Menswear Designer Le Ngoc Ha Thu and Womenswear Designer Juliana Garcia Bello Take Home First Prizes
We concluded the Redress Design Award 2020 Grand Final with menswear designer Le Ngoc Ha Thu from Vietnam and womenswear designer Juliana Garcia Bello of Argentina winning significant sustainable design collaboration prizes with global leaders, VF Corporation’s Timberland and award-winning upcycled brand, The R Collective respectively. Redress’ 10th anniversary competition cycle, with lead sponsorship from Create Hong Kong of the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, catapults bold new sustainable fashion talent into the spotlight as fashion’s waste crisis mounts due to Covid-19.
“Fashion’s waste crisis can’t be swept under the carpet any longer,” says Christina Dean, Founder of Redress and The R Collective. “Covid-19’s retail and supply chain disruptions have stranded materials in warehouses, factories and stores globally. Now is the time to catalyse the circular economy - and this is Redress’ focus. The Redress Design Award has for 10 years educated designers about circular design. The industry must not waste the opportunities that Covid-19’s crisis is offering.”
The two winners out-designed hundreds of applicants from 48 countries. Menswear winner Le Ngoc Ha Thu shared, “These last few weeks with the Redress Design Award has been such a nourishing and beneficial experience and joining the Timberland and VF teams is going to be an honour. They are such an amazing brand when it comes to sustainability - I am ready to learn everything I can from them.”
“I have learned so much during my participation in the Redress Design Award and have definitely come out of this with a reinforced feeling that collaboration is the key. We designers need to share our strengths and be inspired by each other to keep finding solutions to the mounting levels of textile waste,” womenswear winner Juliana Garcia Bello added.
In the two weeks leading up to the live Grand Final, the 10 finalists, from 10 regions, successfully completed a gruelling series of virtual design and business challenges, which focused on real life sustainability business cases with a spotlight on Covid-19 impacted waste, supported by VF Corporation and TAL Group, makers of one in six dress shirts in the US. The ‘Digital Up-cycling Challenge’ saw the finalists using Browzwear digital design and sampling software to create up-cycled concepts to turn TAL’s Covid-19-impacted deadstock garment waste into new products for retail. The ‘Made for Change Timberland Challenge’ saw the finalists develop sustainable and scalable business concepts, focusing on responsible design and re-manufacturing fabric deadstock.
“Our collaboration with Redress, now in its second year, connects us to talented, emerging designers who are passionate about creating fashionable, compelling designs with environmental responsibility in mind,” said competition judge Kevin Bailey, VF’s Executive Vice President and Group President, Asia Pacific Region and Emerging Brands. “We are constantly inspired by their commitment to circular design and creativity. These are the future leaders who are going to help drive lasting and positive change throughout our global industry and we are proud to be part of their journey.”
Watch the Redress Design Award 2020 Grand Final here.
Additional Redress Design Award 2020 Prize winners are:
The Redress Design Award 2020 Runner-up Prize with Orsola de Castro: Ruth Weerasinghe, Sri Lanka
The Redress Design Award 2020 Hong Kong Best Prize Winner: Grace Lant, Hong Kong
The Redress Design Award 2020 was the 10th cycle of the competition. To mark the ongoing outstanding sustainable achievements of our alumni, the following accolades were awarded:
The Redress Design Award 2020 All Stars:
Pat Guzik, (Brand: Pat Guzik) Poland, Redress Design Award 2015/16 Winner
Annaiss Yucra, (Brand: Annaiss Yucra) Peru, Redress Design Award 2020 Semi-finalist
Kévin Germanier, (Brand: Germanier) France, Redress Design Award 2014/15 Winner
Angus Tsui, (Brand: Angus Tsui) Hong Kong, Redress Design Award 2012 People’s Award Winner
Jesse Lee, (in collaboration with The R Collective) Hong Kong, Redress Design Award 2018 Second Prize & Hong Kong Best Winner
The Redress Design Award Rising Stars:
Weiyu Hung, (Brand: Weiyu Hung) Taiwan, Redress Design Award 2018 Finalist
Anna Schuster, (Brand: Anna Schuster Design) Germany, Redress Design Award 2019 Finalist
Learn more about the designers here.