Film director has strong ties to Montana and a mother who died of breast cancer
BILLINGS — When you bring food into your home, there’s a label that tells you a lot when it comes to making healthy choices for you and your family. But what about the clothes we put on our bodies every single day?
There’s a sustainable fashion designer with strong ties to Montana who also has a mother who died of breast cancer, and he wants to make sure people are more aware of what they put on their bodies before making clothing purchases.
“From the moment we’re born, we’re wearing clothes. Who’s talking about this?” as an excerpt of the documentary plays out in the film’s trailer.
“My mom passed about three years ago now from her breast cancer. She was in remission for a while, and when that happened it spurred me to do this film,” says Jeff Garner, director and designer of Let them be Naked documentary and owner of Prophetik clothing brand.
Garner works with scientists to investigate and call out chemicals in fabric, like formaldehyde in bras.
“The film is a catalyst to help women understand that the bras in which they wear have nylon and polyester and synthetic dyes with chemicals that have linkage to breast cancer,” says Garner.
The documentary takes a close look at the lack of ingredient labels and regulation of the fashion industry.
“Arsenic helped achieve this color, one of the first colors produced in a laboratory, skin lesions caused by this dye,” as audio from the documentary’s trailer plays out.
Garner has the backing of big names like Gerard Butler in his film, and on the red carpet, models like Gisele Bundchen rep his brand Prophetik.
“He’s such a purist in that pure soul and heart and wanting to make a change,” says Gerard Butler in the film’s trailer.
“Jeff makes a point of being able to drink his own dyes,” says yet another voice in the film’s trailer.
Putting that bold statement and action on film helped him take home an award at the 2024 Winterland Impact Festival in Whitefish as his documentary debuted in Montana, but that’s not his only connection.
“When I was in my young twenties, I designed for the bands and the band t-shirt printing, and so funny enough, one of the main guys was in Billings, Montana, so I flew there on a little prop plane, so he was my graphic designer at the time,” says Garner.
Garner is a global changemaker who’s asking you to make a world of difference for your body one hemp undie or bra at a time.
“This is simply my heart saying, okay, I had a mom that passed. I don’t want any other moms to suffer from this without knowing, and obviously we can’t stop it. It’s like a train, but we can prevent it better with more knowledge and more wisdom,” says Garner.