Fashion NGO, Redress opens their fifth cycle of The EcoChic Design Award sustainable fashion design competition, challenging emerging designers in Asia and Europe to design a ‘Modern China Chic’ textile waste-reducing collection as they compete to win the main prize of designing an up-cycled capsule collection for China’s leading luxury brand, Shanghai Tang.
The competition encourages designers to put sustainable fashion on China’s design, production and retail agenda, with its major sponsor being HKSAR’s Create Hong Kong.
Christina Dean, Founder and CEO of Redress said, ‘Textile waste continues to be an urgent environmental problem. China, as home to the world’s clothing and textile factories, is awash with textile waste and now she is taking note and turning waste into opportunity. We are witnessing a polluted China activate her creativity, stretch her supply chain and flex her fashion power as China’s fashion industry and consumers stylishly create clothes that are kinder on the environment. This unleashes a positive signal about China’s increasing sustainable fashion innovation.’
Designers are effective at reducing waste. It is estimated that the designer influences 80 to 90 per cent of the environmental and economic costs of a product[2]. In response to this, the competition educates designers with the theory and techniques to enable them to create high-fashion designs using the minimal waste design techniques of zero-waste, up-cycling and reconstruction.
The EcoChic Design Award continuously expands its influence and footprint and is now accepting applicants from emerging fashion designers with less than three years’ experience living in Hong Kong, Mainland China, Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia, UK, France, Germany, Sweden and Denmark until the closing date on 15 August, 2014.
Following the stringent judging process, ten finalists, one from each of the regions, will present their sustainable collections at Hong Kong Fashion Week in mid January 2015 to compete for career changing prizes.
Raphaël Le Masne de Chermont, Executive Chairman,Shanghai Tang said, ‘Shanghai Tang is proud of our China roots and our leading position as the curator of Modern Chinese Chic. This collaboration with Redress demonstrates China’s evolution into now providing luxury and sustainable designs that are relevant to the world’s high-fashion tastes and desires. We hope this will change perceptions about Chinese brands and inspire more sustainable practices, as well as provide our style-conscious customers with a design-driven and desirable sustainable collection.’
The second prize is to design textile waste-reducing staff uniforms for Hong Kong’s legendary five star hotel, The Langham, Hong Kong, for their Cantonese restaurant, T’ang Court.
An additional special prize winner will specifically be selected by sustainable luxury jewelry brand, John Hardy. This winner will visit John Hardy’s design centre and workshop in Bali, Indonesia, to learn about their sustainable luxury business. In addition, there is a selection of career boosting prizes for the semi-finalists and finalists.
Alumni show still in the spotlight
The EcoChic Design Award’s Alumni continue to demonstrate the competition’s longer-term impact on sustainable design practices and these increasingly successful Alumni are now gradually transforming the design pallets of Asia’s design scene.
To celebrate this, celebrity artist Kary Ng will select her favourite Alumni, from all previous competition cycles, and task them to create a signature sustainable piece for an upcoming concert and fashion shoot. Kary hopes to inject a new parameter of style into her fans’ wardrobes; a sense that sustainability can be reflected in contemporary lifestyles.
Kary said, ‘I’ve always loved fashion and believe that as global citizens we should integrate our aspirations for a healthy environment in our own clothing choices. I’m excited to select my favourite The EcoChic Design Award Alumni who will transform clothes I no longer wear into a fashion showcase for sustainable chic. As consumers, our love of fashion should not cost the earth’.
Other main sponsors include Gold Sponsor, Ford Motor Company and Bronze Sponsors, ADM Capital Foundation and the Vincent & Lily Woo Trust.
For more information and the media kit, please click here: http://tinyurl.com/ECDAmediakit. Or visit www.ecochicdesignaward.com
Media enquiries:
Katie Leung, katie@redress.com.hk+852 2861 0360
[1]China Association of Resource Comprehensive Utilization, 2013
[2] Graedel et al, 1995
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