Organised by environmental NGO, Redress, the Redress Design Award is the world’s largest sustainable fashion design competition and will see the finalists present their dynamic collections created entirely from waste textiles to an international audience this September in Hong Kong.

Following a worldwide search for sustainable fashion design talent, 11 finalists have been announced for the Redress Design Award 2018. Representing 11 different regions including Hong Kong, India and the UK, the designers embody a growing movement to bring textile waste back into fashion and take the circular economy mainstream.  

Leveraging strong support from over 100+ tertiary fashion education partners, the 2018 cycle of the competition was Redress’ first truly global search for talent. During the two-month open application phase, their unique online ‘Learn’ platform saw over 5,500 visitors exploring content on the numerous environmental issues in the fashion industry and the innovative design techniques that can be used to tackle waste, which resulted in a record number of applications from 56 regions around the world.

Redress Founder & Board Chair, Dr. Christina Dean commented,

“For this Redress Design Award cycle, we scoured the world looking for the best emerging designers to tackle fashion’s underbelly – waste. With an estimated 92 million tons of textile waste generated annually – a truly staggering figure that is projected to increase to 148 million tons annually by 2030* – there is not a moment to lose as we passionately cultivate more fashion changemakers. Our search was rewarded; the designers are demonstrating the creative and commercial potential of the wide breadth of untapped textile waste streams from the fashion industry and beyond.”

Roger Lee, Redress Design Award international judge and CEO of TAL Group said, “This is my second year judging the Redress Design Award and 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. I am inspired to see more people along the fashion supply chain show an unwavering commitment and push for more sustainable practices.”  

Redress Design Award 2018 Finalists

• Christian Jay Martin, The Philippines
• Ganit Goldstein, Israel
• Hung Wei-Yu, Taiwan
• Jesse Hin Fung Lee, Hong Kong
• Lea Mose Svendsen, Denmark
• Lucia Alcaina, Spain
• Lynsey Gibson, UK
• Melissa Villevieille, France
• Sarah Jane Fergusson, Japan
• Seerat Virdi, India
• Tess Whitfort, Australia

 Explore the Redress Design Award finalists’ profiles at redressdesignaward.com/finalists

* Global Fashion Agenda and The Boston Consulting Group, Inc. (2017), Pulse of the Fashion Industry