Redress Design Award opens 10th competition cycle working to reduce global waste crisis

Redress’ Circular Fashion Design Course launches to equip designers to tackle fashion’s waste

[14 January 2020, Hong Kong] – Leading environmental NGO Redress opened the Redress Design Award 2020, the 10th cycle of the world’s largest sustainable fashion design competition alongside its new Circular Fashion Design Pathway Course, with lead sponsorship from Hong Kong government agency, Create Hong Kong. These milestones come as Redress continues to fight fashion’s alarming - and worsening - waste rates by educating fashion designers globally about waste-reducing circular design techniques. For the first time, the competition offers two prize categories, menswear and womenswear, with career-changing winners’ prizes provided by The R Collective and VF Corporation.

Redress Founder and Board Chair, Christina Dean said, “We don’t have a moment to lose. The fashion industry is screaming for change. Shockingly, the equivalent of one garbage truck of textiles is landfilled or incinerated every second - and this is set to worsen. Globally, we must galvanise designers to act urgently to redesign the future of fashion.”

Dean’s sentiments were echoed by experts on a thought-provoking ‘A Changing Landscape: Sustainable Fashion in 2020 and Beyond - where do we go from here?’ panel discussion that took place at the Redress Design Award 2020 Press Launch. The speakers from different sectors of the fashion industry included Kevin Bailey, Executive VP and Group President, APAC of VF Corporation, Denise Ho, Creative Director of The R Collective and Cecilia Ngan (No7), Creative Director of Sense7 Studio and Hong Kong influencer.

Redress’ new Circular Fashion Design Pathway Course provides deeper knowledge for competition applicants, who otherwise have varying and largely inadequate access to much-needed sustainable design education. Introduced in response to the industry’s need for skilled, waste-reducing designers, the fourweek online course, delivered by global experts, launches on 6 February and covers Fibres and New Technologies, Design for Low Waste and Marketability and Upscalability.

To highlight the competition’s 10-cycle legacy and the global importance of the sustainable design movement, Redress is showcasing designs by all nine previous competition cycle winners, including Kévin Germanier (France), Pat Guzik (Poland), Janko Lam (Hong Kong) and Tess Whitfort (Australia), in a Retrospective Exhibition at Hong Kong’s The Mills, a textile industry business incubator, experiential retail and a non-profit cultural institution, until 19 January. The 2020 competition cycle also celebrates its first ever Redress All Star Design Competition, where alumni, who are previous finalists and semi-finalists will compete for a prize to propel their own sustainable brands.

Redress Design Award 2014/15 Winner Kévin Germanier, whose sustainable brand Germanier is worn by A-list celebrities including Lady Gaga, Kristen Stewart, Taylor Swift and K-pop star, Sunmi, joins the International Judging Panel, alongside Orsola de Castro, a renowned sustainable fashion designer, and Susie Lau, Fashion Writer and Editor.

Germanier said: “I am happy to join the 10th cycle as a judge. As a Redress Design Award alumnus, I really understand the positive impact the competition had on my career, especially the recognition and exposure I received as a designer. I want to bring more emerging sustainable designers to the forefront.”

The Redress Design Award 2020 Prizes

● Womenswear Prize: The Redress Design Award 2020 with The R Collective: win the opportunity to create a 10-piece up-cycled capsule collection for retail.

● Menswear Prize: The Redress Design Award 2020 with VF Corporation: win a career-changing mentorship programme with industry experts and a professional development fund.

● Runner-Up Prize: The Redress Design Award Mentorship with Orsola de Castro: win a mentorship with Orsola and other leaders in sustainable fashion and a two-week educational trip to London.

The 2020 online application is now open until 18 March 2020 to emerging designers with less than four years’ experience. 32 semi-finalists will be announced on 22 April and the 10 finalists on 13 May. Winners will be announced at the Grand Final Show in early September 2020 at HKTDC’s CENTRESTAGE.

Frontline Fashion 4 launches

To further highlight the power of the Redress Design Award platform, Redress also launches Frontline Fashion Season 4, their digital docu-series set in Hong Kong and shot over the competition’s intensive final stages showing the designers’ personal journeys and passion to change fashion, created with TV Director Lindsay Robertson. Hosted by celebrity Cara G McIlroy, Frontline Fashion 4 launches on the Redress Asia YouTube channel on 16 January, with four more weekly episodes to follow.

Hong Kong - Asia’s sustainable fashion hub

Redress’ 10-cycle success further solidifies Hong Kong’s position as Asia’s sustainable fashion hub, alongside other notable actions from Hong Kong’s fashion industry, such as HKTDC, Fashion Summit, TAL Group, Crystal Group, The Billie System, The Mills, HKRITA, HKDI, SFBC and a growing pool of emerging sustainable fashion brands.