In reaction to the rise of fast fashion trends over the past decade, recently, there has also been increasing enthusiasm for the ‘conscious fashion’ movement. Conscious fashion prioritizes the sustainability of people and the planet, while still maintaining a high regard for design, art and expression. And Hong Kong’s fashion industry, as a major force in the region, has begun to move towards a cleaner trajectory, perhaps even guiding the global fashion world towards a better future.
In January, Redress Hong Kong launched the Re-dress Design Award 2020, hosted by the organisation’s Founder and CEO, Christina Dean. The event kicked-off the 10th cycle of the competition and opened applications to designers from around the world. It also included a panel discussion on ‘A Changing Landscape: Sustainable Fashion in 2020 and Beyond – Where do we go from here?’
“We don’t have a moment to lose. The fashion industry is screaming for change,” says Christina. “Shockingly, the equivalent of one garbage truck of textiles is landfilled or incinerated every second – and this is set to worsen. Globally, we must galvanize designers to act urgently to redesign the future of fashion.”
An estimated 92 million tonnes of textile waste is generated around the world each year, and this figure is expected to increase by 60 percent by 2030.
Redress is well recognized for their efforts to combat fashion’s frightening and overwhelming waste problem, by educating fashion designers about waste-reducing circular design techniques. Based in Hong Kong, The Re-dress Design Award encourages young designers to pivot towards sustainability, while still commending great creativity and quality. During the competition, Redress works to educate designers about fashion’s negative environmental impacts, while encouraging them to design and select fabric thoughtfully, using waste, up-cycling and reconstruction. Winners of this year’s competition will be announced at the Grand Final Show in early September at CENTRESTAGE Hong Kong.
To further highlight the power of the Redress Design Award platform, Redress has also launched Season 4 of Frontline Fashion, their digital docuseries set in Hong Kong and shot over the 2019 competition’s intensive final stages, showing the designers’ personal journeys and passion to change fashion. Created with TV Director Lindsay Robertson and hosted by model, TV presenter and social influencer Cara G McIlroy, Frontline Fashion 4 premiered on the Redress Asia YouTube channel on January 16, with four weekly episodes in total.
Late last year, Redress completed their biggest ‘Get Redressed Month’ collecting unwanted clothing throughout the month of October at 187 collection points. Altogether, 390 boxes of unwanted clothing totalling over 15.4 tonnes were collected. Then, in November, Redress brought together 419 volunteers from 22 companies, together with teams of community volunteers, to carefully sort through all the clothing in their first ever ‘Sort-athon’. Twenty sorting streams worked tirelessly in four-hour shifts across two 12-hour days, and separated the clothes into four categories – re-sale, re-use, recycling and downcycling – assessing every item of clothing to decide how best to maximise its lifespan and minimise environmental impact.
Fashion carries a huge responsibility and plays a large role in United Nation’s 17 sustainability goals, as the industry is able to address or affect the following goals: no poverty; gender equality; decent work and economic growth; sustainable development and consumption; climate action; and partnerships goals.