Redress Design Award 2020 competition winners announced as fashion’s global waste crisis worsens

People’s Choice Award voting now open until 8 May 2021 – winner to receive a guaranteed place in the 2021 Grand Final Show

The Redress Design Award announces the semi-finalists of its 11th cycle – 30 talented sustainable designers from across the globe representing the future of fashion – and kicks off public voting today. This year, for the first time in the programme’s history, the public has been invited as an official judge to determine via online vote one designer from the semi-finalists to directly enter the final round of the competition. The winner of this People's Choice Award will present their collection at the Grand Final Show in September 2021, alongside nine other finalists to be selected by an international panel of expert judges.

Organised by Redress and with Create Hong Kong of the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region as the Lead Sponsor, the Redress Design Award works to educate emerging designers about sustainable design strategies and put fashion game-changers in the global spotlight to accelerate the shift towards a circular fashion system. With 71% of consumers indicating a shift towards investments in higher-quality garments and a deepened interest in circular business models such as resale, rental or refurbishment following COVID-19(1), there has never been a more ideal time for the fashion industry to move.

Nissa Cornish, Redress Executive Director, says, “To truly make fashion a force for good, it is crucial to support emerging design talent in tackling complex environmental challenges in the global fashion industry. For us, this has always meant deeply embedding education into the Redress Design Award, through our extensive online courses, tools, events and resources, to help train the next generation of designers not just to reduce waste but to embrace circular fashion.”

The Redress Design Award 2021 received applications from 58 countries and regions, with selected semi-finalists representing new regions including Nigeria and Latvia. Designers from Hong Kong, Mainland China, and the United Kingdom are also prominently represented among the thirty. The emerging designers impressed the regional judging panel with their understanding of circular design strategies, exceptional design skills, and shared vision to reduce fashion’s negative environmental impacts.

“I was stunned by the quality of some of the proposals received. It is extremely exciting for me, as a designer, to see that young talent are truly re-building the role of the designer by having an holistic approach to sustainable fashion”, shared Regional Judge and Redress Design Award Alumna, Camilla Carrara, Founder and Zero-waste Designer, ZEROBARRACENTO.

The 30 semi-finalists join the now 200-strong Redress Design Award Alumni Network, which provides ongoing support to designers as they develop their sustainable fashion careers, and will receive a selection of digital fashion books from Bloomsbury Publishing to support their development in designing for circularity. Next, these 30 semi-finalists will vie for a spot in the final 10, to be announced on 13 May 2021.

The coveted People’s Choice Award is now open for public voting until 8 May 2021. Find out more about this cycle’s semi-finalists and vote for your favourite on the website of Redress Award.

The Redress Design Award 2021’s Semi-finalists are:

• Federico Badini Confalonieri, United Kingdom
• Nawoda Bandara, Sri Lanka
• Saskia Baur-Schmid, Australia
• Jessica Chang, Taiwan
• Ruwanthi Gajadeera, Sri Lanka
• Saraansh Gupta, India
• Purnima Jain, India
• Jin Pei-Wen, Taiwan
• Paula Keilholz, Germany
• Isabella Li Kostrzewa, United States of America
• Psy Lau, Hong Kong
• Jasmine Leung, Hong Kong
• Liu Jing, Hong Kong
• Liu Feng, Mainland China
• Ffion Martin, United Kingdom
• Andra Nistor, United Kingdom
• Tulika Ranjan, India
• Sofia Sanchez, United Kingdom
• Lucy Saunders, United Kingdom
• Lili Sipeki, United Kingdom
• Friederike Snelting, Germany
• Berivan Tomay, United Kingdom
• Sabine Viksne, Latvia
• Kristina Vyzaite, United Kingdom
• Wei Jia , Mainland China
• Felipe Wu, United Kingdom
• Xia Mingwei, Mainland China
• Xu YiDan, Mainland China
• Taofeeq Yahaya, Nigeria
• Sheeky Yue, Mainland China