The Waste & Resources Action Programme (WRAP) has today (8 October), launched a new design award to reduce the environmental impact of clothing.

Delivered through WRAP’s Sustainable Clothing Action Plan (SCAP), the Extending the Life of Clothes Design Awards (ELC Awards) is open to fashion or textile designers and seeks to find ‘innovative solutions’ to make clothes ‘wearable for longer’.

It comes after WRAP research found that if the active life of clothes were extended by just nine months it could reduce the carbon, water and waste footprints by between 20 and 30 per cent, and save around £5 billion worth of the resources used to supply, launder and dispose of clothing.

The competition builds on one of the key areas of focus in the SCAP 2020 Commitment, which calls on signatories (namely retailers) to work to reduce the environmental impact of clothing.

SCAP ELC Award details

The awards challenge final year fashion and textile design undergraduates, MA students and professional fashion and textile designers that live, work or study in England, to address the key reasons for garment failure that lead to items being thrown away.

Entrees can come from individuals or group collaborations.

WRAP has said that concepts not only need to achieve longer wear, but also deliver ideas that are ‘fashionable and saleable’.

All submissions must be received by 19 January and will be assessed by a panel of judges made up of industry professionals and academics, including:

• Amanda Johnston, Lecturer at the London College of Fashion and Consultant and Curator at the Sustainable Angle;
• Colin Thompson, Designer and Academic Programme Leader for Fashion Studies at the University of Derby;
• Clare Southworth, Head of Sustainable Products at Defra; and
• Marcus Gover, Director at WRAP.

Three or four finalists will be chosen and interviewed by the judging panel in February 2015 and the winner will be announced shortly thereafter.

The winner will receive £5,000 and the opportunity to progress their work and develop it for a commercial market.

‘Bringing us closer to a more circular economy’

Speaking of the awards, Marcus Gover, WRAP Director and ELC Awards judge, said: “This is a great opportunity for designers to bring this issue to life. By applying their creativity and innovation to either sourcing or developing low impact, high quality fibres, and engineering garments that will last longer, they can instigate real change.

“We need the sector to embrace this new approach to designing clothes.”

The SCAP ELC Awards are supported by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), the British Fashion Council, The Knowledge Transfer Network, InnovateUK, and ModeConnect.

Defra’s Resources Minister, Dan Rogerson, said: “I’m delighted to support the launch of this award which celebrates the vital role designers have to play in developing and promoting sustainable fashion. Their innovations can bring us closer to a more circular economy which will benefit both businesses and the environment.”

Find out more about the SCAP ELC Awards.