Top talent from across the globe announced as semi-finalists for the redress Design award 2018

Chance to vote for the ‘People’s Choice Award’ until 6 May

17 April 2018 – Hong Kong – Following intense rounds of preliminary judging, the 30 semi-finalists for the Redress Design Award 2018 have been unveiled. Organised by Hong Kong-based environmental NGO Redress, this year’s competition has been the toughest cycle yet since the launch of the world’s largest sustainable fashion design competition in 2011. Reviewing a record number of applications from 56 regions, the expert judging panels scored the applicants based on creativity, originality, sustainability and market viability in order to cut hundreds of ambitious young sustainable designers down to just 30.

Representing a growing body of emerging talent, these 30 designers from around the world are determined to create a new future for fashion: each of their applications look to re-invent fashion with innovative sustainable design techniques and strategies, whilst reclaiming textile ‘waste’ in unexpected ways. Clare Press, Sustainability Editor-at Large of Vogue Australia and one of the competition’s regional judges commented, "This competition demonstrates how it can be circular and efficient as well as beautiful, with designers rethinking their fabric choices and patterns to eliminate waste. I was so impressed with the creativity of the candidates, and excited to see emerging designers putting sustainability first.”

Redress Founder & Board Chair, Dr. Christina Dean remarked, “The bad news is that fashion continues to be one of the world's most polluting industries, generating a shocking 92 million tons of textile waste annually, despite heightened awareness about the urgent need to fix this. The good news is the overwhelming response from designers applying to the Redress Design Award who are finding creative ways to incorporate diverse forms of fashion 'waste' back into fashion again. Our competition signals that the next generation is sowing circularity within their design DNA. But can their innovation transform the fashion industry in time?”

The 30 semi-finalists now face an even tougher International Judging Panel, from which only 10 finalists will be selected to travel to Hong Kong and present their 5-piece waste-reducing collections during a live Grand Final at the region’s premiere annual fashion event, CENTRESTAGE, in September. Battling it out to win the coveted chance to design a retail collection for bold new up-cycled brand, The R Collective, all eyes are on the prize as the public waits to see just who has what it takes to cut waste out of fashion.

Redress Design Award Judge and The R Collective’s Fashion Director, Denise Ho will help determine the 2018 cycle’s ultimate winner. Denise said, “The semi-finalists' applications captivated me - they are proving to judges that their sustainable design techniques offer commercially viable and attractive options for the real world of retail. I want the winner to not just wow The R Collective's global stockists but also our future customers. The winner needs to have the flare - and a true collaborative and team spirit - to entice more people to make the switch to sustainable fashion.”

From now until 6 May 2018, the public can vote for their favourite semi-finalist designer based on their sketches and written statements. Find out more about this cycle’s semi-finalists’ and their inspirational zero-waste, up-cycled and reconstructed designs at www.redressdesignaward.com

Redress Design Award 2018 Semi-finalists

Editor’s Notes

• The Redress Design Award 2018 was open to emerging designers and students with less than three years’ professional experience from around the globe.
• The Redress Design Award, formerly known as the EcoChic Design Award, rebranded in January 2018 to align the competition more closely to the organiser Redress and the overarching mission to reduce textile waste and fuel a circular economy for fashion..
• Key Redress Design Award 2018 sponsors are: The Create Hong Kong of the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (Major Sponsor), ADMCF, UPS and The R Collective..
• Frontline Fashion 2 is a documentary following the 2017 cycle competition finalists..
• Visit our LEARN platform for detailed resources on how to source, design and market sustainable fashion and find out more about the Sustainable Fashion Educator Pack..
• All semi-finalists will now join the Redress Design Award Alumni Network and receive a selection of books focused on sustainable design from prize sponsor Bloomsbury Publishing..

About Redress

The Redress Design Award (formerly the EcoChic Design Award) was developed by and is wholly organised by Redress. Redress is a pioneering Hong Kong based NGO working to reduce textile waste in the fashion industry. We achieve this through a variety of dynamic programmes which work to minimise the negative impacts of fashion, whilst promoting innovative new models and driving growth towards a more sustainable industry via the circular economy. Working directly with a wide range of stakeholders, including designers, manufacturers, brands, educational bodies, government and consumers, we aim to create lasting environmental change in fashion.

About The Create Hong Kong

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 coordinates 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.*

About The R Collective

The R Collective is a pioneering upcycled fashion brand and social impact business that ambitiously wants to prove that fashion can be a force for good. Based in Hong Kong, The R Collective was born from Redress’ 10-year legacy promoting sustainable fashion, and is already spearheaded by some of the world’s leading sustainable design talent from previous competition cycles. The R Collective rescues and up-cycles surplus luxury materials that are destined to be wasted and transforms them into beautiful, enduring affordable luxury designer pieces through various product drops with distinguished retailers using socially respectful and brave business practices. Lane Crawford, Asia’s leading department store, and Barneys New York retailed the first wave of The R Collective designers; Kévin Germanier, Victor Chu and Kate Morris. The R Collective are proud to support the work of Redress by donating 25 percent of their profits to charity Redress to fuel positive change in the fashion industry. The R Collective was previously called BYT.