Director Tom Wilson Captures the Spirit of Northern England in Community Clothing Film

Community Clothing was established with a simple goal; to sell great quality affordable clothes and by doing so create great jobs and help restore economic prosperity in some of the UK’s most deprived areas, notably the UK’s textile and garment making regions. So far they’ve created over 130,000 hours of work, that’s the equivalent of over 76 years of full time employment. And it’s just the beginning.

Lancashire born director Tom Wilson discovered Community Clothing and immediately had the idea of shooting something for them. When he discovered that they made ethical clothing in Blackburn, the idea of bringing the cotton industry back to Lancashire really grabbed him - especially since he grew up in Colne, a nearby mill town. Tom contacted Patrick Grant, the founder and explained  that he wanted to shoot an advert for them, for free - Patrick was onboard from the start!

Tom has been working as a director for the past decade in Bucharest, Romania, and has really been focusing his recent attentions on the UK creative market. In the Community Clothing film he was keen to catch the unique 'northern' vibe. Having not lived in the UK for almost 20 years gave Tom the distance to be able to see things a bit differently -  fresh and exciting and tangled up with his own sense of nostalgia for the area. It was really important that the multicultural, diverse Lancashire was captured on film and for Tom that meant making sure the Pakistani community was really visible, as well as the LGBTQ community.

“Lancashire is all about community - people look out for one another and there's still a strong sense of solidarity. In the film I wanted to depict this sense of community on-screen - almost creating a "gang" that you want to be part of,“ said Tom Wilson.

Tom spent a couple of weeks scouting locations and making connections (without a producer), so was totally dependent on local enthusiasm. 

He said: “I've a huge list of people I need to thank, from bowling clubs to local chip shops and girls' football teams. Studioset Productions in Romania offered to sponsor the project, and we put together a micro crew (3 people + our DOP, Bogdan Filip). We took over my parent's house, so we had gaffers and focus pullers sleeping wherever they could find space. Everything was really improvised.”

The production was not without it challenges!  18 locations and 50+ people over 3 days, and no producer. Tom was also driving everyone around in a mini-van, picking up the Romanian crew from the airport and making sure everyone was fed, Because nobody was being paid, Tom couldn't really complain if the talent pulled out at the last minute - which they sometimes did. However some of the best footage was shot when they just turned up at locations and improvised. 

Patrick allowed Tom complete creative freedom which was integral to the success of the final film. 

“He just let me run with my ideas. Even better, he was there on-set to smooth-over any issues that came up while filming. Definitely the dream client! There were shots that I didn't think would make the final edit (like Lee, our tattooed photographer, with his top off) but Patrick loved it. Part of the reason the film works is that it feels so real and ragged and spontaneous - and that's pretty much how we shot it," said Tom Wilson.