Hong Kong Ecochic Design Awards reward sustainability - the future of fashion

The Ecochic Design Awards, the highlight of Hong Kong Fashion Week that wrapped up this week, was won by Polish designer Patrycja Guzik, whose collection featured hand-drawn fantastical prints and tufting in colours such as purple, blue and orange.

Guzik beat 10 other finalists, who all showed sustainable collections made using minimal textile waste and popular techniques such as upcycling and reconstruction.

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The winner was announced in a room packed with Hong Kong fashion luminaries, including veteran designer Walter Ma and supermodels Bonnie Chen and Janet Ma. Judges for this year’s competition included blogger Susanna Lau and ethical fashion designer Orsola de Castro.

When the awards began in 2011 it was a small-scale event, open only to Hong Kong-based designers. This year the competition received applicants from over 40 countries across Asia and Europe, proving that sustainable fashion is no longer just a trend but a global concern.

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“We have launched the world’s biggest dedicated sustainable design competition from scratch and are proving that emerging fashion designers are taking sustainability seriously. They know it’s the future and ethically they want to contribute something. We’ve unearthed a big trend that’s real,” says co- founder Christina Dean, who also founded environmental NGO Redress.

“The level this year is extraordinary, and every year is getting better because these designers have created a marriage between storytelling and design. Sustainable design is no longer about crunchy alpaca socks any more - we are talking modernity and innovation,” says de Castro.