Nine top eco-fashion labels are challenging young people in the UK to design, produce and sell a sustainable fashion range in a new competition.
Launched by Make Your Mark, a not-for-profit campaign to create an enterprise culture in the UK, and supported by the Ethical Fashion Forum, ‘Make Your Mark in Fashion’ is offering teams of 14-30 year olds the opportunity to get a foot in the door of the fashion industry, learning first-hand how to put together a successful collection with one of nine leading sustainable fashion labels.
“There has never been a more inspiring time to start a fashion business in the UK,” says Tamsin Lejeune of the Ethical Fashion Forum. “The new generation holds the key to achieving positive change by creating products that are stunning in terms of design and innovative in terms of sustainability.”
So how does it work? Each team of no more than six budding designers will pick a mentor and tailor a proposal to suit that label. The mentors will then choose the team they would most like to work with and promote them to a shortlist, due to be announced in April next year. The nine mentors will then battle against each other to persuade the entire group to put their team through to the final stage, with the three teams chosen winning the chance to work with their mentors and produce a range for the grand final at London Fashion Week in September 2008.
The nine lables that will act as judges and mentors include Ciel, a hip label that attracts an A-list following including Cate Blanchett and Global Cooler Sienna Miller.
“It is an exciting time to be in the fashion industry and the fashionably conscious consumer is proving that you don’t have to sacrifice style for content,” says Sarah Ratty, the designer behind Ciel.”
Jennifer Ambrose of quirky womenswear label Enamore, another of the competition’s mentors, added: “I started Enamore firstly because I wanted to change my life; but also I had aspirations to change the world we live in. I think it’s important that all future generations consider the environment and people in everything they do, whether it’s designing, engineering or starting a business.”
To enter and for more information, click here.
ONIT
i am currently tring to start my own ethical designer label…why should cool not be ethical- i want both
i am solo mission at the moment as have no investors apart from moi…so would love to see if u like my stauff a helping hand is always required x
Comment by gemma carver — November 13, 2007 @ 12:52 pm
im game…i was looking at this and have begun thinking of others who may be interested. sourcing fabrics,researching, printing and embroidery bits….let me know what the response is like.
Comment by KATE — November 20, 2007 @ 6:17 pm
Question. Smart or not? Cotton… Burns a lot of it.
Comment by Summer Love — December 13, 2007 @ 3:04 pm