The 11 finalists of the Redress Design Award have skillfully demonstrated that textile waste is an opportunity at the world’s largest sustainable fashion design competition held in Hong Kong. Their incredible array of collections based entirely from waste, included secondhand clothing industry surplus, vintage kimonos, umbrellas and sofa fabric.

This year, Tess Whitfort won the first prize with her bold, punk inspired collection made from up-cycled industry end-of-rolls and designed with complex zero-waste patterns.

Hailing from Hong Kong, India, Taiwan, Japan, the Philippines, Israel, Denmark, Australia, France, Spain and the UK, the finalists took part in an intensive nine day educational bootcamp in the lead up to the grand final. Guided by Redress’ Education team, the finalists experienced the ins and outs of the supply chain first hand – testing waste fabrics in a state of the art laboratory. The finalists stayed in dormitories at a local manufacturing facility alongside garment workers; and learnt insider insights from industry professionals as they worked to identify how designers can transform the environmental impact of clothing at every stage of its lifecycle, Redress said in a press release.

"The scale of textile waste across the fashion value chain is staggering… an estimated 92 million tones of textile waste is now generated each year. These visionary young designers represent the future of the industry where waste continues to grow as a valuable resource for the industry to embrace rather than hideaway as a dirty secret. That future is now and it’s time to embed this new model for design as standard," Christina Dean, founder and board chair of Redress and co-founder of The R Collective, said.

Whitfort will now join The R Collective, a bold new social impact business, to design a capsule collection for retail. With previous collections stocked in Lane Crawford, Hong Kong and Barney’s New York, The R Collective offers a unique springboard to further develop a holistic business experience across all areas from design to marketing in the world of sustainable fashion – a world that is rapidly becoming more mainstream.

"I’m pleased to see the growing number of creative talents from around the world who realise that they have the power to make a positive difference to the environment through their designs and through textile waste innovations," one of the judges, Roger Lee, CEO of TAL Group, said.

The 11 finalists will join a talent pool of 157 alumni designers (including 32 emerging brands) from previous competitions, who are leading the charge to put waste at the forefront of design. With major sponsorship from Create HK The Redress Design Award 2019 will open in early January, building on the momentum for change across the fashion industry. (RR)

Fibre2Fashion News Desk – India

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