This year, the competition received more than 400 applications from 46 countries and regions. The 30 semi-finalist designers, some of the world’s best emerging talent who have survived fashion’s growing waste crisis, are now waiting in the wings to be voted on by the public for the ‘People’s Choice Award’.
The competition invites emerging designers to address a critical challenge facing the fashion industry: how to create value from waste and design our way to a more sustainable, circular fashion future. The resulting proposals showcase an exciting range of aesthetics, all brimming with skill, creativity and innovation. This year’s semi-finalists deal with unique waste streams, from electronic waste to sofa upholstery and umbrellas.
The trial invites consumers to participate in the evaluation process and emphasizes the importance of consumer participation in promoting the sustainable development of fashion. Anyone can vote for their favorite designer on the Redress Design Award website (HERE) from now until May 5, 2023.
“Consumers need to be part of this conversation,” shares Christina Dean, founder and chairman of the board, Redress. “For too long, the production side of the fashion industry has operated alone. We are seeing progress in the industry, but for sustainability in fashion to take off, consumers need to be enthusiastic and engaged. That’s why public voting is so important,” Christina continues. According to a study by McKinsey & Company, 78% of respondents said that sustainability is somewhat or very likely to be a key purchasing factor for mass market apparel consumers by 2025.
The designer with the most votes will receive a place as one of 10 Redress Design Award 2023 finalists who will participate in an all-expenses-paid educational trip to Hong Kong in September to present their collection in person at the Grand Final Fashion Show. Each finalist will also receive a digital book on sustainable fashion from Bloomsbury Publishing and the winner will receive powerful sewing machines from JUKI. All applicants see the grand prize: a design collaboration opportunity with Timberland.
About 80% of a product’s environmental impact is caught in the design phase, which gives designers significant power to promote the cycle of the fashion industry. Community drives change, and the Redress Design Award’s educational work to encourage designers to be circular is still very important in today’s fashion world. The competition showcases how a new generation of designers are discovering and working with unique waste streams, proving that they are the ones to watch and support in building a better future for fashion.
Kevin Germaniera competition judge and past Redress Design Award winner, says: “Sustainability has become mainstream in the fashion industry, which I’ve seen while presenting at Paris Fashion Week. But we need progress to move faster. That’s why I’m so excited to see fresh ideas from the next generation of rounded design talent.”
The Redress Design Award 2023 semi-finalists are:
- Aashita Jain, India
- Apoorva Dudeja, India
- Aya Letzter, Israel
- Frances Brunner, United States
- Giovanni Libero Zocchetta, France
- He Jingru, Mainland
- Jasmine Leung, Hong Kong
- Jessica Horton, Great Britain
- Julia Cots, Spain
- Kim Yanghun, France
- Lenox Pinto, India
- Mandy Fong Sze Man, Hong Kong
- Mariona Urgell Baiori, Spain
- Melody Zhang, Hong Kong
- Miia Keskitalo, Finland
- Molly Ryan, Australia
- Nguyen Thien Thao, Vietnam
- Nils Hauser, Germany
- Pavneet Kaur, India
- Pham Duy, Vietnam
- Ray Yang Chen Jui, Italy
- Rose Brown, Great Britain
- Ruwanthi Gajadeera, Sri Lanka
- Sandali Fernano, Sri Lanka
- Scarlet Wang, United States
- Simona Kyosovska, Bulgaria
- Stina Henriksson, Sweden
- Thach Tien, Vietnam
- Wen Hanzhang, Canada
- Yaroslava Kovalenko, Russia
More information about the semi-finalists can be found on the Redress Design Award website here.
Redress is also welcoming its second cohort of Rising Talents, a program launched in 2022 that offers in-depth rotational fashion training and mentoring to designers who have demonstrated exceptional potential in their competition applications. This year, six emerging talents will be selected, which is an increase from the four in 2022.
The Redress Design Award 2023 Rising Talents are:
- Bethany Rothwell, Great Britain
- Chung Tsz Ho, Hong Kong
- Hugo Dumas, France
- Ian Chang, Great Britain
- Pachari Santichadsak, Thailand
- Yu Wing Shan, Hong Kong
Their profiles are available on the Redress Design Award website here.
HT
Source: Redress
Source: The Nordic Page