just in time for the British regional leg of the 2016 competition (which kicks off on Friday), watch the video above for a whole new kind of warm and fuzzy feeling.
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