LE NGOK (Carla Zhang)

Redress Design Award 2025 First Prize Winner

Meet The Designer

“Being resourceful means rethinking traditional design processes, finding value in overlooked or discarded materials, and ensuring that every creation serves a purpose beyond fleeting trends.”
LE NGOK (Carla Zhang)
“Being resourceful means rethinking traditional design processes, finding value in overlooked or discarded materials, and ensuring that every creation serves a purpose beyond fleeting trends.”
LE NGOK (Carla Zhang)

Bio

Carla Zhang was joint First Prize Winner of the Redress Design Award 2025. Her brand Le Ngok based in Shanghai thrives on pushing the creative boundaries of experimental fashion design, incorporating mixed media, innovative techniques and craftsmanship. Carla holds a BA in Fashion Design and Marketing from SoFA Design Institute, the Philippines.

Region

Collection

Focus

Brand

Redress Design Award Collection

Carla’s Redress Design Award collection, ‘Glitch Theory’, explores duality and randomness through varied line forms. The collection is entirely handwoven with factory surplus cords and yarns, using only the necessary materials to ensure zero waste. Carla reinterprets the recurring design element of lines from her previous collections, uncovering structure amidst chaos and embracing the uncertainties inherent in every creative choice. Her looks are made free-style without rigid patterns or structured looms, allowing creativity to flow organically.
Glitch Theory

Redress Design Award Collection 2025

Carla’s Redress Design Award collection, ‘Glitch Theory’, explores duality and randomness through varied line forms. The collection is entirely handwoven with factory surplus cords and yarns, using only the necessary materials to ensure zero waste. Carla reinterprets the recurring design element of lines from her previous collections, uncovering structure amidst chaos and embracing the uncertainties inherent in every creative choice. Her looks are made free-style without rigid patterns or structured looms, allowing creativity to flow organically.

Q&A with the designer

It was during my second year of college, amid the pandemic and quarantine, while reorganising my wardrobe, that I realised how many unused clothes I had accumulated. That moment led me to rework those garments and create a capsule collection for a school assignment. It was a turning point that made me reflect on fashion waste and sparked my interest in more conscious design practices.

For this collection, all materials were sourced from deadstock and leftover textiles. Each piece was shaped through freestyle hand-weaving without generating any material waste.

I focus on designing for longevity, creating timeless, handcrafted pieces that resist trends and are built to last. All materials are sourced from deadstock, leftovers, or damaged goods purchased in bulk online—random in colour and texture. Rather than seeing this as a limitation, I treat it as a creative opportunity, turning unpredictability into surprise. Each piece is one-of-a-kind, freestyle handwoven to embrace the beauty of uncertainty and allow creativity to flow organically.

My designs are versatile—suitable for formal events or layered with blouses, dresses, bodysuits, and leggings for everyday wear. By prioritising craftsmanship, durable materials, and flexibility, I ensure each design remains relevant over time. These are not disposable garments but enduring pieces meant to be worn again and again, redefining fashion as a long-term investment. Even after their life cycle, they can live on as decorative artworks or be recycled into new functional forms.

As a fashion designer, I believe sustainability is rooted in resourcefulness—maximising the potential of every material, minimising waste, repurposing the overlooked, and innovating within limitations. It’s about rethinking traditional design processes and creating with intention and longevity.

My career goal is to build a sustainable fashion brand that balances environmental responsibility, economic viability, and ethical labor. Through this, I hope to redefine fashion as a purposeful, lasting investment.

Cellphone, of course—but also my sunglasses, as long as I’m carrying a bag!

The collection is titled ‘Glitch Theory’. ‘Glitch’ refers to an unexpected, often chaotic error or malfunction—something typically seen as random or disruptive. ‘Theory’ implies a system of thought or interpretation.

The concept was inspired by my new journey to Shanghai, filled with curiosity but also the fears that come with entering the unknown. Much like the freestyle weaving technique used throughout the collection—which combines spontaneous choices of materials and colours—it reflects the process of finding structure within chaos and embracing the uncertainty present in every decision.

November 7, 2025

SME clinic to grow online retail business sustainably

Redress, together with global logistics leader and Redress Design Award 2025 Platinum Sponsor, DHL, invited our Redress Alumni budding fashion brands along with other Hong Kong SMEs to a clinic-style ...

Read More →

November 5, 2025

Supporting sustainable talent with exhibitions and networking

Fresh off the runway of the Redress Design Award 2025, we unveiled exhibitions to feature the waste-reducing looks of our ten Finalists and select Alumni who are spearheading fashion’s shift toward ...

Read More →

November 5, 2025

Redress歷屆參賽設計師投身聯合國時尚與生活網絡,推動時尚產業可持續發展目標

我們堅信合作的力量,以及時尚能夠推動意義深遠的改變。為此,作為聯合國時尚與生活網絡(UNFLN)的合作夥伴,我們榮幸地能夠於九月二十日紐約聯...

Read More →

Media Enquiry

Contact Us

Become a Redesign Design Award academic partner