Redress Design Award 2023 unveils its 10 Finalists, the greatest rising sustainable fashion designers who beat hundreds of entries worldwide. The Grand Final Fashion Show in Hong Kong in September will pit these 10 designers against one other to solve fashion’s waste problem.
The Redress Design Award is the world’s largest circular fashion design competition, organised by Asia-focused and Hong Kong-based environmental NGO Redress and supported by Create Hong Kong (CreateHK) of the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region as the Lead Sponsor. It is unique in that it works to showcase, educate, and empower emerging designers who are committed to transforming the future of fashion.
The educational component of the Redress Design Award is particularly relevant in the current fashion landscape: the fashion industry is responsible for 20% of global water waste and 10% of greenhouse gas emissions contributing to climate change (1), with around 90 million items of clothing sent to landfills (2). Yet fashion designers hold significant power to improve these statistics, with around 80% of a product’s environmental impact being locked in at the design stage (3).
Two Hong Kong Designers Make the Cut Hong Kong designers Jasmine Leung’s collection, ‘Over the Midnight of Doomsday Clock’, and Mandy Fong’s collection, ‘Start From Zero’, tackle various types of textile waste including electronic waste, end-of-roll nylon, home textiles and cut-and-sew waste. The Redress Design Award invites the next generation of designers to use creativity, innovation, and circular design strategies to tackle the problem of fashion waste and prove that they are the ones to watch and support in building a better future for fashion.
Representing a total of nine different regions worldwide including Hong Kong, this year’s Finalists will join an expenses-paid educational trip to Hong Kong in September. There, they will defend their collections in front of an international panel of industry-leading judges before showcasing them to the world on the runway of the Grand Final Fashion Show, where the winners will be announced. The Finalists will also gain in-depth knowledge of sustainable industry practices from leading experts through masterclasses and complete design challenges that reflect those facing the industry today.
The designers all have their eyes on the main prize: the chance to join global leading fashion brand Timberland by VF Corporation for a unique and exclusive sustainable collaboration. “We believe fostering talent and innovation is both good for business and a necessity for the future for our planet,” says Sean Cady, VP Global Sustainability and Responsibility at VF Corporation. “Mentoring the next generation of designers [through this competition] is incredibly rewarding.”
“Now more than ever, fashion brands are going to need designers who understand circularity and how the whole supply chain fits together,” shares Christina Dean, Founder and Board Chair, Redress. According to McKinsey & Co’s The State of Fashion 2021 report (1), while China has long been the world’s dominant maker and still accounts for some 29% of apparel sold globally, production is shifting to Southeast Asian countries due to their comparatively cheaper labour and overhead costs. “Redress’ headquarters being in Hong Kong, and the opportunities it offers to Redress Design Award Alumni in reaching neighbouring Asian countries and regions, are critical advantages in our efforts to push the needle toward a more circular fashion industry.”
Next up, the 10 Finalists will send their completed collections — including four physical looks and one digital outfit — to Redress for a professional photoshoot with VogueHongKong, with the garments to be safely delivered via UPS’ carbon neutral shipping. During their career-changing trip to Hong Kong in September, the Finalists will be staying at Nina Hotel Tsuen Wan West.
The People Have Spoken: Favourite Designer Fast-Tracked To The Finals
To highlight the importance of consumer participation in driving sustainability in fashion, last month Redress invited the public to join the judging process by voting online for their favourite Semi-finalist. The winner of the People’s Choice Award 2023, Pavneet Kaur of India, with her collection titled ‘EUTOPIA’ made from discarded turbans and cut-and-sew waste, has automatically advanced to the final round of the competition based on receiving the most votes. She also wins a JUKI professional overlock sewing machine and digital book from Bloomsbury.
More details of the Finalists are available on the Redress Design Award website here.
