Worldwide Responsible Accredited Production (WRAP) has launched the SCAP Extending the Life of Clothes Design Awards (SCAP ELC Awards), which seeks to find and award fashion or textile designers that show their flair for sustainable fashion.

SCAP ELC Awards is looking for designers to develop innovative solutions in clothing that are wearable for longer periods and in return, the winner will receive £5,000 and the opportunity to progress their work and develop it for a commercial market.

WRAP, the organisation behind the Sustainable Clothing Action Plan (SCAP) and Love Your Clothes is partnering Defra, British Fashion Council, The Knowledge Transfer Network, InnovateUK and ModeConnect for the SCAP ELC Awards.

“Targeting the wearable lifetime of clothes through innovative design offers the biggest opportunity to tackle the environmental impacts of clothes,” WRAP says.

It adds, “WRAP research shows that if the active life of clothes were extended by just nine months it could reduce the carbon, water and waste footprints by 20-30% each, and save around £5 billion worth of the resources used to supply, launder and dispose of clothing.”

The SCAP ELC Awards will challenge designers to address the key reasons for garment failure, which lead to items being thrown away. The concepts not only need to achieve solutions to longer life times, but also deliver ideas that are fashionable and saleable.

Marcus Gover, WRAP Director and ELC Awards judge, says, “This is a great opportunity for designers to bring this issue to the forefront, by applying their creativity and innovation to either sourcing or developing low impact, high quality fibres and design garments that will last longer.”

The SCAP ELC Awards will be open to final year fashion and textile design undergraduates, MA students and professional fashion and textile designers from industry that live, work or study in England. Fashion designers can enter individually or collaborate with a textile designer to present their concepts.

All submissions will be assessed by a panel of judges made up of industry professionals and academics that collectively hold a wide range of knowledge and expertise in the sector. (AR)