X-RAY FASHION
X-Ray Fashion is an award-winning Virtual Reality (VR) documentary, originally created in 2018, that tells the real story of garment production in the fast-fashion industry.
As the audience, you are invited to an eye-opening journey to see and feel different stages of garment production that you usually do not have access to – from the glamorous catwalk shows, through the overheated sweatshops, to the fabric dye polluted water supplies. You get to meet a sweatshop worker, who makes your clothes and experience the environmental damage caused by the fashion industry. The experience was created as an eye-opener, a conversation starter, and hopefully, the beginning of a consumer mindset changing for the better, worldwide.
In 2023-2024, the project underwent a redesign to make the technical setup lighter and the experience more interactive thanks to the Unity for Humanity Grant, resulting in X-Ray Fashion – Upcycled.
It was important to redesign it because it centres around a topic that requires constant learning, rethinking and adjusting: sustainability. To be true to the heart and core of the installation, we had to revisit our output, to see if the information we share is still relevant, honest and conveyed in a way that is easy to navigate and makes a meaningful impact.
X-Ray Fashion – Upcycled was created as an eye-opener, a conversation starter and hopefully, the beginning of a consumer mindset changing for the better, worldwide. With the new release, the experience will start travelling the world again.
The story of X-Ray Fashion
THE ORIGINAL X-RAY FASHION
In 2017 the World Bank issued a pitch competition through its climate organisation, Connect4Climate. The pitch competition, Uniting4Climate, was a call for filmmakers across the world to pitch ideas on how virtual reality could be used to put focus on a climate issue.
Between 165 submissions across 55 countries, the distinguished jury decided on MANND’s X-Ray Fashion as the winner.
Audience Opinion
94%
Say that X-Ray Fashion impacted them deeply.
80%
Say that X-Ray Fashion is a true learning experience.
Reactions
Still not convinced? Watch some reaction videos below!
Recognition
X-Ray fashion has received international recognition, support and awareness. It has also won multiple highly prestigious awards.
Amongst them is the Unity for Humanity Grant, which in 2023–2024 allowed the reconstruction of the experience into its updated version X-Ray Fashion – Upcycled.
The demand for the original X-Ray Fashion was much higher than we first anticipated, and it has travelled all over the world since its premiere at the Venice Film Festival in 2018!
Over the last couple of years, X-Ray has caused many to change their consumer habits and understand their own impact when buying fast fashion goods.
The story and tactile experience were well-designed, however, the installation was not sustainable in itself. The original X-Ray Fashion installation was built from three pallets worth of wooden platforms, and a variety of devices for physical effects, that were shipped or rebuilt for each exhibition.
The Unity for Humanity Grant allowed us to rebuild the experience, to transform it into a technically and physically lighter setup that has become easier to distribute and more environmentally friendly. This was accomplished by changing the experience to run on lighter hardware and minimising the number of installation elements – effectively upcycling it!
X-RAY FASHION — UPCYCLED
The upgrade to X-Ray Fashion – Upcycled means:
No large or heavy equipment
New standalone VR headsets
Updated data on the fashion industry
Hand tracking
New virtual interactions
Same documentary and message
Old Setup
Backpack computers connected to VR headsets, large platforms with changing surfaces, electronic trackers on c-stands, technicians and facilitators present at all times.
New Setup
Standalone VR headsets (no external computer), hand tracking & interactivity, poster trackers, no large platforms, fewer installation elements, no need for technical assistants, fewer facilitators.
X-Ray Fashion – Upcycled in Egypt
Maria & Rebekka brought X-Ray Fashion – Upcycled to Cairo in May 2024.
Filmed and edited by Orient Productions.