The EcoChic Design Award is the world’s largest sustainable fashion design competition, inspiring emerging fashion designers and students to create mainstream clothing with minimal textile waste. EcoChic is organised by Redress, a Hong Kong NGO with a mission to promote environmental sustainability in the fashion industry by reducing textile waste, water and energy consumption, and pollution. It achieves this through channels such as fashion shows, exhibitions, competitions and seminars, and via their recycled clothing standard.
10 EcoChic Design Award 2017 finalists
Now the day has come, after three months of hard work, for the 10 finalists to showcase their six-piece sustainable collections at the EcoChic Design Award 2017 grand final in Hong Kong.
Designs will be scored on creativity, originality, sustainability and marketability, as well as the all-important craftsmanship, with career-changing prizes up for grabs for those who impress the judges.
1. Ayako Yoshida, Kyoto (Japan)
Ayako Yoshida’s inspiration comes from Tsukumogami ( “obsolete tools”) (Credit/EcoChic)
Ayako is currently studying fashion design at ESMOD Kyoto. She applies the design techniques of reconstruction and up-cycling to transform abandoned materials, such as discarded tatami mats and old kimonos, into new beautiful pieces.
2. Candle Ray Torreverde, Manila (Philippines)
“It is our responsibility to live and breathe sustainability to minimise waste” (Credit/EcoChic)
Candle currently works as a visual merchandiser and stylist, and holds a degree in Fashion Design and Marketing from SoFA Design Institute in Manila. This designer applies the design techniques of up-cycling and reconstruction, with the use of natural dyes, to transform second-hand textiles and clothes. His inspiration comes from the chaos brought about by sea storms.
3. Lia Kassif, Israel
“As a designer I find it an amazing challenge to use and transform old to new to contribute to a better future” (Credit/EcoChic)
In addition to winning the People’s Choice vote, Lia is currently studying fashion design at the Shenkar College of Engineering, Design and Art, Israel. Lia applies up-cycling and reconstruction design techniques to combine military uniforms and wedding gown waste, playing with a thoughtful juxtaposition between the strong meanings these two garments hold for young Israelis.
4. Sarah Devina Susanto, Jakarta (Indonesia)
Sarah wants to show consumers that we can make beautiful clothes using textile waste (Credit/EcoChic)
Sarah holds an Advanced Diploma in Fashion Design from the Raffles Institute of Higher Education, Jakarta, and currently works as a fashion designer for an independent womenswear brand. Sarah applies the up-cycling technique to cut-and-sew waste, hotel bedsheets, and jute sacks—which are of great cultural importance in Indonesia—to transform them into beautiful clothes.
5. Sung Yi Hsuan, Taiwan (Mainland China)
Yi Hsuan applies up-cycling and reconstruction to industry textiles and secondhand clothing waste (Credit/Redress)
Sung currently works as a womenswear design assistant and holds a degree in Fashion Design from Shih Chien University, Taiwan. What inspires this Taiwanese designer is the juxtaposition of discarded and mass-produced fast fashion items with the age-old technique of weaving, to invoke a spirit of awakening in a time of anxiety.
6. Amanda Borgfors Mészàros, Stockholm (Sweden)
“I am saddened to live and work in a world where clothing consumption is a growing problem” (Credit/EcoChic)
Amanda is currently studying fashion design at the Beckmans College of Design in Stockholm. She draws inspiration from the contrasts seen above and below the ocean surface, while applying zero-waste and up-cycling techniques to industry-surplus textiles. Here, she blends together diverse fabric textures to form her collection.
7. Claire Dartigues, New York (USA)
“Sustainable fashion has become a non-negotiable action” (Credit/EcoChic)
Claire holds a degree in Fashion Design from Parsons School of Design, New York and a Masters degree in Luxury Management in Europe and Asia from Paris Dauphine University, France. As a French national living in the USA, she currently works as a freelance fashion designer. Claire uses natural dyes on industry-surplus clothing and textiles. Her collection takes inspiration from polluted rivers and sets out to connect the two very different worlds of finance and blue-collar workers.
8. Joëlle van de Pavert, Netherlands
“The inspiration of my collection is my very own behaviour as a consumer” (Credit/EcoChic)
Joëlle is a graduate from the ArtEZ, University of the Arts in the Netherlands and currently works for a footwear retailer. She is deeply intrigued by how the same materials can be manipulated and transformed in multiple ways, creating the sense of a never-ending story.
9. Kate Morris, Nottingham (England)
Cutting out textile waste with technology and hand craft designs (Credit/EcoChic)
Kate is currently studying fashion design at Nottingham Trent University, United Kingdom. For her EcoChic Design Award application, she used the zero-waste, up-cycling and reconstruction techniques to create diverse knitwear. Her approach blends technology with hand crafting skills for efficiency and to create a tactile connection with the wearer.
10. Lina Mayorga, New York (USA)
“Sustainable clothing can be mainstream and luxurious” (Credit/EcoChic)
Colombian by nationality, Lina is a fashion and beauty blogger who is currently developing her fashion brand. Lina holds a degree in Fashion Design from Parsons School of Design, USA, and is inspired by a United Nations conference that she attended on the 2030 sustainable development goals. She applies the design techniques of up-cycling and reconstruction using textile waste, sourced from a textile recycling company.
Who will win the coveted EcoChic Design Award 2017?
EcoChic Design Awards finalists span the globe this year. One designer will be chosen as the inspiration for Cathay Pacific’s new uniform. This collaboration of Redress and Cathay Pacific will kick off the EcoChic Design Award 2017 week, with September 2 being the big day when a panel of judges will choose the most innovative and creative design.
Tune in via livestream on September 7 to see the designers battle it out with their waste-reducing designs in front of an international judging panel of industry experts.
Written By: Adriane Rysz