I talked about Redress in the post dedicated to ‘Loved Clothes Last‘, the #2 Fashion Revolution’s fanzine; it is a Hong Kong based NGO working to reduce textile waste in the fashion industry and it does so by promoting innovative new models and driving growth towards a more sustainable industry via the circular economy. The organization works directly with a wide range of stakeholders, including designers, manufacturers, brands, educational bodies, government and consumers.
Redress is also the creator of the Redress Design Award, which since 2011, when it was still called EcoChic Design Award, has been rewarding sustainable emerging designers and, over time, from Hong Kong, has opened up to the rest of the world, including all of Asia and Europe.
Yesterday evening, the final was held in Hong Kong, with 11 finalists from Hong Kong, India, Taiwan, Japan, the Philippines, Israel, Denmark, Australia, France, Spain and the United Kingdom, who demonstrated that textile waste is an opportunity with which to create surprising collections; from secondhand clothing industry surplus to vintage kimonos, from umbrellas to sofa fabric and furniture offcuts (transformed to bark lace), the young designers really impressed the public and the jury. Before the final, the young designers, guided by Redress’ Education team, experienced the in’s and out’s of the supply chain first hand – testing waste fabrics in a state of the art laboratory and learning insider insights from industry professionals as they worked to identify how designers can transform the environmental impact of clothing at every stage of its lifecycle.
The Australian from Melbourne won the first prize the Australian with its bold and punk collection made from up-cycled industry endof-rolls; biker jackets, dresses, tops and trousers are characterized by cuts, deconstructions and asymmetries on which patterns stand out, which are complex zero-waste patterns in black-yellow on a white base. Tess will now join The R Collective, a bold new social impact business, to design a capsule collection for retail.
Christina Dean, Founder and Board Chair of Redress and Co-Founder of The R Collective said, “These visionary young designers represent the future of the industry where waste continues to grow as a valuable resource for the industry to embrace rather than hide away as a dirty secret. That future is now and it’s time to embed this new model for design as standard.
The future is now. What are we waiting for?
