1st Prize: European Fashion Award – FASH 2008
of the Stiftung der Deutschen Bekleidungsindustrie (German Fashion Industry Foundation)

Melanie Gros
"For Square"
4th semester, Fachhochschule für Technik und Wirtschaft, Berlin (University of Applied
Sciences, Berlin)
4,000 euros, six-month paid internship at a company of the Otto Group
mellygros@gmx.de
www.teambruleberlin.de
www.fhtw-berlin.de

A square forms the basis of this fall women’s wear collection. Its objective is a cut without
waste. Instead of adapting the pattern to the curved body, "For Square" drapes squares on the
body. Approximately 20 percent of the cutting scrap is eliminated in this way. "For Square"
provides favorite pieces, which can still be worn in 10 years. In spite of their potential long
life, the silhouettes are based on current large-scale cuts that fall straight. The skin color
black (dyed in line with the strictest directives) is classic, appropriate for the masses and
chic. The fabrics are from "fair trade" and come from organic cultivation in Turkey. They
vary between soft and warming single jerseys, robust twill and voluminous knitwear.

Jury Reasons
About 20 percent waste is created during cutting despite the most modern technology.
Melanie Gros solved this often-overlooked problem. Her concept of using rectangular
materials to make clothes is very demanding in its realisation. This is all the more reason to
praise both her aesthetically and functionally brilliant realisation of this idea. You do not
even suspect that the clothes are made of rectangular pieces. And this is the case not just for
one outfit, but also for the complete collection; even pants were produced. The work is so
strong that it works for different occasions and with different colors.
Certainly: "Green is the new black", because after all black is color that causes problems for
the environment. In spite of this, Melanie Gros achieved a good balance between
environment and reality. Black clothes have a higher rate of acceptance, are sold
correspondingly well and are worn for a long time.
The demanding task to design fashion in line with the needs of the environment and social
issues using one's one attitude was solved independently and simply. And this was done as a
clear industrial design. This is an outstanding work, especially for a student in her fourth
semester!
Jury Member Ulrike Okbay-Reichert, Head of Buying, Apparel, Otto, Hamburg


2nd Prize: European Fashion Award – FASH 2008
of the Stiftung der Deutschen Bekleidungsindustrie (German Fashion Industry Foundation)

Lauren Gilfillan, Laura Turner, Esther Muir
"Eco Pogue Mahone"
6th semester, Grays School of Art, Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen
2,000 euros
Six-month paid internship at Falke, Schmallenberg
Fabric voucher worth 500 euros and 100 euros travel expenses subsidy from Swiss Textiles
laura.turner@hotmail.co.uk
www.rgu.ac.uk/grays

Pogue Mahone is a Gaelic four-letter word. The womens’s wear collection "Eco Pogue
Mahone" demonstrates that the environment is not a matter of no concern to us. It is
composed of production waste of precious "Tartans", the Scottish material with its clan
patterns. Instead of continuing to dump the waste at a landfill, it is woven and sewn into a
new material. The created clothing pieces are both beautiful and environmentally friendly.
They remind you of a Chanel jacket instead of recycling fashion. The unique jacket in
military style is supplemented by a skirt made from a "Blue Ramsay" tartan. The objective of
the project is to emphasize the work and craftsmanship, which this rough but stylish material
contains, and consequently to keep the history of Scotland alive.

Jury Reasons
"Eco Pogue Mahone" is a collection with a strong story. The starting point was well selected
with waste cuttings of Scottish tartans. Instead of throwing them away, they were processed
in a unique way to create new fabric. The collection demonstrates a high degree of
development ability. It was not only implemented technically very well, but it also has great
design power. The humorous interpretation upvalues traditional material. It again appears
young, fresh and up-to-date. The work demonstrates a clear commitment to work-intensive
handicrafts and Scotland.
Jury Member Marcel Herrig, Unicut Design Limited, ShenZen, China


3rd Prize: European Fashion Award – FASH 2008
of the Stiftung der Deutschen Bekleidungsindustrie (German Fashion Industry Foundation)

