Saturday 6 September, 3.30-5 p.m.: Screening & Q&A: Woman Grows Jeans with Justine Aldersey-Williams of Northern England Fibreshed

Crouch End Picturehouse, 165 Tottenham Ln, London N8 9BY

This is a two-part immersion into regenerative textile practice in collaboration with the Northern England Fibreshed and Picturehouse cinemas. 

Regeneration is in danger of becoming a theoretical buzzword, often bandied about in the simulated world of online PR branding, yet it relies upon people developing reverence for ecosystems and practical skills with local materials. Regional Fibreshed founder, Justine Aldersey-Williams, knows all about rolling her sleeves up to do it herself. She recently made fashion history by producing the U.K.’s first pair of homegrown jeans from seed to seam – a feat that involved her growing flax and indigo, breaking, scutching, hackling, extracting and dyeing, then hand spinning every day for a year. Now a film has been made about her pioneering work, which is inspiring audiences worldwide, but at this London premiere, she’ll also be helping viewers ground that inspiration in physical action. In a world of imported, synthetic textiles, Justine is offering an intuitive embroidery workshop using threads dyed with the plants grown during the film. Everyone takes away a little history stitched into their clothing.

PART ONE: Woman Grows Jeans, Screening & Q&A, 3.30 – 5pm
The London Premiere of the Woman Grows Jeans film, plus live Q&A with director, and regional Fibreshed founder, Justine Aldersey-Williams – purchase tickets from Picturehouse.

When an ambitious experiment between a textile activist and a celebrity clothier meets inevitable challenges, one woman is propelled into an initiation that makes British fashion history. With a community of volunteers, they envisioned homegrown jeans sold through a social enterprise, but their work exposed difficult truths about the systems controlling industry. Despite its sophistication, the U.K. can no longer produce clothing without importing materials or causing harm.

In a country buying 70 million pairs a year, Woman Grows Jeans journeys into our resilient ancestry to reclaim the care and agency that’s key to regeneration. After 600 hours, the UK’s only pair of homegrown jeans were handmade - not as a relic, but as a provocative signpost toward the future our hearts know is possible. A celebration of the traditional skills that reconnect us to nature’s wisdom, this documentary proves that the power to create change is still in our hands.

Schedule:
3:30pm - 3:35pm: Introduction by Catherine West MP
3:35pm - 4:25pm: Women Grows Jeans Screening
4:25pm - 5pm: Q&A/Panel Discussion with Tamara Cincik of Fashion Roundtable and panel TBC

PART TWO: Guided Meditation & Intuitive Embroidery, 5.30 – 6.30pm
Tickets can be purchased through Selvedge. 

Justine Aldersey-Williams is a regenerative clothing activist, botanical textile dyer, and founder of the Northern England Fibreshed. For over a decade she has taught natural fabric dyeing to thousands of students worldwide, sharing skills that reconnect people to the land through plant-based colour. She recently made fashion history by producing the U.K.’s first pair of homegrown jeans. A film about her pioneering work, on both the original ‘Homegrown Homespun’ collaboration with celebrity clothier, Patrick Grant and the subsequent ‘Woman Grows Jeans’ project, has been selected to be screened across the U.K. Green Film Network of independent cinemas.

Visit Woman Grows Jeans
Follow Justine Aldersey-Williams