Finalists announced for Redress Design Awards 2020

By

Barbara Santamaria

Published
May 13, 2020

This Wednesday, fashion NGO Redress announced the finalists for its annual sustainability-focused fashion design competition.

Ten zero-waste and upcycling experts from nine regions will vye for the menswear and womenswear awards in the Grand Final taking place in September 2020 in Hong Kong.

The designers used a combination of zero-waste, upcycling and reconstruction design techniques to create their innovative, sustainable designs.

The five finalists competing for the womenswear award are Juliana Garcia Bello from The Netherlands, Laura Krause from Albania, Grace Lant, from Hong Kong, Tong Jianlong from Mainland China and Ruth Weerasinghe from Sri Lanka.

And the list of menswear finalists includes Marie-Eve Aubry from Canada, Beatrice Bocconi from Italy, Inhwa Jin from Korea, Ngoh Ha Thu Le from Vietnam, and Gönül Yigit from The Netherlands.

The designers were chosen from hundreds of applicants from 46 regions  by a judging committee that included the likes of Kevin Bailey, executive VP of VF Corporation, Asia Pacific; Fashion Revolution co-founder Orsola de Castro; and fashion writer Susie Lay.

The Menswear Prize winner will receive a career-changing mentorship with experts at VF Corporation, and Womenswear Prize winner will have the opportunity to sell a capsule collection with The R Collective, one of the world’s fastest growing up-cycling fashion brands, available on Net-A-Porter.

Now in its 10th cycle, Christina Dean, founder and chair of Redress, highlighted the importance of hosting the competition amid the pandemic.

She said:  “Fashion is in crisis. Covid-19 has devastated the business, the balance sheets and is affecting creativity on the drawing board. Meanwhile, fashion’s already staggering waste rates will likely spike due to shocking retail performance and dislocated supply chains that have stranded inventory and materials globally. 

“Only the toughest and most talented designers will survive this crisis, and those designers who can up-cycle waste materials, like our 10 Redress Design Award Finalists, are already ahead of the pack as they enter a new fashion industry.”

Desiree Au, publisher of, Vogue Hong Kong, added: “Fashion is undergoing a tremendous cycle of change and Redress is on the forefront as a platform where new ideas take shape - to make the world more sustainable and fashion more responsible.”

Jann Christian Bungcaras from the Philippines has been named as the winner of the People’s Choice Award.