Amy Powney

I was determined to be a designer, a fashion designer.

My career was built off my childhood happy place of crafting with my mother, and I dreamt of unleashing my creativity in an industry that was born on style and trends and luxury.

It was a contradiction to my own childhood of hand-me-downs and no logos, often teased by my peers.

I grew up in the north of England, off grid.

My parents worked as local food farmers, and I had a real innate understanding of where things came from.

We were the bottom of the food chain, we all worked as farmers, and I watched our small wind turbine turn natural resources into energy firsthand.

It did also mean if it wasn't windy, I couldn't watch TV.

getting into my dream industry.

I'm a very inquisitive person, so I decided to pick away at the seams.

And so six years ago, as a creative director of Mother of Pearl, I embarked on a mission to make a fully sustainable collection for my brand.

I didn't really know what that meant, so I journeyed from field to finished product, emotionally engaging with the people and the planet, picking away the chains, linking them back together.

We all get the notion of farm to table, right?

We understand where our fresh produce comes from.

It's written on the packet and also from point of harvest to the final product.

It kind of looks the same.

But what about feel to fashion?

Fashion is also born of natural resources.

Your clothes come from either worm and animal, agriculture, forestry or fossil fuels.

Without worms, there is no silk, no sheep, there's no wool.

Without agriculture, there's no cotton, no trees, no viscose, and polyester, which is the most widely used fabric of all, because it's cheap, comes from fossil fuels, it's made of crude oil, which is the same oil that you put into your car, the same fuel you put into your car.