DHL Fashion Potential Award announces 2019 finalists

Five emerging fashion brands have been announced as the finalists for the DHL Fashion Potential Award 2019, and will now compete to win a 20,000-pound cash prize.

The award in association with the British Fashion Council has named British-made luxury swimwear brand Naeco, along with online womenswear brand Finery, accessories brand Trakke, womenswear designer Olivia Rubin, and premium womenswear brand Emile Vidal Carr as the 2019 finalists.

The five finalists were chosen from 350 up-and-coming British fashion brands and will now receive expert 1:1 mentoring from international industry leading experts in e-commerce, international fashion growth, and sustainability for eight weeks to develop a business plan to show how the cash prize could drive their global growth.

Each of the finalists will then meet a judging panel and present their final business plan during London Fashion Week with the winner set to be announced on September 17.

The winner will be awarded 20,000 pounds to help them “realise their potential to take products to new, international markets”.

Naeco, Olivia Rubin and Finery among DHL Fashion Potential Award 2019 finalists

The 2019 finalists range from a men’s swimwear label to an accessories brand that launched on a market stall to a print-led womenswear brand, a contemporary online womenswear brand and a designer and art director known for his engineered, vivid premium womenswear.

Sustainable swimwear Naeco, born out of a passion for the ocean and the sports around it including surfing, kite surfing and swimming, has been making waves with its sustainable, fashionable beachwear, all made from recycled ocean plastic. Each pair of Naeco swim shorts is made from 15 plastic bottles.

Commenting on being selected as a DHL Fashion Potential Award finalist, Naeco founder, Zak Johnson said in a statement: “We are delighted to have been voted as one of the finalists in the DHL Fashion Potential Award 2019. To have been selected amongst such a wide range of fantastic British fashion brands is a real honour. We are looking forward to working with our mentor to develop Naeco further and will keep our fingers crossed for the winner announcement in September.”

Naeco is joined by Scottish accessories brand Trakke, which began on a market stall in Glasgow, selling is bags inspired by the landscape, history, culture and wildlife of the highlands. Today, they employ ten young artisans and use some of the best British made materials to craft its bags in Scotland.

There are also three womenswear brands up for the award, including Finery, an online womenswear brand founded in 2014 to put “excitement back into shopping” with its contemporary products, while Olivia Rubin, a womenswear graduate from Central Saint Martin’s has become known for her signature graphic prints, bold colours and use of rainbows and multicoloured sequins. Most recently the designer had a pop-up in Selfridges.

The final brand on the shortlist is London College of Fashion graduate Emile Vidal Carr, who has worked in the sample room for some of the largest design labels in the world including Alexander McQueen, Roland Mouret and Ralph and Russo. His premium womenswear offers architecturally-inspired garments all manufactured in his own London-based factory.

The 2019 winner will follow in the footsteps of Rixo, founded by vintage lovers Henrietta Rix and Orlagh McCloskey and Hades, a classic British Knitwear brand handcrafted in Scotland and designed by Cassie Holland.

Image: courtesy of Naeco