SLDF unveils Ethical Fashion Award

Tuesday, 5 October 2010 00:11 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Sri Lanka Design Festival and MAS Holdings announced yesterday they will host the SLDF Ethical Fashion Award with the aim of upholding local fashion designers who have taken a step towards safeguarding the world through their creative practices.

“During a time when our world is endangered due to record amounts of ecological pollution, environmental catastrophes and wastage of resources, the design movement worldwide is taking a timely step forward towards sustainability,” SLDF said. Ethical fashion encompasses many facets, from working with artisanal communities and providing them livelihoods and reviving traditional crafts to recycling fabric off-cuts from factories, taking special precautions to save water and energy and many more.

SLDF Ethical Fashion Award will provide an opportunity for individual designers and fashion labels exercising ethical practices to not only showcase their talent to a global audience at the prestigious London Fashion Week under Esthetica ‘Designers of the World’, but also to inspire other designers to take steps towards being sustainably conscious.

Nathan Sivagananathan, Chief Executive Officer of MAS Design commented on the major involvement of MAS in this award; "At MAS we foster a culture with a vision that empowers people to assume responsibility for creating a sustainable future. The MAS Culture of Progressive Management is defined by continuously raising the bar on the accepted standards of ethics and best practices in the global industry. Amongst the many CSR projects carried out by MAS such as Eco Go Beyond and Educating Generation Next on Sustainability, the SLDF Ethical Fashion Award is a key area of focus. Therefore we believe that this award will further enhance the linkages in our efforts to help Social, Cultural and Environmental Practices to be valued in the design world and most importantly to educate, harness and highlight the next generation of designers to engage in similar practices"

The award will be given in two categories; Ready-to-Wear and Lingerie, and eight Semi-finalists will display their collections at the Sri Lanka Design Festival 2010 in November. The four finalists who will be featured at the London Fashion week in 2011 will be chosen by a panel of distinguished judges including Colin McDowell, Soozie Jenkinson, Elizabeth Laskar, Orsola de Castro, Filippo Ricci, Charty Durrant, Claire Hamer, and representatives from the SLDF, and MAS Holdings. The selected fashion collections will also stand a rare chance to be picked up for retail by UK High Street firms like Marks & Spencer.

“At Sri Lanka Design Festival 2010, ethical fashion will be prompted through this award and the festival will create an international platform to designers with an ethical background. This will also be a great opportunity to let the world see Sri Lanka’s attempts in using design to make a difference in the world”, said Linda Speldewinde – The founder of SLDF and Managing Directress of the AOD.

Sri Lanka Design Festival and MAS will be hosting the award with the support of Exhibil, the British Council, Marks & Spencer and Carbon Consulting Company (CCC).

For more information, applications and criteria, please visit: www.srilankadesignfestival.com

Applications close on 18 October 2010.