Hong Kong driving the future of sustainable fashion

The EcoChic Design Award Grand Final fashion show concluded three days of international multi-stakeholder dialogue and discovery to drive the fashion industry towards a more sustainable future.

Redress organised the diverse events between 13-15 January in Hong Kong, starting with The Redress Forum 2014, an original hands-on designer challenge and impactful industry seminar, and culminating with The EcoChic Design Award 2013 winners being announced on the runway at Hong Kong Fashion Week World Boutique.

Christina Dean, Founder and CEO of Redress said "We united East and West and connected today’s leaders with tomorrow’s innovators to spotlight the urgent environmental issues caused by the fashion industry that must be addressed and catalyse lasting change. We can’t be complacent whilst waste and pollution accumulates and natural resources are depleted. The industry must accelerate action to harvest the rewards".

The fashion industry currently relies on heavy use of resources. It is estimated that the natural resources that go into fibre production every year now demand approximately 132 million tonnes of coal and between six-and-nine trillion litres of water. Meanwhile textile waste continues to be a growing concern worldwide; in Mainland China, the total annual production of pre and post-consumer textile waste is estimated to be more than 20 million tonnes.

With the severity of these environmental impacts comes an urgent need for comprehensive global approaches from multi-stakeholders. Fashion designers play a pivotal part; it is thought that decisions made in design are responsible for 80-90 per cent of a product's environmental and economic costs.

The EcoChic Design Award is a sustainable fashion design competition challenging emerging fashion designers with less than three years’ experience to create mainstream appeal clothing with minimal textile waste. This fourth cycle, with major sponsorship from the HKSAR government agency Create Hong Kong, brought together eight finalists from Hong Kong (pictured below), Mainland China, Taiwan, Singapore, UK, France and Germany to present their sustainable collections to an influential audience at Hong Kong Fashion Week World Boutique.

The natural resources that go into fibre production every year now demand approximately 132 million tonnes of coal

The judges were Orsola de Castro, Co-founder of From Somewhere and Co-founder and Curator of Estethica; Johanna Ho, Fashion Designer; Margaret Kutt, Division Manager Woman Collection & Trend; Gloria Lam, Editor-in-Chief of ELLE Hong Kong; and Anderson Lee, Vice Chairman of the Sustainable Fashion Business Consortium.

First prize at the The EcoChic Design Award 2013 in Partnership with Esprit Winner was Karen Jessen from Germany with her innovative use of the reconstruction design technique. Karen will now design the 2014 ‘Recycled Collection by Esprit’ for Esprit’s global retail in mid 2014.

"This eye-opening experience sharpened my perspective about the powerful position I have as a designer. This week has made me more determined to have a sustainable influence on the fashion industry," said Karen Jessen.

"We welcome emerging designer, Karen’s fresh perspective into Esprit’s design team. As one of the worlds’ leading fashion retailers, Esprit will pair our market force with Karen’s innovation to drive our sustainable fashion imprint in our global stores," said Charles Dickinson, Head of Global Quality Management and Sustainability, Esprit.

Second prize was awarded to Louise de Testa from France. She will go on an educational trip to leading sustainable jewellery brand, John Hardy’s design and production facilities in Bali to experience their design, production and business philosophies.

The EcoChic Design Award 2013 Special Prize Winner was selected by renowned Artist, Sandy Lam, who also picked Karen Jessen from Germany. She will reconstruct a used outfit from Sandy’s wardrobe for her to wear to ‘redress’ consumers’ attitudes towards sustainable fashion.

"I’m proud to support the next generation of fashion designers in The EcoChic Design Award. They hold the power and passion to re-design the future of the industry so that fashion becomes more conscious and considerate towards the environment," said Sandy Lam.

Further underpinning this competition’s ability to drive change, Redress organised an intensive two-day sustainable fashion seminar called The Redress Forum 2014. On day one, the eight The EcoChic Design Award finalists and ten local Hong Kong designers were challenged to address sustainable consumer care through their design choices looking at the sustainability, usability and recyclability of clothing.

The EcoChic Design Award finalists and ten local Hong Kong designers were challenged to address sustainable consumer care

Together with Miele and UK’s Textile Environmental Design, participants ‘re-designed’ discarded clothes sourced from a giant used clothing recycling warehouse. On day two, Redress brought together over 100 industry professionals to discuss the future of fashion, taking place at Hong Kong Fashion Week and supported by the Hong Kong Trade and Development Council. Notable speakers included Rebecca Earley, Professor in Sustainable Textile and Fashion Design, Textiles Environment Design at Chelsea College of Art and Design, University of the Arts London; Hon Felix Chung Kwok Pan, Member of Legislative Council (Textiles and Garment Functional Constituency); Pat-Nie Woo, Chairman, Sustainable Fashion Business Consortium (SFBC); and Kate Lin, Campaigner, Greenpeace.

"The Redress Forum comes at a significant time for the fashion industry and brings an international perspective to Hong Kong, Asia’s most influential fashion hub, about the need for collaborative change," said Jerry Liu Wing-leung, Head of Create Hong Kong.

The EcoChic Design Award’s positive legacy is demonstrated by the growing competition’s alumni, whose success as sustainable designers confirms a shift in their design mentality and practices. To support this, Redress presented notable alumni, Wan & Wong Fashion and Absurd Laboratory’s sustainable collections at the World Boutique International Fashion Designers' Showcase, during the series of events.

The EcoChic Design Award’s fifth cycle will open in April/May 2014 for designers living in Hong Kong, Mainland China, Taiwan, Singapore, UK, France and Germany. Malaysia, Denmark and Sweden.

Highlights from The EcoChic Design Award 2013 will tour the competition regions in early 2014.