Sustainability

Meet the Finalists of the Fashion Makes Sense Award 2020

Update: Due to new measurements to control the COVID-19 virus, announced by the Dutch Government on the 13th of October, FASHIONCLASH Festival 2020 and thus the Fashion Makes Sense Award will be postponed until further notice. Within the capacity of our team we are currently reviewing the initial program of FASHIONCLASH Festival 2020 and investigating the possibilities to organize a digital event in early 2021.

We are very pleased to introduce you to the Finalists for the 4th edition of the Fashion Makes Sense Award 2020! The 9 finalists will present their work during the Fashion Makes Sense Award Show,on Friday the 27th of November. In addition, 1 outfit of each Finalist will be exhibited as part of FASHIONCLASH Festival 2020 (27-29 November).

FASHIONCLASH will hand out 2 Awards during the Fashion Makes Sense Award Show:
• An audience Award of €1000, -
• A jury Award of €2500, -

The prize money is intended for the development of a sustainable work (e.g. collection, research etc.)

Would like to vote for your favorite Finalist of the Fashion Makes Sense Award? Sign up to receive a reminder as soon as the online voting for the audience Award starts!

Andrea Grossi
Reggio Emilia, Italy

Andrea Grossi graduated in 2019 of Polimoda in Florence, Italy. His eponymous menswear label was born in 2020.

The collection ‘Welcome to DeusLand’ evokes the future of society and human beings, tackling issues of social sustainability and shedding light on 21st-century problems. In what direction is mankind going? By fusing technology and craftsmanship, with Tuscan and Umbrian leather goods, Andrea creates modern and innovative manipulation through the techniques of laser cutting, embossing and bonding with an added alternative denim fibre of low environmental impact.

Andrea believes that the future for sustainable fashion is about guidance and educating the consumer and to make them understand the importance to know what they are buying. “The new luxury will be about knowledge and it’s is our task (being a designer red.) to move the trend and the markets.”

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Saskia Lenaerts
London, United Kingdom

Saskia Lenaerts is a trans-national designer who aims to disarm prejudice with her work. It pushes for a more unified and borderless world, founded on celebrating both cultural differences and commonalities. Saskia holds a MA in fashion menswear from Central Saint Martins, London.

‘Dis-Armed’ is made up of a combination of up-cycled military garments and dead stock fabrics. This forces an alternative approach to the design and making process: the destruction, the unravelling, the cutting open, the dis-charging, the slashing and the extending/inverting of volume are key to the design aesthetics. Saskia invested in researching various relevant topics including borders, belonging, displacement, home, cosmopolitanism, migration, etc., and their meanings to herself at this point in time.

Fuelled by the research, she conducted for this collection and her personal experiences and set out to demilitarise military garments as an allegory for all the borders, institutions and people she wishes to see demilitarised. “My work aims to push for a socio and politically sustainable environment. It is an amalgamation of durable and lasting concepts, materials and production methods. The process of concept development is intended to sustain all human beings and the planet they inhabit, for everyone to feel safe and accepted.”

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MARKO FEHER
Gradišla, Bosnia & Herzegovina

Marko Potkozarac Feher is a Bosnian fashion designer who lives and works torn between Bosnia & Herzegovina and London. He is an ethical designer who does not use any materials of animal origin when creating his collections. Marko was the first Bosnian designer who got both accepted at Central Saint Martins and was published in British Vogue.

“My grandfather decided to donate his suits to the ‘Red Cross’ – because, as he said, he didn’t need them anymore. The ‘Red Cross’ said they already had too many clothes and that it would be better to give all those suits to someone in need, privately. My grandfather decided to throw them away, so I decided to take all the suits - which were of a very high quality. I decided to redesign them and make new things out of them, to have my own grandpa’s heritage and to make new memories.” In addition to reusing the suits, Marko recycled shirts, ties, badges, belts and figurines. But most of all, he recycled memories.

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Website

Mathilde Rougier
Paris, France

Mathilde Rougier is a multi-disciplinary fashion designer, working across the fields of modular textiles, augmented reality, 3D design and upcycled plastics. She focuses on developing circular production and design systems for clothing and adornment. Her practice centers on the body within a sustainable and digital context. She explores themes of digital deterioration, glitch, file corruption and modular image generation.

The ‘MODULAR AUGMENTED CAPSULE’ proposes a circular approach to sustainability, as all the materials used come from waste. The main textile functions like Lego; the pieces are slotted together, can be taken apart and put back together in a different form. The design process is constantly ongoing without creating waste. Same goes for the virtual parts of the garment; they can be updated and evolved without creating waste. The other techniques (second-hand cotton hotel sheeting, which was naturally dyed and the re-melted plastic packaging) use upcycling and can be upcycled themselves, as long as material unity is conserved.

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Arí van Twillert
Rotterdam, The Netherlands

Arí van Twillert combines her passions for engineering and fashion to create stunning lingerie and jewelry. Her work always involves science and with her garments she wants to tell stories about societal issues. She is obsessed with fit and uses 21st century technologies combined with couture craft sewing techniques to make lasting garments that people will cherish.

‘Vocal Embodiment’ is a collaboration between Arí van Twillert and singer ANNNA. Having a passion for music, Arí wanted to visualize a singer’s voice onto a garment so the singer could wear her own voice. Looking for a voice that also had something to say she came across ANNNA who sings about topics like fast fashion and climate change. Arí will be using ANNNA’s voice as input to come up with graphic visualizations that she will transform into garments by using 3D printing, laser cutting, embroidery, silk screen printing etc. These technologies will be combined to perform material research which will result in innovative ways to embody the sound visualizations into custom made garments for ANNNA and her dancers. The innovative performance garments that implement the sustainably sourced elements will allow ANNNA to wear her own voice and amplify the desired impact across a wide audience with her message.

