Redress collaborated with local community members and small businesses on Lantau Island last month to produce the island’s first ‘Spring Closet Clearout’ event on beautiful Pui O Beach. With a neighbourly atmosphere, and plenty of lively swapping, selling, and shopping, the event was a success. Residents are already enthusiastically planning for the next one!
Our community clothes-sorting sessions have resumed, and we need your help! We are currently facing a 7-tonne backlog of unsorted clothing in our warehouse storage, waiting to be recirculated to our charity partners and other recycling channels. Visit HandsOn Hong Kong to sign up for volunteering and help us tackle this pile-up!
Redress is honoured to be awarded the Hong Kong Sustainability Award from The Hong Kong Management Association for 2020/21, in recognition of our mission to educate and empower the fashion industry and consumers to reduce clothing's negative environmental impact by shifting to circular solutions.
To celebrate Chinese New Year in a new and environmentally conscious way, Nan Fung Place have collaborated with Redress this year, in their search to find the perfect sustainable designer to up-cycle unused clothing into Lai See packets - bringing new life to unused textiles. First cycle winner of the Redress Design Award, Janko Lam was selected for the project, and matched with several boxes of unused red dresses that had been waiting for just the right project! In her signature style, Janko transformed the dresses into beautifully crafted Lai See packets, which feature a mandarin collar based on the traditional qípáo dress. Inspired by the passion for cultural heritage and oriental aesthetics, Janko’s creations are not only eye-catching, as her functional design ensures that customers can re-use the Lai See packets post the new year in a variety of ways, including to store mobile devices, name cards, cosmetics or stationery.
The limited-edition Nan Fung Place Mandarin Collar Red Packets are available while stock lasts for redemption between 16th Jan and 4th Feb 2019. More details on how to redeem yours here.
Eastman will be the Gold Sponsor of the Redress Design Award 2019 which will open in January to emerging designers and students. Designers will be challenged to transform textile waste into stunning, scalable and commercially viable collections that will inspire and redress the world. The finalists will also incorporate fabrics made with Naia™ into their runway collections for the Grand Final fashion show at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre in September 2019.
Hong Kong – Across the city more than 80 companies, clubs and schools, joined Redress for their first #GetRedressed Month – kicking off the charity’s goal to turn October into the official month to take action against textile waste. Just over nine tonnes of unwanted clothing was collected through the drive, which also included a series of events and educational activities designed to drive awareness and shift behaviours among the general public.
A landmark report from the United Nations’ IPCC (intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) warns the public of the immediate consequences says have 12 years to limit climate change catastrophe. This ultimately requires transforming the world economy at a speed and scale.
We’re dedicating the month of October to action against textile waste - and it’s not too late to take part. Redress aims to raise global awareness of the issues, and by working with the public, companies, clubs and schools throughout, aims to collect 7 tonnes of unwanted clothing in Hong Kong!
Redress is championing multiple ways to keep clothes in the fashion loop for longer. During #GetRedressed Month you can be part of a local circular economy, learn about the real waste behind the fashion industry and make a difference.
Get informed: Take part in our free public events including talks, workshops and much more! Visit the schedule here.
Get a conscious closet: Check out our mini-guide to get clued up on how you can shop smarter and make your clothes last longer.
Donate your unwanted clothes: All clothing donated will be carefully sorted and redistributed to local charities including those benefiting refugees, migrants, women at risk, the elderly, babies, children and families who are all from a variety of low income backgrounds. Any clothes received that cannot be reused will be recycled.* Check to see if your organisation is participating – 60 across Hong Kong are now signed up. Alternatively, you can find our public donation box locations here.
Shop for a cause: This October you can flex your purse power for good. We have teamed up with a range of businesses so that when you spend your dollars, Redress will benefit. Explore them here.
Strike a pose: Take a picture of your #GetRedressed outfits and share your stories with us on social media! Your #GetRedressed outfit could be secondhand, borrowed, rented, up-cycled, made from sustainable materials or simply a long-standing item in your wardrobe that you love and have worn over and over.
*Some items received that are not suitable for reuse or up-cycling and that are not of a recyclable material have no option but to go to landfill.
