The Circular Design Award is the brainchild of Mindful Fashion and aims to inspire creatives to reimagine the fashion system in Aotearoa, using the dual lens of our unique place in the world and the circular economy, to find innovative ways to keep textiles in use.

Submissions were judged on three main criteria:

• Creativity & Design
• Connection to Place
• Circular Design Principles

There award drew 86 submissions from across Aotearoa. Our Head of Marketing & Customer Experience, Hannah Sharpe shares some insights from the judging panel:

• How massive New Zealand’s textile waste problem is: entrants had found fabrics and trims from a wide range of unwanted textiles sourced from op shops, homes, universities and commercial enterprises. Sourcing materials was (sadly), not an issue.
  
  
• That most of the recovered textiles used for the submissions were still in excellent, near-new condition – good enough to create fresh, wearable garments and accessories.
  
  
• How much creativity we have in the marketplace: there were so many different ideas from natural dying techniques to re-weaving yarn through to social ‘sewing’ as a means to bring people together. These aren’t necessarily new ideas but amazing to see them being applied.
  
  
• Scaling a lot of these ideas for commercial application is still a challenge but heartening to see people prepared to take on the mission.
  
  
• How many beautiful, interesting pieces could be made from waste!

A massive thank you to Mindful Fashion for championing an award like this. We look forward to being part of it again next year.

📸 Josh Szeto #mindfulfashioncirculardesignawards