Awards 2024
The Twyg Sustainable Fashion Awards 2024 are open for entries. To enter, you simply need to read the Rules and Regulations and fill in an entry form for your chosen category by 27 September 2024 4 October 2024. Read the category descriptions carefully as you can submit only one nomination per brand or designer.
This year there are 11 categories, including the Changemaker Award which is not open to nominations. The Changemaker Award will be awarded to the overall winner – drawn from all the categories and based on the judges scoring results.
Before you nominate yourself or someone else, please take a moment to read the criteria below, and the attached Rules and Regulations.
Criteria
In general, the awards seek to celebrate designers who are implementing sustainable, circular and regenerative approaches to design with care and empathy. They also seek to celebrate designers who foster ethical practices, who help create employment, and who are sensitive to cultural and place-appropriate design. The awards show its support of environmental, social and cultural sustainability in a very complex industry. They recognise the courage and commitment it takes to overcome challenges in this industry, in South Africa.
- Winners of the 2023 Awards may not apply for 2024.
- The competition is open to residents of South Africa aged 18 years or over.
- Nominees should be able to demonstrate:
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- Finished, quality fashion garments, accessories, and/or collections;
- Ethical labour practices, including fair compensation among others;
- Transparency in design and manufacturing practices, use of resources and in sourcing of materials;
- A position on climate change, pollution and environmental damage;
- Besides the Student, Emerging Designer and the Tastemaker categories, designers, businesses, or brands should have been operating for at least two years, and should have made new garments/collections in the last 12 months and before August 2024.
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- To nominate yourself or someone else, you are required to fill in a nomination form. The links to the forms are attached to the category descriptions below.
- Nominations close on 27 September 2024.
- The judges score each entry against criteria specified in the Rules and Regulations document. This process is followed by a rigorous discussion.
- The Awards contest is audited by advocate John Shija to ensure the principles of transparency, objectivity, fairness and equity to the judges, the entrants, and its sponsors are applied.
- The finalists will be announced on Tuesday, 8 November 2024.
- The winners will be announced on Wednesday, 20 November 2024.
- The Tastemaker and Retail awards are not for designers specifically, but can include designers.
- Only one entry will be accepted per person. Multiple entries from the same person will be disqualified.
Categories 2024
Emerging Designer Award
This category is suitable for young emerging designers who are in the early stages of establishing their brands. Designers can enter using one garment or a collection that addresses the challenges of sustainability in the most exciting and beautiful way. The judging assessment will look for creativity and innovation and for how young designers are engaging with environmental, cultural and social responsibilities. The judges will also consider the designers’ commercial potential and promise in contributing to the future of sustainable fashion. The designers should have been creating fashion and testing their markets for no more than three years, and should have made new garments/collections in the last 12 months and before August 2024.
Student Award
This category is suitable for students who currently are registered at a South African academic institution. Designers can enter using one garment or a collection that addresses the challenges of sustainability in the most exciting and beautiful way. The judging assessment will look for creativity and innovation and will recognise that student designers have the freedom to challenge fashion’s status quo, engaging with environmental, cultural and social responsibilities in a playful and creative way.
Accessory Award
This award recognises an accessory brand that implements ethical labour practices, avoids toxic chemicals, considers end-of-life and uses sustainable materials to create a quality item. Ideally, materials used are locally sourced, recyclable or recycled materials. The quality, durability, creativity and innovative design of the nominated brands will be assessed.
Examples of accessories are: jewellery, belts, cuff links and studs, sunglasses, gloves, handbags, hats and headwear, neckties, purses, socks and stockings, veils. Although shoes and boots are sometimes categorised as accessories, we have a separate footwear category.
Footwear Award
This category recognises a brand, cobbler or designer who makes shoes and implements ethical labour practices, limits toxic chemicals, considers end-of-life and creates a quality and durable item. Ideally, materials are locally sourced, recyclable or recycled materials. The category also includes repairers of shoes. The quality, durability, creativity and innovative design of the nominated brands or shoes will be assessed.
Innovative Design and Materials Award
This award seeks to recognise a designer of clothes or / and textiles who is pioneering sustainable practices or technologies. For instance, this designer could be using creative pattern-making, introducing new technologies, innovating new business models, applying reconstruction techniques, innovating new materials and techniques, or returning to old, sustainable and cultural practices. If the innovative approach is not original, the innovation being adopted in a contemporary design should be acknowledged. Judges will consider the potential impact of the innovation. The purpose of this category is to highlight and reward those who are pushing boundaries and leading the charge in reimagining what fashion can be.
Trans-seasonal Design Award
This award recognises a collection, garment or brand that promotes trans-seasonal, multi-functionality and versatile style. It rewards quality design that aspires to be timeless and is made to last, i.e. design that transcends seasons. This category also recognises brands that remain invested in garments after their sale, for example, through the provision of lifetime guarantees and repair services. It supports slower production cycles through trendless fashion and timeless, well-made pieces that will last. The purpose of this category is to encourage the fashion industry to move away from the fast-paced, trend-driven nature of traditional fashion cycles.
Farm-to-Fashion Award
This category celebrates a brand or designer who is committed to cultivating transparent and traceable supply chains and advocating for regenerative and sustainable textile practices. The farm-to-fashion movement advocates for rebuilding localised, natural fibre textile systems and supply chains. The garments created should be made from 100% natural fabric, no fossil-fuel based synthetics and as few toxins and chemicals as possible. The purpose of this category is to promote a holistic view of sustainability in the fashion industry, encouraging practices that consider the environmental and social impacts of fashion from the very first stages of production on the farm.
Nicholas Coutts Artisanal Fashion Award
This award honours the late designer Nicolas Coutts. Nicholas, who beautifully used and explored traditional crafts and techniques in his design. To celebrate his legacy, this award recognises a designer who uses artisanal craft techniques such as weaving, embroidery, botanical dyeing or another artisanal practice to make fashion that foregrounds, celebrates and values the culture and skills of the people who make the garments. Craft is a living example of slow-paced, resource-mindful and socially and culturally sustainable production. The purpose of this category seeks to recognise the contribute to preserving skills while also integrating them into the modern fashion landscape. This category also promotes a deeper appreciation for the time, skill, and cultural heritage embedded in each handcrafted piece, encouraging consumers to value and invest in artisanal fashion.
Retail Award
This award recognises a retailer or retailing initiative that enhances and supports sustainability and circularity through selling pre-loved and gently worn clothes, swap shops, garment rental, and similar commercial and non-commercial activities that keep clothes in use for as long as possible. The award is also open to retailers who support local producers and designers, vertical and regional supply chains and sustainable design and manufacturing. It also recognises the implemention of sustainable practices within retail operations.
Tastemaker Award
Tastemakers decide or influence what is, or will become, fashionable. This award recognises a photographer, stylist, influencer, or content creator who has actively promoted slow, sustainable fashion and/or slow living over the last 12 months and who has sparked relevant conversations. This person is helping to shift our fashion aspirations and is contributing to a sustainable fashion ecosystem by amplifying alternative fashion practices in the media. The Tastemaker supports slow fashion habits and conscious local businesses while promoting these 5Rs (reduce, repair, refashion, reuse, recycle). The judges will also look at how the fashion content intersects with issues such as race, diversity, inclusion, identity, and culture.
Please email jackie@twyg.co.za if you have any queries. Nominations close on Friday 27 September 2024.