Redress Design Award celebrates its 10th anniversary – Applications open!
The Redress Design Award was established in 2010 and this year it has reached it’s 10th anniversary. The competition aims to equip emerging designers to tackle fashion’s waste and its previous winners include Tess Whitfort who founded Pendulum, Kévin Germanier and Maddie Williams. Applications come from all over the world and reflect many different backgrounds and approaches. This year, for the first time, Redress has announced that there will be prizes for womenswear and menswear. So head over to the Redress Design Award website to apply until 18 March! The runner- up prize will be awarded mentorship with our very own Orsola de Castro who is returning to the selection panel this year.
Redress are also sharing their knowledge and experience of circular design in a series of online educational resources. This year they have launched the Circular Fashion Design Pathway Course to educate fashion designers on topic such as fibres and new technologies, design for low waste and marketability and scalability. In a series of 4 webinars designers can hear from a range of speakers including Tara St James, Founder of Study NY and the Re:Source Library, Amanda Johnston of the Sustainable Angle and previous winner Angus Tsui. Redress is offering special access to the course to Fashion Revolution friends until the end of March.
These education resources aim to share the solutions and knowledge that Redress have learned and developed in the last nine years through the award and their ongoing work as an NGO in this area. Redress Founder, Christina Dean said, “We don’t have a moment to lose. The fashion industry is screaming for change. Shockingly, the equivalent of one garbage truck of textiles is landfilled or incinerated every second – and this is set to worsen. Globally, we must galvanise designers to act urgently to redesign the future of fashion.”
By putting sustainable design talent in the global spotlight, the competition creates a platform for passionate and talented fashion game-changers to transform the global fashion industry and create real long-term change. Previous finalists and winners have demonstrated a range of different techniques and approaches ranging from upcyling like Kévin Germanier, to zero-waste and circular systems like Pendulum Studios, sustainable materials and components like Rachel Clowes Sustainable Sequin Company who was a semi-finalist in 2017 and recycling, refurbishment and regeneration like Katie Jones and Maddie Williams, the 2019 award winner.
Speaking about her experience of being a finalist in the 2019 award Maddie Williams said “I feel that to be able to participate in and change the Industry you need to truly understand it and have experience of how it currently functions […] during the Grand Final trip we were taken to so many interesting and inspiring locations, the TAL Factory in Vietnam was a particular highlight. It was wonderful to see a factory that operates under such strong ethical and environmental principles, it shows that there is no excuse (other than an obsession with profit and growth) for big brands not to invest in manufacturers who are willing to improve the industry[…] I also learned so much from my fellow finalists, we all had different experiences, knowledge and approaches that we brought to the table.”
The competition has proven to be a catalyst for designers careers, helping designers to launch their businesses in a way that chimes with their principles. 2015 winner Kévin Germanier said: “As a Redress Design Award alumnus, I really understand the positive impact the competition had on my career, especially the recognition and exposure I received as a designer. I want to bring more emerging sustainable designers to the forefront.” The award continues to seek designers who are pushing for long-term and systemic industry change through their practice as designers and to support them to develop these ideas into fully-formed solutions.
The 2020 online application is now open until 18 March 2020 to emerging designers with less than four years’ experience. To apply visit: www.redressdesignaward.com
