Vegan Fashion film review: SLAY

The film that gets under fashion’s skin

Slay (verb)
1. to kill in a violent way
2. to impress someone very much (music, fashion)

Slay opens with fashion, fashion, fashion. The sleek shots and modern framing come straight
from the eaves of Vogue and Elle. The shiny happy people wearing shiny happy clothes are
enough to fool us into wanting to emulate the enrobing on the screen. They look so calm and
carefree, if we buy the clothes, we will be too! This is all key to the set up, as we are drawn into
the world of clothes and the animal abuse, greenwashing and ecological issues caused by the
very garments we look up to, and it’s everyone’s problem. Think you’re not affected by the
fashion industry? To quote Miranda Priestly from the iconic The Devil Wears Prada, ‘… you think that you’ve made a choice that exempts you from the fashion industry when, in fact…you’re wearing a sweater that was selected for you by the people in this room.’

Leather and wool are the main focus of the documentary. Rebecca Capelli takes us in hand and reveals the truths hidden under layers and layers of ‘luxury’. Rebecca is charming, unrelenting and brimming with realness that draws us into her experiences. Her reactions are totally genuine and add to the emotionally charged interactions and realisations of what she, and many of us, have bought into. Heart wrenching moments that stand out are her in a fox farm, likening the crying, caged foxes to her own pet dog at home. Second, but no less gut-punching, is a tiny lamb, still with umbilical cord attached, crying and limping towards a group of rescuers out of the fog and dark of a frosty wasteland, left to die alone. (We later find out the now aptly named Foggy is in a new, loving home.)

Not only do the experiences of the animals stand out as abhorrent, but the ecological impact
this high demand, profit-chasing industry has, particularly on the people who live within range of material treatment centres. Chemical infused water gushes out into the supplies of local
villages, causing cancer, mutations and other forms of illness amongst the residents. The big
corporate machines are actively pumping poison into the soil.

Slay goes on to point out that leather and wool are sold as ‘natural’ products, but nothing could be further from the truth. As already mentioned, the chemicals used in the treatment of both are carcinogenic and are woven into the fabrics to be worn for hours and hours by unaware consumers. They don’t rot as they would on a carcass, because who would wear them then?

The alternatives to these are still not perfect, but at least they aren’t bathed in chemicals.
That would be enough to put the average person off animal-based materials, but there is a
whole avalanche more. We’re all, hopefully, aware by now of the catastrophic impacts of the
deforestation of the rainforest in Brazil, the lungs of the earth. What is 80% of that deforestation linked to? Cattle ranchers. Cows require a lot of land and even more water, and the rainforest gets in the way of all that potential grazing land. Sheep also require a lot of land, but their main problem is methane. The amount of methane sheep release in New Zealand, the home of most globally sourced wool, makes up one third of the country’s greenhouse gas emissions. Not to mention the Sustainable Apparel Coalition ranking wool worse for the environment than synthetic fibres.

Then there’s also the CO2 released in the transportation. Slay points to the fact that ‘Italian
Made’ products have usually been all over the world and the garment is only finished in the
country claiming it to be ‘made’ in. This is exemplified when calling various Italian based
companies to find out where they source their materials in one particularly glass-door moment.

The documentary closes off with a brutal truth; the alternatives aren’t perfect. But, and it’s a big one, we’re well on the way. Between cactus and pineapple leather, plant based ‘wool’ and recycled plastics, the technology and quality are there, big companies just need to shrug off the carcasses of old, release their closeted skeletons and open the cages to the new world.

Slay is an eye opening watch and key to understanding how fashion affects not just animals, but the world. Here’s to a brighter, greener and kinder future.

You can watch SLAY free on the Waterbear network, and find information and downloadable factsheets on the film’s website: slay.film.