Frauke Buschmeyer
"The Crocodiles Lie in the Gaps"
Graduate, Hochschule für Künste Bremen (University of the Arts Bremen)
1,500 euros
Fabric voucher worth 500 euros and 100 euros travel expenses subsidy from Swiss Textiles
frauke07@fraukebuschmeyer.de
www.fraukebuschmeyer.de
www.hfk-bremen.de

The Master's thesis collection "The Crocodiles Lie in the Gaps" is composed of favorite
pieces for individualistic women between 20 and 40. They feel pleasant on the skin, and the
person wearing it can build up an emotional, imaginative and affectionate relation to them.
Favorite pieces are long-lasting, because they do not lose their originality after one season.
The carefree perspective of childhood, when everyday matters are exciting, serves to achieve
this goal. Four stories by a lion, crocodile, penguin and polar bears inspired the illustrations,
cuts, colors and choice of material.
The work is also a search for a statement of one's own between pronounced expressiveness
and sensitive presentiments as well as the balance between the design wishes and emotional
needs of the women wearing it.

Jury Reasons
Frauke Buschmeyer bets on avoidance of waste, the most effective way of protecting the
environment. The way of implementing her project was worked out in an impressive manner.
The starting point was the observation that people like to wear favorite pieces for many
years. But how do you create favorite pieces? She selected strongly emotional motifs as
inspiration: children and animals. The comparatively complex collection plays with the topic
well throughout without placing it in the forefront too much. It remains a means to the end of
creating desirable fashion.
The collection has a very strong and new aesthetics; it is joyful and humorous, young and
elegant. This is not superficial fashion, but instead self-confident design.
Frauke Buschmeyer obviously knows what she wants and how to do it. She has a great deal
of design skill and can give identity to a brand. But not only her conceptual strengths and
design skills should be praised, but also her craft skills in implementing new patterns.
Jury Member Joachim Schirrmacher, Agency for Strategic Communications, Hamburg


Special Mention: European Fashion Award – FASH 2008
of the Stiftung der Deutschen Bekleidungsindustrie (German Fashion Industry Foundation)

Sara Fromm, Ilona Zaytseva
"Symbiosis"
6th semester, Hochschule Pforzheim, Fakultät für Gestaltung (Pforzheim University of
Applied Sciences)
500 euros
Six-month paid internship at Schumacher, Mannheim
Fabric voucher worth 500 euros and 100 euros travel expenses subsidy from Swiss Textiles
sarfro@web.de
www.hs-pforzheim.de

Indira Gandhi provides the motto for the this work: "There is no beauty in even the most
finest clothing if it comes with hunger and infelcity." Consequently, the women’s wear
collection "Symbiosis" was developed from a combination of old and new. The basis is
formed by industrially manufactured knitwear, which were produced in line with ecological
and ethical guidelines. They are traditional in shape and color, can be combined well with
one another, and consequently have a long wearing life. The details and patterns come from
second-hand clothing. In Germany alone, approximately 300 million clothing pieces are
discarded each year, but which are still wearable. The symbiosis is created from the felting
of both materials. This produces the individualism, which customers often want. In addition,
the collection concept can be adapted to current trends.

Jury Reasons
What can we do with the clothing, which we do not wear anymore? Sara Fromm and Ilona
Zaytseva have shown a good solution with the felting of used clothing and accessories. They
demonstrate a great deal of consistency in their work. Regardless of whether color or
material selection, everything fits. Well done!
Jury Member, Joyce Thornton, Generation Now Editor, WGSN, London


Special Mention: European Fashion Award – FASH 2008
of the Stiftung der Deutschen Bekleidungsindustrie (German Fashion Industry Foundation)

Pia Heise
"In Fog"
Graduate, Burg Giebichenstein – Hochschule für Kunst und Design, Halle (Burg
Giebichenstein – University of Art and Design, Halle)
500 euros
Fabric voucher worth 500 euros and 100 euros travel expenses subsidy from Swiss Textiles
pi_ja@yahoo.de
www.burg-halle.de

The Master's thesis "The Artificiality of Civilized Life" raises questions about our economic
systems and what we need to be happy. It does this apart from ideas influenced by the media
and advertising. Instead, it is a question of sharpening our senses. Then people might become
aware of the fact that behavior, which is appropriate for living in a society and for the
environment, starts in our head. Only then are measures taken, which really help people and
the environment. On solution for this issue is shown by the women’s wear collection "In
Fog". It was implemented using discarded German military parachutes as well as used
leather and fur. They get a second life in the collection. Existing bags, backstitching and
button holes, seams and ribbons, rings and linen as well as traces of use are employed as
design elements.

