The EcoChic Design Award finalists announced

Ten emerging fashion designers from Asia and Europe shortlisted to showcase their textile-waste reducing designs at Hong Kong HKTDC Fashion Week to compete for the chance to create a sustainable collection for China´s leading luxury brand.

Redress named the ten emerging sustainable fashion designer finalists from Asia and Europe who will unite for The EcoChic Design Award 2014/15 Grand Final at HKTDC Fashion Week in late January 2015.

The EcoChic Design Award is the first international sustainable fashion design competition bringing together Asian and European fashion designers who have a shared goal of promoting an environmentally low-impact fashion industry. This highly acclaimed and impactful competition is organised by Hong Kong-based fashion NGO, Redress and has major sponsorship from the Hong Kong government agency, Create Hong Kong.

‘This cycle of The EcoChic Design Award specifically highlights and celebrates China’s fashion and textile industry. On the one hand, China is the world’s clothing factory, producing 43.6 billion garments in 2012[1]and in doing so suffered catastrophic amounts of textile waste in the process. On the other, China is a strong source of creativity and positivity and her consumers have high aspirations for an improved environment,’said Christina Dean Founder and CEO of Redress.

Highlighting the potential positive power of one of the fastest growing fashion retail markets, the finalists will now be tasked to create their own textile-waste-reducing collections based on a Modern China Chic aesthetic. These will be presented at The EcoChic Design Award 2014/15 Grand Final fashion show in Hong Kong, which has ‘homed’ four Grand Finals in the past, and in doing so earned herself the position as Asia’s sustainable design hub.

The EcoChic Design Award 2014/5 Finalists:

• Cher, Carman Chan (Hong Kong)
• Aya, Xiating Qi (Mainland China)
• Yvonne, Tien Chun Tsai (Taiwan)
• Laurensia Salim (Singapore)
• Veronica, Hsiao Huei Lee (Malaysia)
• Noëlla Tapasu Koy (France)
• Kirstine Marie Hansen (Denmark)
• Shing Hong Chu (Hong Kong) wildcard* finalist

This current competition cycle boasts the biggest competition Grand Final to date and the highest quality of entries and designs since the competition launched in 2011.

The finalists are either designers with less than three years’ industry experience or fashion design students. They were selected by a panel of influential judges owing to their innovative use of one or more of the sustainable design techniques, zero-waste, up-cycling and reconstruction.

The following four months will see the finalists bring their application sketches into life to form their six piece collection, which they will create using textile waste sourced by themselves from China’s factories to Switzerland´s Army to Singapore´s secondhand stores. These finalists are pushing the boundaries of design with their variety of application of the three sustainable design techniques and innovative use of textile waste.

This year’s high-calibre rota of international judges sees notable figures from the design, manufacturing, retail and media fields and includes Orsola de Castro, Co-Founder of From Somewhere and Curator of Estethica, Dorian Ho, Fashion Designer, Anderson Lee, Vice Chairman of the Sustainable Fashion Business Consortium, Joseph Li, Chief Designer of Womenswear at Shanghai Tang and Yvonne Luk, Chief Editor of WGSN China.

International judge, Dorian Ho said, ‘I believe that it is extremely important for the future of the fashion industry and for the environment to bring the next generation of sustainable fashion designers’ ideas and values to life. I am inspired by the designers’ high calibre of talent and passion. For the finalists to meet and share their visions and creations in Hong Kong during the grand final speaks loudly of the significance of Hong Kong for the future of sustainability in the global fashion industry.’

Partnership prizes promote careers in sustainable fashion

The finalists, from nine international regions, will unite in Hong Kong in January 2015 for one week of knowledge exchange, design challenges and networking with top industry professionals. The week culminates with the designers revealing their competition collections at the Grand Final fashion show as they compete for career-changing prizes, including the platform to launch their own careers and to take sustainable fashion into the market.

The first prize winner will design their own capsule collection using up-cycled textiles for Shanghai Tang and in doing so become the first emerging fashion designer to work with China’s leading luxury brand.

The second prize winner will design textile waste-reducing staff uniforms for Hong Kong’s legendary five star hotel, The Langham, Hong Kong, for their two-star Michelin-restaurant, T’ang Court.

The special prize winner will go on an enlightening educational trip to sustainable luxury brand, John Hardy’s workshops located in Bali, Indonesia to experience first-hand the brand’s sustainable design, production and business philosophies.

The remaining 17 semi-finalists will now join Redress’ increasingly impactful community of alumni. More information on our alumni can be found at: www.ecochicdesignaward.com/alumni/

Statements from The EcoChic Design Award 2014 finalists, along with design sketches can be found at: www.ecochicdesignaward.com/finalists-201415-eng

For images: www.dropbox.com/sh/7ro736wsssvl21b/AAB0fpFuuXgL8GOhQJ5v9vFha?dl=0

Additional information on prizes and sponsors can be found at: www.ecochicdesignaward.com

Key sponsors of The EcoChic Design Award are Create Hong Kong, Ford Motor Company, Shanghai Tang, John Hardy, The Langham, Hong Kong, ADM Capital Foundation, Vincent and Lily Woo Trust.

