Challenge

How can fashion value cultures of wellbeing?

This year’s Fashion Values Challenge calls on next generation changemakers from around the world to respond to this question with radical, transformational ideas where cultures, heritage and rituals create social and environmental wellbeing. We seek expressions of creativity applied to products, services, and systems of design, media and/or technology, where fashion values diverse cultures of wellbeing. 

Fashion as an industry is often exclusive, not representative of all peoples, with huge imbalance in power. Many people are excluded, particularly those whose identities and cultures are not captured within prevalent fashion discourse. This perpetuates consumerist models of business, the persistence of aesthetic hierarchies and cultural appropriation.

Fashion does not have to be extractive and exploitative; many philosophies, cultural practices, and traditions apply creativity and imagination, in the honour of all life, human and more than human. Fashion can involve the sharing of ideas, traditions and values through style and habits of dress that cherish and extend the value of all involved in how we represent ourselves. It can do so with dignity, respect, and equity. 

We seek to platform fashion that celebrates and serves all people, cultures, and the conditions of life.

The Challenge

Our search is for creative expressions of cultures of wellbeing, applied to fashion products, services and systems. We seek demonstrations of practical and theoretical skills, imagination, and creativity based on equitable livelihoods within planetary boundaries.

Considerations:

• Wellbeing involves social, gender, racial, intergenerational, and more-than-human rights. 

• Culture is about ‘ways of life’: customs, beliefs, and rituals; codes of manners; taking place in communities and institutions. 

• Cultures communicate identities, meanings, knowledge, an articulation of values, aspirations, memories, attitudes, and understandings of the world. 

• Cultures can connect or alienate… How can cultures respect a shared humanity through fashion? 

• Through your submission, we want you to demonstrate relevance, originality, creativity, feasibility, and sustainability impact and thinking. More detailed prompts can be found in the judging criteria below.  

We would recommend that all applicants explore the open-access Fashion Values: Cultures course on FutureLearn to support their application, as well as the many other Fashion Values online resources.   

Support

We suggest that you demonstrate alignment with the Fashion Values tools and resources in your application. The Fashion Values platform provides tools, resources, articles, and online courses for developing change-making ideas. Check out the previous winners for examples of great ideas relating to previous year themes.  

Any applicant, anywhere in the world, can book a 25-minute portfolio surgery session with a member of Centre for Sustainable Fashion team to discuss a planned application, project or idea.

If you are a student based in London, you can have your session with us in-person at our East Bank, Stratford campus. If you are a student based outside of London, or working in the industry, you can have your session online.

Prizes

Funded Invitation to the Global Fashion Summit 2024:

The two winners (one emerging, one professional) will be awarded a funded invitation to the Global Fashion Summit, including the CSF Fashion Values showcase event, in Copenhagen in May 2024. This includes tickets to the Summit, travel, and accommodation. This includes costs around accessibility needs for winners attending the summit. Additionally, the student winner will be granted a place as part of the Fashion Values x Global Fashion Agenda’s 2024 Next Gen Assembly, which will include further opportunities and activities.  

Please note, if you are applying as a group to the Challenge, you must nominate one person to attend the Summit.  

The Mentorship Programme:

The two winners (one emerging, one professional) will also be selected for the mentorship programme with an industry leader each. The mentorship programme will match you with the most appropriate industry leader mentor from a pool of mentors. You will also be offered support to further your winning idea or business, via connection to potential support networks.

How to Apply

The Challenge brief is open to professionals, students, and creative enthusiasts from around the world. Applicants must be aged 18 years or over. Group applications are accepted. There are two application routes:  

• Emergent Creatives: current students and recent (within 1 year) graduates. 

• Professional Creatives: small business enterprises and entrepreneurs.   

Applications for each category to be submitted through our programme partner, Eyes on Talents.

The 16-18 Brief

This year, in addition to the main Fashion Values Challenge, we are launching the first 16-18 Brief, aimed at pre-higher education students!

We are inviting students within this age range to share their responses to this year's central question: How can fashion value cultures of wellbeing?

We're looking for radical and game-changing ideas across the fields of design, media and/or technology that will enable the fashion industry to truly value cultures of wellbeing.

To find all the details on the 16-18 Open Call, follow the link here.

How can Fashion Value Society?

A group of Fashion and Society advocates from diverse disciplinary, locational, professional and personal perspectives came together at a Roundtable event in June 2022 to define how fashion can value society better. The resulting brief asks you to respond to industry challenges that, if answered, would support society through fashion.  

Based on the Roundtable discussions, the Challenge brief is co-developed by brands, academics, NGOs, media and tech advocates, and representatives from a cross-section of the fashion industry, alongside the Fashion Values core partners Centre for Sustainable Fashion (CSF), Kering, IBM, Vogue Business. Answer their call for transformational ideas across fashion design, media and technology.  

The Fashion Values programme provides tools and resources, including Voices, Methods and free online courses, for you to develop these change-making ideas and apply your learnings to real-world industry challenges.  

A Landscape Review has also been published, Centre for Sustainable Fashion conducted research to review a range of perspectives and activities relating to fashion and social sustainability, to map out the current state of fashion practice aimed at creating positive social change, and to understand the related challenges and possibilities. 

Use these tools to catalyse a new idea or refine an existing one in response to the Challenge Brief. 

The Brief 

We invite you to share your responses to the question:   “How can Fashion value Society?” 

