Redress Design Award

Application Guidelines

 

APPLICATION GUIDELINES

The Redress Design Award is the world’s leading sustainable fashion design competition that educates and empowers emerging fashion designers about circular design techniques to reduce fashion’s negative environmental impacts.

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WHO CAN APPLY?

You can apply if you meet all of the following criteria:

  • Aged 18 years or over as of application closing date of 15 March 2024

  • Hold a valid ID/passport/visa/residence permit in your country of residence

  • Have less than four years’ professional fashion design experience* at the time of application

  • Have a reasonable level of English to be able to take part in activities conducted in English*

  • Are applying as an individual (group applications are not permitted)

 *see the FAQ page and the Terms and Conditions page for details

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WHAT IS THE DESIGN BRIEF?

LET’S RETHINK FASHION

We challenge you to design a contemporary collection for a modern, fashion-forward adult, using waste textiles and guided by circular design strategies.

TO WIN, YOU MUST

  • Design a total of 5 outfits using waste textiles:

    • 3 ready-to-wear physical outfits

    • 1 showpiece physical outfit

    • 1 ready-to-wear virtual outfit, created with the support of Redress

You may submit three outfits that have already been made and debuted. The remaining two outfits MUST be designs that have never been shown to the public.

*Only 3 outfit sketches are required for the first stage open application

  • Impress the judges with evidence of circular design thinking.

    • This means reducing negative environmental impacts through your collection, from sourcing your materials to pattern design, creation, consideration of the user, and disposal after use. You should be able to clearly explain your decision-making at each step of creation.

    • For the application and semi-final judging, your designs will be scored in two categories: creativity & originality, and sustainability & innovation for the circular economy.

    • For Grand Final judging, there will be an additional category for execution, where Finalists must demonstrate their four physical outfits were made to the highest standards.

ALL DESIGNS MUST

Use waste textiles in impactful ways, reflecting on opportunities for reproducibility and scalability

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HOW TO SOURCE WASTE?

SOURCING WASTE TEXTILES FOR CIRCULAR DESIGN

Designers, you can help unlock the value of waste!

Circular design strategies are key to lowering the environmental impact of your designs. We challenge you to find creative solutions for fashion’s waste, starting with identifying and sourcing waste textiles. All of your designs must use textile waste and/or textiles created from waste, defined as follows for this competition:

  • TEXTILE WASTE: textile swatches, cut-and-sew textiles, end-of-rolls, sampling yardage, damaged textiles, and secondhand textiles. Unsold clothing, clothing samples, and secondhand clothing may also count as textile waste if you can justify that they would not be easy to sell or reuse in their current state.

  • TEXTILE CREATED FROM WASTE: textiles made from regenerated fibres, composed of a minimum 50% of regenerated content. This can include for example recycled cotton, recycled wool, food industry byproducts, or reclaimed plastic.

Consider how your textiles address the following: 

  • Waste - How much of a positive impact are you creating by choosing this waste source? What would have happened to the materials if you have not used them?

  • Low environmental impact - Are your textiles produced with processes that do not use or release harmful chemicals, with low or no release of chemicals or microplastics during washing? Are they durable, biodegradable, or recyclable?

  • Transparency - Can you trace the sources of your textiles from each stage of their production?

  • Ethical production - Are your textiles produced with consideration for their social impact and for animal welfare?

To learn more, read our Waste Textile Sourcing Guide

SOURCING & DESIGNING FOR LOW WASTE

Consider how you can Design for Low Waste. Each sustainable technique of this strategy calls for different textile sources. Your chosen textiles must be described in your application with photos and text.
ZERO-WASTE* UPCYCLING RECONSTRUCTION
TEXTILE SELECTION

Definition:
A design technique that eliminates textile waste at the design stage.

Definition:
The transformation of materials into products of equal or higher quality.

Definition:
A form of upcycling. The process of making new clothes frompreviously worn garments or pre-formed finished clothing products.
Textile swatches ✓ ✓
Cut-and-sew textile ✓ ✓
End-of-rolls ✓ ✓
Sampling yardage ✓ ✓
Damaged textiles ✓ ✓
Unsold clothing ✓ ✓
Clothing samples ✓ ✓
Secondhand clothing ✓ ✓
Secondhand textiles ✓ ✓

Textiles created from waste(minimum 50 percent of recycled content in fabric composition)

 ✓

*If zero-waste pattern cutting or draping techniques are used, the pattern(s) and the exact measurements of the textile(s) used must be provided as part of your application.

To deepen your understanding of the circular fashion system and maximise your chances of success in the competition, we strongly recommend you take the Redress Circular Fashion Design Course, including ‘Fibre Choices and Sustainability’ and new content on ‘Design for Recyclability’. You can also learn more with the Redress Academy.

Students: we encourage you to share with your teachers the Redress Sustainable Fashion Educator Pack. This free pack includes classroom presentations and activities with detailed information on the garment life cycle, garment longevity, fibres, and design methods, providing additional learning on circular design.

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APPLY NOW

To apply to the Redress Design Award, your collection must comply with the following guidelines:

  • All submitted artwork must be your original creations.

    • Shoes and accessories are not required to be designed, but Finalists will need to provide shoes for their collection.

  • No changes to artworks or your textile selections are permitted after submission unless with prior approval from Redress.

  • Redress reserves the right to refuse any vulgar, offensive, and/or inappropriate outfits.

You must fill in an online application by 15 March 2024 and provide all information outlined in the checklist.

DOWNLOAD CHECKLIST

Create an account on the competition application platform to begin your online application for the Redress Design Award 2024. When submitting your application:

  • All questions must be filled out in English or Chinese. No other languages will be accepted.

  • Each photo submitted as part of your application must have a file size of less than 1MB and be in .jpg or .png format. We recommend the photos’ pixels per inch (ppi) should not exceed 72 ppi.

  • The deadline for applications is Friday, 15 March 2024 at 15:00 Hong Kong Time (UTC+8). After submitting your application, you will receive an email confirmation. Any applications received after the competition deadline may not be accepted.

Following submission, Redress may contact applicants for further information, such as verification of professional experience and eligibility. Applicants can be disqualified at any time for failing to meet the ‘Terms and Conditions of Entry’ and any other reasons determined by Redress.

HAVE QUESTIONS?

Please head to our FAQ page – your question may already have an answer! Otherwise, please email us at apply@redress.com.hk