To receive the Vogue Business newsletter, sign up here.
At Lakmé Fashion Week x FDCI (Fashion Design Council of India) in Delhi this October, finalists of the Circular Design Challenge (CDC) will take to the runway to show off their collections of upcycled designs, made using materials such as banana crop waste, factory surplus fibres and zero-waste pattern-making techniques. Circular design principles, social impact, the UN’s sustainable development goals and the potential for scalability were front of mind.
The annual design competition — India’s largest sustainable fashion award — encourages waste upcycling and material innovation with the aim of reducing fashion’s environmental impact through circularity, says Rakesh Bali, senior vice president and head of marketing at Indian conglomerate Reliance Industries Ltd. CDC is presented by Reliance-owned brand R-Elan, the next-gen fabric brand of Reliance Industries Limited (RIL), in association with the United Nations in India. For the global expansion this year, CDC has partnered with the British Council in the UK, Istituto Marangoni in the EU and Redress in the APAC regions. This year’s competition was opened up to global designers for the first time with regional rounds held in Milan, London and Hong Kong.
The six finalists who will show in October include three Indian designer brands chosen by a jury: Studio Medium by Riddhi Jain and Dhruv Satija, Banofi Studio Beej by Jinali Mody and Arundhati Kumar and Without by Anish Malpani. Winners of three regional rounds held earlier this year are: Taiwanese designer Pei-Wen Jin, who won in Hong Kong; London-based Sri Lankan designer Amesh Wijesekera, who won in the UK; and the European designer known as Felipe Fiallo, an Ecuador-born Italian-based footwear designer who won in Milan.
“We recognised a gap in our textile, apparel and fashion markets that is downstream to our polyester and fibres market and envisioned a platform for designers and innovators in the sustainable fashion space,” says Bali of the creation of the challenge, which is now in its fifth edition. “From a quantitative impact perspective, over the last five years, the CDC has identified and nurtured the best circular design talent. Our alumni pool now consists of 25 talented innovators who have brought about game-changing solutions in circularity and tangible social impact.” One example he cites is Pieux, the 2022 winner, who has been able to recycle 1,800 PET bottles, and upcycle 130 kilograms of discarded carpet since the label was founded in 2020.
The winner of this year’s challenge will be selected by a panel of judges and will receive a £14,000 cash fund. Both the winner and runner up will be mentored by Orsola de Castro, co-founder of Fashion Revolution and creative director of Esthetica, a platform for sustainable design.
“This competition addresses waste and who is responsible for cleaning up the mess that comes with an industry of excess, while encouraging real and efficient solutions to address this enormous problem,” says de Castro, who has served as a jury member for past editions. “We must ensure the bigger producers redistribute their money and resources to a new generation wanting to opt out of an unsustainable industry and working creatively to reimagine a new one.”
Past winners of this challenge include I Was a Sari, an eco-ethical lifestyle fashion brand based in Mumbai, founded by Stefano Funari in 2013. Funari says that a fashion show at Lakme Fashion Week x FDCI is a great opportunity for the young brand, as it makes them push towards creating a catwalk collection at an early stage of their career and gives them exposure and press coverage.
The Circular Design Challenge aspires to become a leader in the global circularity conversation while nurturing new talent. The goal is to expand its global reach in the next edition. Bali concludes, “Our aim is to amplify its reach, impact and credibility, attracting top-notch talent, fostering cross-cultural collaborations, and establishing itself as a global leader in circular design innovation.”
Comments, questions or feedback? Email us at feedback@voguebusiness.com.
More from this author:
India’s bridal shopping season is here. How can luxury brands tap in?