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Photo: Josefien Hoekstra
Make-up: Ashley Groenewald
Model: Tinotenda Mushore

MATTHEW NEEDHAM
London, United Kingdom

MATTHEW NEEDHAM is a designer and upcyclist based in London. As a graduate of MA Fashion at Central Saint Martins, his work reflects fashion’s yearning for radical ideas, as he champions the use of unorthodox materials that are both innovative and educational. Up-cycling fly-tipped waste and using dead-stock from luxury fashion houses are inherent within his process and focus on storytelling, having previously honed his skills of textile innovation and construction at Chanel and Louis Vuitton.

‘ØYEBLIKK’ or ‘In the Blink of an Eye’ began with a self-reflection of a time within Matthew’s own life. The aim was to embody that time within garments, allowing it to live eternally. By explaining the connection of the found materials to the origin story, each piece becomes an artefact and the value of that artefact transcends a retail price point. My intention is to strengthen the relationship we have with the clothing we wear and to set a viable example of storytelling and upcycling as intrinsic parallels for future design. Designing for positive change is the zeitgeist.

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ESRA COPUR
Amsterdam, The Netherlands

ESRA COPUR creates collections that find their origin in the power of a collective way of thinking. The herd mentality is often depicted as negative but can be greatly empowering when visualized and redesigned into something positive. Merging design and installation, Esra reshapes existing items such as a plain white shirt as the start of a new way of thinking about our own basics in life - and how to collectively implement not only the practice of sustainability within the fashion industry, but also the notion of ethical and sociological issues around the globe that deserve our attention and active response.

An interest in the strength of three and its symbols, was the starting point that led Esra to develop a collection derived from a durable unity - ‘Threefold’. “The last six months have taught us that a collective way of thinking can actually change something we believe is wrong. I am convinced that we don’t need the mass to generate a new way of thinking. I believe sustainability should be at the core of every design process. Fashion is wasteful, and I don’t think we have any other choice but to change that, so let’s see it as an opportunity to work in a more diverse way.”

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Website

Photo: Petra Steenkamer

Kevin Pleiter
Arnhem, The Netherlands

Kevin Pleiter graduated with honors in Fashion Design in 2019 at ArtEZ Institute of the Arts in Arnhem. With his solutions in knitwear, he tries to elaborate on new thoughts in the fashion and textile industry. Taking sustainability as an integrated way of working, another main focus lies on researching the fascinating relationship between tension and tactility; from the early yarn selection, to the final imaginary. His upcoming collection ‘Insert Artifact’ takes an effort in pushing the idea of knitwear by knitting in the most genuine and artisanal way as possible; questioning what comfort and nurturing design language really means?

“It’s my goal to design without the need to mention the importance of working sustainably. Until then, it’s important to show how to create without hurting the environment in such a big way. By knitting, I work entirely with a zero-waste approach. All my yarns are either dead stock, Ecotec, recycled or left-overs from previous graduation projects of myself and others. I like this limitation and the idea of basically working with what you can find. I’ll find a similar cone when I’m entirely finished with the old one, which explains the sudden slight changes in color and texture in some garments, taking the maximum out of the cone. Additionally, I research the relationship with the knit and the woven by integrating upcycled clothes in my designs.”

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SANKIM
London, United Kingdom

London based South Korean designer SANKIM graduated with a Menswear MA degree at University of Westminster, London. He is specialized in inflatable fashion design. The collection ‘Anti-Covid19’ is inspired by a compilation of D.I.Y masks that were made during the coronavirus pandemic. As the shortage of face masks prompted people to come up with novel ways to combat the virus, this collection focuses on the masks people made out of supermarket's plastic bags. SANKIM rather says that he creates visual communication, not clothing. “I respond by observing social and political issues from various angles.”

All inflatable garments are made out of used supermarket plastic bags from SANKIM his flat mates

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Photo: Haylee Wong

The 4th edition of the Fashion Makes Sense Award is supported by the Provence of Limburg, Municipality of Maastricht, Meester Koetsier Foundation and Prins Bernhard Cultuurfonds.

Just released: Open Call for the Fashion Makes Sense Award 2020

FASHIONCLASH presents: the 4th edition of Fashion Makes Sense Award, a supportive award for a new generation of designers with innovative and sustainable ideas for the future of fashion.

We are looking for fashion designers/brands to participate in the Fashion Makes Sense Award 2020!The aim of this competition is to encourage a new generation of designers to think about sustainability and to offer a stage for innovative and sustainable ideas. In addition, the competition exposes awareness about sustainability in the fashion industry to a broader audience.

There will be two awards as part of the competition:

  • an audience prize of €1000, -

  • a jury prize of €2500, -

Do you want to become 1 of the 10 finalists of the Fashion Makes Sense Award?
The deadline for submissions is Monday the 22nd of June. FASHIONCLASH will announce the 10 finalists in week 27 (29 June-3 July).

If you are selected as 1 of the 10 finalists of the FMSA, you will be participating in the Fashion Makes Sense Award Show as part of FASHIONCLASH Festival 2020 (27-29 November). Your work will also be exhibited at Lumière Maastricht from 1-13 December.

Questions about participating in the Fashion Makes Sense Award?
Please read the Frequently Asked Questions before getting in touch via fmsa@fashionclash.nl  

We look forward to receive your application!