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‘Greenwashing is rife’: is Amy Powney the most sustainable designer in fashion?

Known for her activism and tenacity, the star of a documentary that made supply chains exciting, talks about her plans for the newly created Akyn – and why so many consumers are confused by sustainability

The film created a buzz in the industry and, while the clothes remained out of the financial reach of many, Powney showed what was possible if (a big “if”) you had the scruples, and were willing to do the legwork – the journey took her to Uruguay, Peru, Austria and Turkey. There is subtly unusual tailoring, T-shirts that are entirely plain bar a tasselled hem, undemanding dresses with flattering shirring at the waist and Aran knits with the words “peace” and “love” woven into them. No one supply chain is the same as the other, which is why capturing data is very hard.” Powney plans to “bring back the narrative of creativity, craftmanship, quality, design,” explaining the amount of work that goes into clothes – “because we’ve lost that in the fast fashion world”.

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