New materials and cuts, secondhand and recycling, favorite pieces and new work processes – these are the ideas for solutions provided by the winning works of the European Fashion Award – FASH 2008. The prized awarded by the The Stiftung der Deutschen Bekleidungsindustrie (German Fashion Industry Foundation) – SDBI looked for fashion under the title "Attitude" in line with the needs of the environment and social issues this year.
Fashion in line with the needs of the environment and social issues "Combining fashion, which is subject to continual change, with serious ecological aspects is a
highly demanding task. Whoever deals serious with this topic soon discovers that this is a contradiction that is hard to resolve," SDBI Project Manager Joachim Schirrmacher stated during the festive award ceremony within the framework of ispo winter 08 in Munich.
SDBI celebrated its 30th anniversary on that day. At same time, the non-profit foundation also received an award for its pioneering work pointing the way to the future as a "Selected Landmark 2008" from the location initiative of German government and business world "Germany – Land of
Ideas".

Positions to be taken seriously
"There is no beauty in even the finest clothing if it comes with hunger and infelicity," prizewinners Sara Fromm and Ilona Zaytseva quoted Indira Gandhi. "Of course, it would make sense if people only bought clothes that they really need," prizewinner Melanie Gros from the FHTW Berlin wrote
in her documentation. "But it seems almost impossible to get consumers to reflect about this, and most companies do not want this from a business perspective." Students from Hamburg analyzed why it is so difficult for consumers to take ecological fashion serious despite their awareness of the importance of environmental protection: "The hardly have any direct benefits from this; consumers do not profit, but instead the environment and the society."
This is all the more reason to appreciate the quality of the submitted works, which took on this
great challenge. To find a solution at all, they had to take an "attitude".

New materials and cuts, secondhand and recycling
Melanie Gros cut the fabric in rectangles to make clothes. As a result, about 20 percent waste is avoided. The demanding realisation is so brilliant that the youngest participant in FASH 2008 and student in the fourth semester at FHTW Berlin won first prize. Lauren Gilfillan, Laura Turner and Esther Muir from Grays School of Art, Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen/Scotland, created wonderful clothes from fabric waste and won 2nd place. Frauke Buschmeyer from the University of the Arts Bremen created favorite pieces, which can be worn many years with her strong, new aesthetics; avoidance of waste is recognized as the most effective way of protecting the environment. She received the 3rd prize of the European Fashion Award FASH. Otto von Busch recognized that our post-industrial society does not need more of the same. The Ph.D. student at Göteborg University questioned the system of fashion to this end. He did not do this to negate it, but instead to renew it. He received the special prize for fashion theory for his work. The list of the prizewinners and the prizes, a detailed description of the award-winning works and the reasons given by the jury are in the appendix, "Prizewinning Works and Jury Reasons".

The documentation of all winning works will be accessible to the public in the world’s largest library and graphic art collection about the cultural history of fashion and clothing, the Lipperheideschen Kostümbibliothek in Berlin.

The Stiftung der Deutschen Bekleidungsindustrie
The European Fashion Award – FASH has been presented by the Stiftung der Deutschen Bekleidungsindustrie (German Fashion Industry Foundation) – SDBI annually since 2005. It is open to especially talented design students of all disciplines starting from the fourth semester. The SDBI was founded by the fashion entrepreneur Klaus Steilmann in 1977. It is celebrating its 30th anniversary in 2008. The goal of the non-profit foundation is pioneering promotion of talented
young people.
The winners are rewarded with a total of 9,500 euros - including 2,500 euros donated by Otto Group. In addition, fabric vouchers worth 2,500 euros from the Swiss Textile Association and paid six-month internships at Falke (Schmallenberg), Schumacher (Mannheim) and at company of the
Otto Group were awarded as prizes.
Workshops for career experience Outstanding creativity is one requirement for designers, but others – knowledge about contracts,
customer acquisition, copyrights and rights of use – are also essential prerequisites for successful designers. Following the big success in 2007, well-attended, daily workshops were again offered about these topics for vocational training by the SDBI and the professional association Alliance of German Designers (AGD) during ispo winter 08.

Additional information, interview requests and pictures are available at:
Joachim Schirrmacher
Project Manager/Chairman of the Advisory Board
Stiftung der Deutschen Bekleidungsindustrie/German Apparel Industry Foundation
T +49 40 25 31 88 60
schirrmacher@sdbi.de

Susanne Fischer
Marketing & Communications
ispo Group
T +49 89 494 20 870
fischer@ispo.com