SLDF ethical fashion awards
Taking Sri Lankan fashion designers to the
forefront of the global sustainable design movement
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.
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Images courtesy of Junky Styling currently showing at London
Fashion Week Esthetica 2010. Photography by Ness Sherry. |
Sri Lanka Design Festival and MAS Holdings, 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.
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 a
step towards being sustainably conscious.
Chief Executive Officer of MAS Design Nathan Sivagananathan 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”, founder of SLDF and Managing
Directress of the AOD Linda Speldewinde said. |
