15 Sep 2020

Redress Design Award 2020 Winners Pave the Way to a Sustainable Future of Fashion

As fashion’s global waste crisis worsens, the Redress Design Award 2020 competition winner announcement offers a hopeful glimpse into the future of the industry. Through their intricate designs made exclusively from recycled materials, the young designers pave the way to a sustainable future of fashion.  This year, the world’s largest sustainable fashion design competition marks its 10^th anniversary, and highlights important issues of design with recycled materials, and the development of a circular fashion system.

Hundreds of designers from 48 countries around the world competed for the prizes, with five finalists from womenswear and menswear categories being selected. At the Grand Final held on 3 September 2020,  Juliana Garcia Bello from Argentina was crowned the womenswear winner, using garments donated by friends and family to design both wearable and chic creations. Ngoc Ha Thu Le from Vietnam was awarded the menswear prize for her Japanese-style Americana collection. Other winners included Ruth Weerasinghe for the womenswear Runner-up Prize, and Grace Lant for the Hong Kong Best Prize winner award.

Despite advances in the industry, fashion waste remains a significant challenge with an estimated 92 million tons of textile waste generated annually worldwide. COVID-19 is set to increase this figure, as 60% of textile and clothing companies expect their sales to drop by half, creating deadstock with cancelled orders. The Redress Design Award 2020 inspires hope as all the finalists’ collections demonstrate numerous solutions to reduce waste throughout the fashion supply chain and across industries.