If fashion is a mirror of society, then one of the runways at CENTRESTAGE in Hong Kong just reflected something bold, urgent, and refreshingly hopeful. The Redress Design Award 2025, the world’s largest sustainable fashion design competition, returned this September with a powerful message: creativity can be circular.

Hosted at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre, the finale brought together ten emerging designers from across the globe, each selected for their innovative approach to reducing fashion waste.

The event was part of CENTRESTAGE, Asia’s premier fashion showcase, where country pavilions like the Philippines, Thailand, and Australia added vibrant cultural context to the international spotlight.

This year marked a historic first: two joint First Prize winners were crowned.

Hugo Dumas from France impressed judges with a zero-waste collection focused on regeneration and recyclability, while Carla Zhang from Mainland China presented handwoven pieces crafted from surplus cords and yarns sourced from factories. Both winners will receive mentorship from fashion icon Flora Cheong-Leen and present their work at GREENEXT Expo 2025 in Shanghai.

Other standout awards included the People’s Choice, won by Mara San Pedro from the Philippines, and the Hong Kong Best Prize, awarded to Nathan Moy. The full roster of finalists featured talents from South Korea, South Africa, Germany, Canada, the USA, and more — each pushing boundaries in sustainable design.

Founded by Hong Kong-based NGO Redress, the award is more a competition and a movement. With over 330 alumni and 23,000 designers educated globally, Redress continues to challenge the fashion industry’s reliance on virgin materials and landfill-bound textiles. Even the collections were shipped using DHL’s GoGreen Plus service, reducing carbon emissions.

As fashion grapples with its environmental footprint, these designers are proving that style and sustainability can, and must, coexist.

Explore the finalists and their collections at Redress’ website, and witness how the next generation is stitching a new narrative for fashion by staying tuned with Redress’s Instagram and Facebook.