The EcoChic Design Award 2015/16 launches in India: Putting waste back into fashion

In their search for India’s talented emerging sustainable designers, Hong Kong based charity, Redress and India’s oldest multi-designer store, Ensemble launched The EcoChic Design Award 2015/16 at Ensemble, Mumbai.

The goal of this powerful collaboration is to allow India-based emerging designers to participate in the world’s largest sustainable fashion design competition.

The EcoChic Design Award Academy was co-hosted by Tina Tahiliani Parikh, Executive Director, Ensemble, who was accompanied by Christina Dean, Founder of Redress and sustainable fashion expert and designer, Paromita Banerjee.

The EcoChic Design Award Fashion Academy saw a mix of enthusiastic young designers and fashion students, eager to learn about sustainable fashion and its future in India. It also was a great opportunity to mingle with some of the leading names in the fashion industry.

Tina Tahiliani Parikh, a member of the advisory board of The EcoChic Design Award, says, “At Ensemble, we are devoted supporters of sustainable fashion and are thrilled to be introducing The EcoChic Design Award in India along with Redress. We have always promoted new talent and I feel that this is a great platform to find young designers who are also dedicated to sustainable fashion.”

The EcoChic Design Award Fashion Academy equipped the audience with the knowledge of sustainable fashion design techniques such as zero-waste, up-cycling and reconstruction, which will be tested throughout the competition.

The EcoChic Design Award challenges emerging fashion designers with less than three years’ experience to create high fashion with minimal waste. Following the online application deadline of 15 August 2015, ten finalists from Asia and Europe will then create and present their sustainable collections at Hong Kong Fashion Week in January 2016 where the winner will be announced. First Prize is the opportunity to design a new upcycled collection for the leading luxury brand, Shanghai Tang.

“The EcoChic Design Award is a powerful platform that is driving change in the fashion industry,” says Christina Dean, Founder of Redress. “Over the last five years, we’ve introduced sustainable fashion education to thousands of emerging designers, influenced global fashion brands to produce up-cycled collections and reached millions of consumers. Our expansion to India is a huge step for us and for sustainable fashion as we enter this exciting, talented market to continue to inspire tomorrow’s leaders to be agents of change.”

Media enquiries:
Megan Lee
Email: megan@redress.com.hk
Tel: +852 2861 0360

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About The EcoChic Design Award (www.ecochicdesignaward.com)

The EcoChic Design Award is a sustainable fashion design competition inspiring emerging fashion designers and students to create high appeal clothing with minimal textile waste. Designers are educated with the theory and techniques to enable them to create sustainable clothing via zero-waste, up-cycling and reconstruction. The competition puts emerging sustainable design talent in the spotlight, creating a platform for the next generation of designers to cut waste out of fashion. The inaugural The EcoChic Design Award was launched in Hong Kong in 2011. Previous cycles include Hong Kong 2012, China 2012 and the 2013 and 2014/15 cycles, which were open to eight and ten regions across Asia and Europe respectively.

About Redress (www.redress.com.hk)

Redress is the NGO with a mission to promote environmental sustainability in the fashion industry by reducing textile waste, pollution, water and energy consumption. They achieve this via educational sustainable fashion competitions, shows, exhibitions, seminars, research and by a recycled textile clothing standard. They collaborate with a wide range of stakeholders including multiple fashion designers, textile and garment manufacturers, retailers, schools and universities, multilateral organisations, governments, NGOs, financial institutions and media organisations.

About The Create Hong Kong (www.createhk.gov.hk)

The Create Hong Kong is a dedicated agency set up under the Commerce and Economic Development Bureau on 1 June 2001 to lead, champion and drive the development of the creative economy in Hong Kong. It co-ordinates Government policy and effort regarding creative industries, focuses Government’s resources catering for the promotion and speeding up the development of creative industries in Hong Kong, and works closely with the trade to boost the development of creative industries.

“The Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region provides funding support to the project only, and does not otherwise take part in the project. Any opinions, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed in these materials/events (or by members of the project team) are those of the project organizers only and do not reflect the views of the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, the Communication and Technology Branch of the Commerce and Economic Development Bureau, Create Hong Kong, the CreateSmart Initiative Secretariat or the CreateSmart Initiative Vetting Committee.”

[1]China Association of Resource Comprehensive Utilization (2013).

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