European Fashion Award FASH 2022

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New fashion from old clothes. That, in short, is the task for the European Fashion Award FASH 2022, whose topic is ‘Re:Create Fashion’. For the first time, it is not seeking out new fashion designs; instead, the aim is to produce a new creative look out of old garments. The competition is open to exceptionally gifted students across the whole of Europe and carries prizes to the value of €5000. It is in line with the textile strategy of the European Commission.

Bitterfeld, not Berlin
The European Fashion Award FASH 2022 will take place in collaboration with the Soex Group at their premises in Bitterfeld-Wolfen, the largest sorting plant for used textiles in Europe.
The fashion award seeks to show the potential that lies in valuable pre-owned fashion. Responsible consumption – wearing fashion items for longer – is the most important lever available for the future of fashion. Second-hand fashion, stylishly combined, can come together as a personal and sustainable statement; it is, moreover, often of very high quality. And it can be very fulfilling to find a new treasure that allows a fresh light to shine on an existing wardrobe.
“We see second-hand fashion as a resource for the fashion of tomorrow, offering something for every taste,” says Walter J Thomsen, Managing Director of the Soex Group.
Vintage has long been a major source of inspiration for fashion design. “Our aim is to provide the impetus to think creativity in different directions. Following your own creativity, rather than going for the quick kick of the online click, can be so liberating!” says SDBI Director Joachim Schirrmacher.

Background
Sustainable, fair fashion and the circular economy have been the subject of intense discussion for decades. Almost all fashion businesses have announced initiatives in these areas. In the media, too, there is a growing suggestion that the majority of the goods on offer consist of socially and environmentally sustainable fashion. In stark contrast to this is the fact that fashion consumption has more than doubled in the last ten years.

The facts are more than disappointing: the turnover of sustainable fashion is less than three percent, and not even one percent of old textiles become new clothes. The European Commission now wants to drive fashion towards sustainability with a comprehensive textile strategy. But despite many research and pilot projects, the circular economy is still a vision.
To part I Analysis: A downward spiral, not a circle
To Part II Options: Better than the same in green

1 / 13 – FASH 2008 Attitude - Entwurfsoption: Schnitte ohne Abfall – 1. Preis Melanie Gros, FHTW Berlin © Andi Frank

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1 / 13 – FASH 2008 Attitude - Entwurfsoption: Schnitte ohne Abfall – 1. Preis Melanie Gros, FHTW Berlin © Andi Frank

Entwurfsoption: Stoffreste werden zu neuen Stoffen - 2. Preis Laura Turner, Lauren Gilfillan, Esther Muir, Gray School of Art, Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen © Andi Frank

Entwurfsoption: Lieblingstücke – 3. Preis Frauke Buschmeyer, Hochschule für Künste Bremen © Andi Frank

Entwurfsoption: Stoffreste – Anerkennung Pia Niewöhner, Hochschule für Künste Bremen © Andi Frank

Entwurfsoption: Upcycling – Anerkennung Sara Fromm, Ilona Zaytseva Hochschule Pforzheim © Andi Frank

Entwurfsoption: Upcycling – Anerkennung Pia Heise, Burg Giebichtenstein © Andi Frank

Option: Forschung – Dale Sko Hack – Anerkennung Otto von Busch Doktorand Göteborg University © Andi Frank

FASH 2008 Attitude – Ausstellung ISPO Munich 2008 © Andi Frank

FASH 2008 Sara Fromm, Ilona Zaytseva; Pia Heise und Laura Turner, Lauren Gilfillan, Esther Muir – Ausstellung ISPO Munich 2008 © Andi Frank

FASH 2008 Frauke Buschmeyer und Pia Niewöhner – Ausstellung ISPO Munich 2008 © Andi Frank

Entwurfsoption: Stoffreste werden zu neuen Stoffen - 2. Preis Laura Turner, Lauren Gilfillan, Esther Muir, Gray School of Art, Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen © Andi Frank

FASH 2008 Attitude – Präsentation Auswärtiges Amt „Green is the new black: Ökologische Mode aus Deutschland“ 2008 © Bernhard Ludewig

Auszeichnung der Arbeit der SDBI als „Ort im Land der Ideen“ – einer Initiative der Bundesregierung und der Deutschen Wirtschaft © Andi Frank

Jury FASH 2008: Joachim Schirrmacher (SDBI), Marcel Herrig (Unicut, Shenzen), Ulrike Okbay-Reichert (Head of Buying, Apparel, Otto, Hamburg), Joyce Thornton (Generation Now Editor, WGSN, London), Messe München © Andi Frank

We are convinced: we don’t need more clothes, we need to deal with clothes differently. FASH first sought out environmentally and socially responsible fashion in 2008. Since then, the majority of the submitted works have sustainable aspects. SDBI founder Klaus Steilmann had been one of the pioneers of sustainable fashion since 1989.

Participants from across Europe
The fashion award, which is open to the whole of Europe, carries prizes to the value of €5000. It is aimed at exceptionally talented students from all design disciplines – and especially those in the fields of textile and fashion design – in the three categories of Undergraduate, Bachelor and Master including theses, since May 2021.
A jury made up of members from the design, industry, retail, communication and media sectors will select up to 15 participants for the Final, which takes place in Bitterfeld-Wolfen in October. Details of the jury will be made available in the coming weeks via www.FASH.berlin and Instagram.
The award and events may be subject to pandemic restrictions, including the possibility of a fully virtual process if required.

Requirements and application details
Registration closes on 15 June
Submission deadline 22 June 2022

By creatives, for creatives
The European Fashion Award FASH is supported and funded by Messe München GmbH. The Soex Group provides support in the form of several tonnes of used textiles and at the event itself.  Singer sponsors the workshop with sewing and embroidery machines. Generations sew with SINGER. More than 170 years of experience flow into the development of the products. Hobby tailors appreciate the high-quality workmanship, the innovative functions and the reliability of the products.
The European Fashion Award FASH relies above all on personal commitment, whether from jury members or in the organisation. The award for the young designers is funded to a significant extent by experienced creatives.

SDBI – Promoting Fashion Talents since 1978
Internationally, the European Fashion Award FASH is one of the most important awards for fashion students. It is offered by the not-for-profit Stiftung der Deutschen Bekleidungsindustrie (SDBI) – the German Fashion Industry Foundation. The foundation was set up in 1978, making it the oldest organisation in the world for the promotion of fashion students.
The award-winning talents have outstanding career opportunities. They work, some as Senior Designers or Heads of Design, in world-renowned companies such as Adidas, Alpha Tauri, Fila, Gucci, Hugo Boss and s.Oliver, Zalando and for designers including Dries van Noten and Vivienne Westwood. They have often gone on to win numerous further prizes.

Soex Group
The SOEX Group is a worldwide specialist service provider in the collection, sorting, re-use and recycling of used textiles and footwear. The collected items are sorted and graded in certified operations such as that in Bitterfeld-Wolfen, following the international waste hierarchy: reuse is preferred over recycling.
Its research with partners for new solutions makes Soex unique in the industry. From 2015 to 2019, the company led the €9 million RESYNTEX EU research project with the core objective of chemically transforming used textiles into various secondary raw materials. In 2017, it commissioned the world’s first shoe recycling plant. And in May 2019, a partially automated pilot separation plant for used textiles was installed. The goal of Soex is to maximise recycling in line with its zero waste philosophy.