Zendaya and designer Sindiso Khumalo among winners of Green Carpet Fashion Awards

The Green Carpet Fashion Awards (GCFA) went digital for the first time on Saturday, with former LVMH Prize finalist Sindiso Khumalo and actress Zendaya bagging top prizes in the sustainability-focused ceremony.

This year the event, which shines a spotlight on those championing social and environmental change in the fashion industry, was hosted digitally on YouTube’s Fashion Channel by Camera Nazionale della Moda Italiana (CNMI) in collaboration with sustainable business agency Eco-Age.

GCFA names five winners

Emmy award winning actress Zendaya won this year’s GCFA Visionary Award for “using her platform as an actress and as a creative, to open doors and give a voice to those who otherwise would not be able to showcase their talent”.

Eco Age creative director Livia Firth said: “We admire and celebrate her aim to create a more accurate reflection of the world in which she lives in. From including the first plus-sized model in your 2019 Tommy Hilfiger show, to more recently using an all- Black team to create your September InStyle cover. By working with and championing trailblazing within the Black community, she is a leading example for younger generations and beyond, and this is why we are honouring Zendaya with The GCFA Visionary Award.”

The GCFA Best Independent Designer Award went to Cape Town-based independent designer Sindiso Khumalo (pictured below) for her collections using sustainable contemporary textiles and her broader work on poverty alleviation.

The CNMI Responsible Disruption Award went to Progetto Quid, a fashion brand creating collections from end-of-line fabric and helping create career opportunities for those struggling to find work, especially for women. In just over seven years, the brand has employed 142 people of which 70 percent are vulnerable women.

The GCFA North Star Award, which is given to organisations or individuals showing extraordinary leadership, was this year awarded to The UN for its Sustainable Development Goals - a blueprint addressing global challenges including poverty, inequality, climate change, environmental degradation, peace and justice.

The GCFA Art of Craftsmanship Award, supported by S.Pellegrino, was awarded to Italian Artisans. “The handprint of fashion, all the thousands of Italian artisans who, in so many ways, make up the fabric of this country,” event organisers said of the award. “Artisans across this country continue to offer us insight into a more viable path forward. Generations of craft and meticulous care, continuously evolving to engage with the pivotal times in which we now find ourselves.”

Main article image: Zendaya, courtesy of GCFA