This challenge calls for applicants to demonstrate that their idea will help to shift the fashion industry towards a more sustainable future: one that supports Society rather than exploits it.  

The Challenge brief is open category: we are seeking transformational ideas applied to the fields of design, media and/or technology. Applicants may propose an idea that focuses on one discipline or includes multiple disciplines.  

We welcome applications from both students and industry professionals.  

Download the 2022 Fashion Values Challenge Briefing Pack

Challenge Benefits 

The Fashion Values Challenge is an annual programme to support innovative, transformational ideas from all over the world. Benefits to Challenge applicants include: 

• The opportunity to explore fashion and sustainability in practice, responding to an industry brief co-developed by brands, academics, NGOs, media and tech advocates, and representatives from a cross-section of the fashion industry.  

• The opportunity to apply learnings from Fashion Values: Society, CSF’s open-source online course, into practical solutions. 

Showcasing & Pitching

Six finalists, three students and three industry professionals, will have their work showcased on the Fashion Values online platform, at a showcasing event, and in a report profiling innovation and signals of change.  

The finalists will be invited to present to a judging panel including representatives from core partners Centre for Sustainable Fashion (CSF), Kering, IBM and Vogue Business along with industry experts, who will select two winners.

Mentoring Programme

Two winners, one student and one industry professional, will benefit from a 6-month support programme that will give the opportunity to meet advisors from the Fashion Values network and work with them to further develop your idea, including connecting applicants to potential stakeholders that could support the idea development.  

Each winner will have two 60-minute one-to-one sessions with up to three advisors matched to you and your idea, for a total of six sessions within the duration of the programme. 

Who’s in our network? As well as our core partners Kering, IBM and Vogue Business, we’ll be selecting mentors from across the industry. 

The Judging Panel

• Dilys Williams, Centre for Sustainable Fashion, London College of Fashion, UAL  

• Pauline Pigott, Kering

• Karl Haller, IBM

• Youwie Roes, Eyes on Talent

• Sarah Needham, Textile Exchange

• Divya Datt, UN Environment Program (UNEP) - India

• Rachel Arthur, UN Environment Program (UNEP) - UK

• Ai Aonuma, Kamakura Sustainability Institute - Japan

• Brooke Roberts-Islam, Techstyler

• Yayra Agbofah, The Revival

Download the 2022 Fashion Values Challenge Briefing Pack

How can Fashion Value Nature?

A group of Fashion and Nature advocates from diverse disciplinary, locational, professional and personal perspectives came together at a Roundtable event in January 2021 to define what Nature needs from fashion. The resulting brief asks you to respond to industry challenges that, if answered, would restore nature through fashion.  

Based on the Roundtable discussions, the Challenge brief is co-developed by brands, academics, NGOs, media and tech advocates, and representatives from a cross-section of the fashion industry: Centre for Sustainable Fashion (CSF), Kering, IBM, Vogue Business. Answer their call for transformational ideas across fashion design, media and technology.  

The Fashion Values programme provides tools and resources (including Voices, Methods and an online course) for you to develop these change-making ideas and apply your learnings to real-world industry challenges. Use these tools to catalyse a new idea or refine an existing one in response to the Challenge. 

Challenge Benefits 

The Fashion Values Challenge is an annual programme to support innovative, transformational ideas from all over the world. Benefits to Challenge applicants include:  

• The opportunity to explore fashion and sustainability in practice, responding to an industry brief co-developed by brands, academics, NGOs, media and tech advocates, and representatives from a cross-section of the fashion industry.  

• The opportunity to apply learnings from Fashion Values: Nature, CSF’s open-source online course, into practical solutions. 

Showcasing & Pitching 

Ten finalists will have their work showcased on the Fashion Values online platform, and in a report profiling innovation and signals of change, co-developed by CSF and Vogue Business.  

The finalists will be invited to present at the 2022 Fashion Values Roundtable, an event bringing together representatives from world-leading brands, academics, NGOs, media and tech advocates, and core partners Centre for Sustainable Fashion (CSF), Kering, IBM and Vogue Business.  

Advisory Programme 

Two winners will benefit of a 6-month support programme that will give the opportunity to meet advisors from the Fashion Values core partners and work with them to further develop your idea, including connecting applicants to potential stakeholders that could support the idea development.  

Each winner will have two 90-minute one-to-one sessions with each advisor, for a total of six sessions within the duration of the programme. 

Partner Benefits 

If applicable to their concept, finalists with a technology focus will be granted access to the IBM Partner programme, enabling them to integrate IBM technologies and bring their concept to life with services including Data, AI, Cloud, Blockchain, IoT and many others.   

Challenge winners will also be awarded a year’s Vogue Business membership, giving them access to sustainability-focused reporting, insights and analysis on the global shifts impacting fashion, beauty and luxury businesses.   

The Judging Panel 

• Helen Crowley, Kering 

• Sara Maino, Vogue Italia 

• Karl Haller, IBM 

• Matthew Drinkwater, Fashion Innovation Agency, London College of Fashion 

• Dilys Williams, Centre for Sustainable Fashion, London College of Fashion

• Nina Stevenson, Centre for Sustainable Fashion, London College of Fashion

• Ai Aonuma, Founder of the Kamakura Sustainability Institute 

• Emanuela Gregorio, Fashionomics Africa Economist

• Dian-Jen Lin, Founder of the Post Carbon lab

• Archana Datta, Expert, SCP and Circular Economy Asian Institute of Technology

Download our Briefing Pack.