"This prize is about more than winning a competition," said the First Prize winner, Federico Badini Confalonieri from Italy, who out-designed eight other finalist designers from Sri Lanka, Hong Kong, India, Spain, Chile and Brazil. "It will give me even more energy and determination to work towards building together a more sustainable fashion industry. I am humbled that the jury selected me among such skilled designers! We sustainable designers may have competed, but the reality is that collaboration creates greater fashion. To partner with one of the world's most iconic brands, Timberland, is a huge opportunity for me, and I look forward to creating a positive and powerful project together!" With a focus on the design stage, the competition has been inviting global emerging designers to create by using circular design techniques, including zero-waste, upcycling, and reconstruction. This cycle's finalists' looks also drew from various textile waste streams, including industry excess end-of-rolls, cut-and-sew waste, yarn waste, and consumers' cast-off clothing, turning unwanted materials into eye-catching fashion from casual to couture. The fashion industry, in its current form, is unsustainable, and reducing waste is critical. Since 2002, global clothing production has more than doubled, the average consumer buys 60% more, and each garment is kept for half as long¹. Every second, the equivalent of one garbage truck of textiles is landfilled or burned, and just 1% of clothing is recycled back into clothing, with 73% of clothing going to landfill². On fashion's current trajectory, compared to 2017, textile waste is estimated to increase by 60% by 2030³ and the fashion industry is projected to use 25% of the world's carbon budget by 2050⁴. "The whole fashion industry and academia must take educating designers seriously. It's thought that 80% of a product's environmental impact is decided at the design stage⁵," said Christina Dean, Founder of Redress. "From our base in Hong Kong, we've educated in several different languages thousands of designers globally, whom we consider more as activists than artists. As we look forward, we increasingly look to double up on efforts to access more Asian countries, which are home to the world's greatest apparel production bases and consumption markets." Ms Jersey Yuen, Assistant Head of CreateHK, shared, "I am grateful for Redress' dedication to creating a unique platform to promote sustainable design theories and techniques among up-and-coming fashion designers around the world through the sustainable fashion design competition." GLOBAL REVOLUTION IN SUSTAINABLE DESIGN FROM THE DESIGN BOARD The 12-year work of the Redress Design Award to reduce fashion's textile waste crisis by educating designers is further validated by the development of policies in different regions. The European Commission's recent Strategy for Sustainable and Circular Textiles outlines mandatory circularity standards for the entire lifecycle of products, from design to clothing consumption, and is anticipated to force changes in the industry. Christophe Degoix, Chief Operating Officer of TAL Apparel Ltd., the world-leading manufacturer that produces around 120 thousand garments daily, is passionate about educating designers. He shared, "Fashion designers have enormous power as they instruct what we manufacturers produce. Governments are taking notice as well. The EU Strategy for Sustainable and Circular Textiles is clear that by 2030, all clothes placed on their market will meet design requirements on durability and recyclability, among other requirements. This will have a substantial impact on industry, its supply chains, and how clothes are made." WINNER JOINS TIMBERLAND FOR SUSTAINABLE DESIGN PROJECT Federico Badini Confalonieri wins the opportunity to work with the Timberland team to collaborate on a special sustainable design project. He will work closely with the Sustainability and Responsibility teams, across the supply chain from...

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