Woman Grows Jeans

To mark World Circular Textiles Day on Thursday 8 October, we invite you to join the Women Who Make community for a special online screening of Woman Grows Jeans.

Following an ambitious experiment to grow a pair of jeans from seed to stitch in the industrial heartland of British textiles, this independent documentary brings together so many of the conversations at the heart of this year’s Women Who Make programme – how we make, use and value textiles, our relationship with the land, the skills we risk losing, and how making differently might help us imagine a different future.

Join us from home to watch the film together. During the screening you’ll be able to use the live chat to share thoughts and connect with others watching.

We’ll take care of the rest – just bring yourself, get cosy and perhaps make yourself a cup of tea!

Then...

On Saturday 10 October, Women Who Make returns to Masson Mills for a free day of making, ideas and connections inspired by World Circular Textiles Day. Come and continue the conversation with us through talks, workshops, demonstrations, exhibitions and shared making, exploring how we can make, use, value, repair and reimagine textiles and the things around us.

How to join

We’re screening the film through Kinema, an online platform used by independent filmmakers to share their work with audiences and host virtual screenings.

By watching with us through Kinema, we’re able to bring this independent film to the Women Who Make community while supporting the way the filmmakers have chosen to share their work.

1. Create your Kinema account and book your free place
Follow the booking link below and you’ll be taken to Kinema. You’ll need to create a free account (or log in if you already have one) and then register for your free ticket.

👉 BOOK YOUR FREE SCREENING TICKET: https://kinema.com/events/Woman-Grows-Jeans-w1hpbi

Make sure you use an email address you can access, as Kinema will use this to send you information about joining the screening.

2. Look out for your confirmation
Once you’ve registered, Kinema will send you a confirmation email and your ticket will appear in the My Tickets section of your Kinema account. There’s nothing else you need to book.

3. Join us on the day
Around 30 minutes before the screening begins, Kinema will email you with a link to join the Virtual Cinema. Follow the link and settle in – the film will begin automatically at the advertised start time.

Can’t find the email? Don’t worry. Log in to your Kinema account, go to My Tickets and you can join the screening from there.

4. Be part of the conversation
During the screening, you’ll be able to use the live chat to share thoughts and connect with others watching. The chat is available when watching on a laptop or desktop.

About the film

In the industrial heartland of British textiles, a community sets out to do something unprecedented - grow jeans from scratch. With hopes of helping regenerate harmful fashion systems, they begin planting flax and indigo, spinning yarn, and weaving cloth. When the dream of bringing them to market falters, the challenge of creating a prototype is taken on by Justine Aldersey-Williams, transforming the experiment into a personal rite of passage. What unfolds is a tender, radical act of reconnection: to land, lineage, lost skills, and the ‘more-than-human’ world. Woman Grows Jeans explores what it really means to rewild our world, our wardrobes and ourselves. At once a protest and a prayer, this is slow fashion as provocation - sown by hand, infused with love, and stitched with hope. For anyone who’s ever wondered if a different future is possible, this pioneering story shows that the power to create change is still in our hands.

Genre
Documentary

Released
2025

Director
Justine Aldersey-Williams

Producer
Perelandra Beedles

Executive Producer
Nick Beedles

Cast
Chelsea Canovas, BBC Countryfile Team, Helen Keys, Homegrown Homespun volunteers, Jane McCann, Jenni Jones, Justine Aldersey-Williams, Kirsty Leadbetter, Laurie Peake, Mark Palmer, Mohsin Sajid, Patrick Grant, Perelandra Beedles, Simon Cooper, The Wild Dyery students, Anthony Green, Ali Sharman, Betty Beedles, Carole Bowman, Charlie Mallon