LETTER FROM OUR FOUNDER
15th Anniversary Highlights
- Reached 18 million views of its online educational materials for fashion designers
- Directly educated 23,000+ designers through offline and online programs
- Attracted over 4,500 applications from 92 regions since the competition’s inception
- Created an 330+ alumni (185+ in Asia) who now lead circular initiatives at brands, design studios, and educational institutions
Will you rise to the challenge with us?
Despite Redress’ impressive impact data clocked up as we reach the crescendo of our 15th Redress Design Award, on the bigger global stage, we’re failing to save fashion. Currently, 0.3% of the global textile industry is circular. That’s shockingly bad.
That said, since founding Redress in 2007 in Hong Kong, I continue to believe in the positive power of fashion. Economically, it’s a powerhouse, contributing up to 2.5% of global GDP, and an estimated 1 in 8 people work in some part of the apparel industry.
Where fashion falls flat on its alluring face is on its environmental crisis, with clothing overproduction and overconsumption making it one of the world’s most polluting sectors. So who is going to solve fashion’s wasteful problems?
The answer: it has to be all of us. The fashion industry is entrenched in the ways of the world, so whether you’re an industry professional, hardcore fashionista, or just a clothes-wearer, we must all rise up to be part of the solution.
These past 15 years, Redress has been rising to this challenge in myriad ways: educating emerging fashion designers, working with schools, collecting unwanted clothes, researching, and running our secondhand charity shop. Now, we’re inviting you to join us in making fashion better.
The question is… will you?
Much love,
Dr. Christina Dean
Founder and Board Chair, Redress
¹ Circle Economy (2024), Circularity Gap Report 2024, Textiles
² Fashion For Good (2020), Financing the Transformation in Fashion
³ Common Objective (2018), Faces and Figures: Who Makes Our Clothes?; Data from World Bank (2017) Total Labor Force and See Wiego, Statistics on the Informal Economy; ILO, Informal Economy