'Green and eco-aware' HK designers have chance to cut a dash in fashion competition

If you are green - as in new to the industry and eco-aware - the EcoChic Design Award team wants you. At the fashion competition's launch at W Hotel yesterday, Christina Dean (pictured centre), founder of the organising charity Redress (once known as Green2Greener), announced the judging panel and opened the door to entries from up-and-coming fashion designers with less than five years of experience in the industry.

'I am happy that more people are becoming aware of sustainable fashion design practices,' designer Johanna Ho, who heads the judging panel, said. 'As our young designers get better with sustainable techniques and gain access to the vast amounts of textile waste in China, Hong Kong will become a real leader in sustainable design in Asia.'

'Last year, I had the challenge of making [beauty queen and actress] Shallin Tse Ning's wedding dress out of a piece of vintage lace she picked out in Japan,' Ho said. 'You can imagine how touch and go that was, especially with 100-year-old textile; but the results were great; we achieved zero-wastage [no piece of the fabric unused or discarded], which was fantastic.'

The jury - including Post fashion editor Jing Zhang, designer Cecilia Yau (pictured far right), Orsola de Castro of London fashion house From Somewhere and John Hardy, chief executive of Damien Dernoncourt, will be out in force at the Redress on the Runway gala on May 20, when six finalists will compete for the ultimate prize.