A documentary about the clothing we wear is raising awareness about pollution created when making fabrics.
Roger Williams is the director and executive producer of River Blue. He was recently in Sudbury to talk about the documentary which will be released on iTunes by the end of November.
One scene shows a waterway that has dye in it. Williams says in other countries where clothing is produced for big companies, that dye ends up in the rivers and the oceans.
"They really don't have environmental laws or environmental controls," he said.
"So they're just getting rid of their refuse. If they started building water treatment plants, that would add to their costs."
Roger Williams is the director and executive producer of River Blue. (Jason Turnbull/CBC)
Williams says many big manufacturers get overseas companies to make clothing.
"But they're not taking care of, in my opinion, the responsibility of really looking at those factories and make sure they comply," he said.
Williams says he doesn't like to name specific companies, and would rather educate the public on the issue.
He's created a website that accompanies the film.
"But basically what we found is these large companies, and you can guess which ones they are, and especially if they're publicly traded, they're all about shareholder value," he said.
"So they just want to drive product back to the consumer."
Williams says consumers can help by learning more about where their clothing comes from, and researching the topic online.
"There's lots of clothing and that's why we created the website," he said.
"So people can start shopping more ethically. Then they know what they're actually buying as well."