In 2005, Dame Ellen McArthur became the fastest solo sailor to circumnavigate the globe. During her journey, she realised just how important her resources were to survival: “Suddenly I realised our global economy is no different,” she told sustainable consultants McKinsey.
Today, Dame Ellen is one of the world’s most high profile proponents of a circular economy, in which waste is no longer discarded but becomes, instead, another precious resource.
My mother always told me “What goes around comes around”. I’ve carried this philosophy through life; even into how I think about how we make and dispose of clothes and how I imagine the circular economy.
The circular economy can sometimes seem confusing. But it’s simple. Think of how Mother Nature does it, she’s the circular economy master. When a tree falls over and decomposes, every part of that tree is put to good use feeding the forest floor and enriching all biodiversity, soil, slugs, fungi and fauna included.
First prizewinner of the Redress Design Award 2017 (formerly the EcoChic Design Award), Kate Morris’ sustainable knitwear Pop Collection launches with The R Collective, the pioneering up-cycled fashion brand and social impact business. Born from NGO Redress, The R Collective is determined to change wasteful practices in the fashion industry. Kate’s playful, pop-art inspired limited collection consists of 8 knitwear styles, including reversible coatigans, sweaters and turtle necks, all of which were created by up-cycling luxury yarn waste in a design collaboration with knitwear brand, 22 Factor.
We celebrated the launch of the eighth cycle of our flagship programme, the Redress Design Award (formerly the EcoChic Design Award) – the world’s largest sustainable fashion design competition - with an event underpinning our mission at Eaton House in Hong Kong on January 19th. A panel of industry experts reflected on the current state of sustainable fashion and why 2018 represents a critical tipping point for consumers, designers and brands to incorporate sustainability across the supply chain. We also heard from Redress Design Award Alumni designer Victor Chu on his experiences participating in the competition and his latest design collaboration with new up-cycling brand, The R Collective, which was on display.
Few fibres tick as many eco-boxes as Lyocell. Made from wood cellulose, production is clean and resource-efficient; and the product Lyocell itself, recyclable and biodegradable. Now, in a leap towards circular practices in textiles, the world’s leading producer Lenzing, introduces Refibra™, fibres made from cotton scraps. With almost 15% of fabric typically ending up on cutting room floors, closing the loop is most certainly music to our ears.
Read about more industry innovations in our magazine.
We're leading the charge in helping the Hong Kong public rethink their wardrobe waste. In partnership with laundry experts, Miele, 4.5 tonnes of clothing were collected this week after a short citywide campaign proving that consumers have no desire to throw away their unwanted clothing – of which almost 100% can be recycled. Engaging consumers on the value of keeping clothing in action for longer through better care, the clothing drive is part of our mission to expand our work to save more clothing from landfills.
No one knows the true scale of ‘deadstock’ clothing waste — in other words, clothes that are unable to be sold at full or discounted price and must be gotten rid of somehow.
We know that around 100 billion garments are manufactured annually. Let’s say the sell-through rate (both full and discounted) is a generous 90%, then potentially 10 million items of clothing become ‘deadstock’ every year. That’s a lot of clothes to miraculously make ‘disappear.’ So what do brands and retailers claim to do with the products they can’t get customers to buy?
BYT has arrived! Championing Redress' 10 year legacy, BYT, the luxe up-cycled social impact fashion brand - with an ambition to prove that fashion can be a force for good - enjoyed its runway debut this month in Hong Kong before hitting Lane Crawford's prestigious retail store and global online platform.
In the lead up to the Grand Final show, our EcoChic Design Award finalists were united in Hong Kong to explore the multiple possibilities for tackling real-life textile waste scenarios. Competing in challenges focused on circular economy models, our designers crafted prototypes for new lifestyle products from Cathay Pacific’s retired uniforms at the Langham, Hong Kong; rescued discarded clothes from Hong Kong’s clothing bins through simple care techniques with Miele; and got a taste of the production line and the critical role that designers play even at the manufacturing stage with TAL Group. These challenges showed these young designers first-hand how improved interactions between designers, manufacturers and consumers can significantly alter the overall environmental impact of every single piece of clothing. Congratulations to all our winners!
Click here to revisit our favourite moments from the week.
The quest to create positive change in fashion just moved one stylish step forward. Enter BYT, the pioneering new designer up-cycled brand born from Redress’ 10-year history.