Media enquiries:

Babette Radclyffe-Thomas
Email: babette@redress.com.hk
Tel: +852 2861 0360

About The EcoChic Design Award (www.ecochicdesignaward.com)

The EcoChic Design Award is a sustainable fashion design competition inspiring emerging fashion designers and students to create mainstream clothing with minimal textile waste. Designers are educated with the theory and techniques to enable them to create sustainable clothing via zero-waste, up-cycling and reconstruction. The competition puts emerging sustainable design talent in the spotlight, creating a platform for the next generation of designers to cut waste out of fashion. The inaugural The EcoChic Design Award was launched in Hong Kong in 2011 and previous cycles also include Hong Kong 2012, China 2012, and the 2013 cycle was open to eight regions across Asia and Europe.

About Redress (www.redress.com.hk)

Redress is an NGO with a mission to promote environmental sustainability in the fashion industry by reducing textile waste, pollution, water and energy consumption. They achieve this via educational sustainable fashion competitions, shows, exhibitions, seminars, research and by a recycled textile clothing standard. They collaborate with a wide range of stakeholders including multiple fashion designers, textile and garment manufacturers, retailers, schools and universities, multilateral organisations, governments, NGOs, financial institutions and media organisations.

About Create Hong Kong (www.createhk.gov.hk)

The Create Hong Kong is a dedicated agency set up under the Commerce and Economic Development Bureau on 1 June 2001 to lead, champion and drive the development of the creative economy in Hong Kong. It co-ordinates Government policy and effort regarding creative industries, focuses Government’s resources catering for the promotion and speeding up the development of creative industries in Hong Kong, and works closely with the trade to boost the development of creative industries.

“The Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region provides funding support to the project only, and does not otherwise take part in the project. Any opinions, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed in these materials/events (or by members of the project team) are those of the project organizers only and do not reflect the views of the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, the Communication and Technology Branch of the Commerce and Economic Development Bureau, Create Hong Kong, the CreateSmart Initiative Secretariat or the CreateSmart Initiative Vetting Committee.”

About Shanghai Tang (www.shanghaitang.com)

Since its inception in 1994, Shanghai Tang has been the pioneering luxury lifestyle brand from China. With its mission as the global curator of modern Chinese aesthetics, Shanghai Tang interprets Chinese culture and craftsmanship with vibrant sophistication and relevance. Offering ready-to-wear for women, men and children, as well as accessories and homeware, Shanghai Tang supports an international network of 43 boutiques, including the world’s largest lifestyle flagship – The Shanghai Tang Mansion, at 1 Duddell Street, Central, Hong Kong and its largest flagship boutique, The Cathay Mansion in Shanghai, China.

About The Langham (www.hongkong.langhamhotels.com)

The Langham, Hong Kong is an elegant European-style haven in the heart of vibrant Kowloon. Situated next to the “Rodeo Drive of Hong Kong”, the hotel is surrounded by the luxury stores of designer labels. The property’s 495 luxurious rooms and suites finished with luxurious fabrics, hardwood floors, hand-woven carpets, and silk drapes, no detail in these accommodations has been overlooked. Each room is also equipped with state-of-the-art hi-tech amenities, including a 37” flat-screen TV, iHome audio deck and wireless broadband internet connection. Attractions range from the rooftop pool down to the award-winning Michelin starred T’ang Court restaurant.

About John Hardy (www.johnhardy.com)

John Hardy is a luxury handmade jewellery brand, founded in Bali in 1989. The company’s collaboration between designers and artisans yields jewellery that unites the mastery of the talented jewellers who served Balinese kings with modern design interpretations. The company adheres to strict policy of “greener every day” - the belief that a business can prosper with respect to the people, while preserving nature and the environment.

John Hardy collections are sold widely around the U.S. in high-end department stores such as Neiman Marcus and Saks Fifth Avenue. John Hardy Collections are also available in Hong Kong (Lane Crawford), United Kingdom (Harrods and Net-a-Porter), Japan (Isetan), France (Le Bon Marche) and other countries worldwide. Headquartered in Hong Kong with offices in New York, Bangkok and Bali, the company employs around 1000 people worldwide.

About Ford Motor Company (www.corporate.ford.com)

Ford Motor Company, a global automotive industry leader based in Dearborn, Mich., manufactures or distributes automobiles across six continents. With about 183,000 employees and 65 plants worldwide, the company’s automotive brands include Ford and Lincoln. The company provides financial services through Ford Motor Credit Company.

Ford Motor Company Asia Pacific is responsible for producing, selling and servicing Ford brand vehicles in 12 markets including China, India, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, South Korea, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Vietnam, Taiwan, and 31 emerging markets across the region. In October 2009, Ford Motor Company moved its Asia Pacific regional headquarters to China. Ford is bringing more than 50 new vehicles and powertrains to Asia Pacific by 2015, and sixty to seventy percent of Ford’s growth will come from this region in the next ten years.

1. Simone Preuss, 2013.