Jury Reasons
The collection "In Fog" by Pia Heise reminds us more of artworks than recycling fashion.
Consequently, they are part of the current development of the coming together of design and
art. The designed collection is strong and independent.
Jury Member Susanne Fischer, Head of Marketing and Communications – ispo Group,
Messe München, GmbH


Special Mention: European Fashion Award – FASH 2008
of the Stiftung der Deutschen Bekleidungsindustrie (German Fashion Industry Foundation)

Pia Niewöhner
"Uni(Form)"
8th semester, Hochschule für Künste Bremen (University of the Arts Bremen)
500 euros
Fabric voucher worth 500 euros and 100 euros travel expenses subsidy from Swiss Textiles
pia.nie@web.de
www.hfk-bremen.de

The uni-sex collection "Uni[Form] Appliqué and Mechanisms of the Gelsenkirchen
Baroque" plays with everyday culture of the Ruhr area. The cliché of "Gelsenkirchen
Baroque" was created there. The term has been used to make fun of the giant Wilhelmine
furniture in small workers' apartments since the beginning of the 1930s. But an aesthetics
was created on glutted bodies there, where all workers appeared in the same black
"uni[Form]" following a day's work in the mines: the rabble and anti-social, fine-ribbed
material and jogging pants, unisize and 5er pack, Walmart and Primark. Consequently, the
design is limited to an (over)size with a two-dimensional language of shapes. Curtain tapes
regulate the size and are a connective element. The materials are from stores such as "Moni's
Fabric Paradise", where a meter costs two euros. Printed "trimmings" such as bags are a
parody on the fascination with brands – the dream of a better life.

Jury Reasons
Design research takes place not only on paper, but also in practical work as in other
disciplines. Pia Niewöhner has taken a very independent path with her work. Especially in
times where it is almost only a question of one more of the same this is very praiseworthy.
In spite of her investigating aesthetics, which are generally considered tasteless, she created a
strong collection with clear silhouettes and proportions. It is harmonious and works well.
The restriction to only one size for both sexes is one answer for fashion more in tune with
environmental protection.
Jury Member Marcel Herrig, Unicut Design Limited, ShenZen, China


Special Prize Fashion Theory: European Fashion Award – FASH 2008
of the Stiftung der Deutschen Bekleidungsindustrie (German Fashion Industry Foundation)

Otto von Busch
"Dale Sko Hack"
Ph.D. student, Göteborg University
500 euros
otto@kulturservern.se
www.selfpassage.org
www.gu.se

The Dale Sko Hack project aims to reformulate the way we understand fashion production –
beyond “Fair Fashion”. A word such as “eco-fashion” is in itself a contradiction that cannot
be solved. It is more a question of renewing design and fashion (as it is one of the major
forces in identity production as well as our economy) by hacking the operating system of
fashion, tuning it, but keeping the power on! “Hacking” in manufacturing is creating a wider
interface to the design process for workforce knowledge and craftsmanship, with the help of
non-linear participation from the factory workmen, so that each product becomes unique.
This requires a new understanding of design, including of design management. The project
was run at Dale Sko factory in Norway together with six Norwegian fashion designers.

Jury Reasons
Otto von Busch does something that only happens rarely in fashion; he reflects and shows
ideas for solutions. He puts the complete fashion world into question in his work. He did not
do this to negate it, but instead to renew it. Above all, he poses the right questions. This is
difficult, because you must not only now the system in detail, but you also need a
pronounced sense of perception and interpretation skills. The quality of a designer is based
on these factors. And they are decisive for the future. Work is conducted all too often in the
hectic world of fashion on irrelevant problems, indeed according to all rules of art, but to no
purpose in the end.
His work should also be highly praised, because dissertations in the area of fashion theory –
in the framework of which the distinguished project was created – are very rare. But it is
decisive for reflections to come from fashion itself and not to leave interpretations to other
disciplines.
Jury Member Joachim Schirrmacher, Agency for Strategic Communications, Hamburg


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