While we’re all op-shopping, clothes-swapping and up-cycling in the name of sustainability, there’s a piece of the puzzle we may forget – the designers. Consumer attitudes and behaviours are shifting, but in a small industry lacking strong infrastructure and support from the government, committing to sustainable practices from a design and business perspective can be a challenge.
That’s where the Circular Design Awards come in. Founded by Mindful Fashion NZ in 2023, the awards challenge Kiwis in the fashion industry to explore creative ways to reduce waste in design. Like much of the non-profit collective’s mahi since it launched in 2019, it’s about spotlighting those making a change, and fostering industry-wide collaboration and innovation.
This year’s awards feature two categories, each highlighting a key facet of the industry: Circular Design Innovation, spotlighting garments and accessories made using textile waste (entries are now closed for this category), and Circular Business Innovation, which recognises brands embracing circular business models. They don’t just celebrate innovators, but tangibly support them: the 2025 prize pool is worth more than $46k, and winners receive guidance from industry leaders.
Longtime pioneers in sustainability, Ōtautahi Christchurch-based Untouched World won the 2024 Circular Business Innovation award with their Rubbish Socks (which will look familiar to attendees of our B Corp event earlier this year), made from yarn scraps and just one example of the programmes the brand diverts 99% of their textile waste into.
This year they’ve decided to give back in the name of championing industry collaboration for positive change, returning as a sponsor of the Business Innovation category. “As a company deeply committed to positive change, we believe in lifting others as we move forward,” says Untouched World’s founder and CEO Peri Drysdale.
Peri has been a passionate and longtime leader in the fashion sustainability space, with Untouched World the first fashion company in the world to be recognised by the UN for sustainability. This awards partnership is part of the brand’s 30th anniversary celebrations, along with a show at NZ Fashion Week Kahuria in August.
Last month she spoke with Mindful Fashion NZ’s chief executive Jacinta FitzGerald to reflect on supporting the awards, and the challenges and opportunities ahead for fashion businesses.
“I've always felt that fashion has a great opportunity to inspire change, because with each new range you have a new reason to talk about it, and why fabrics and designs were chosen.”
The awards
The Circular Business Innovation award is open to Kiwi businesses across the fashion, clothing and textile industry.
Rather than create something new, businesses are asked to tell a story about how they’ve (re)designed an aspect of their business model to be more circular. That can be anything from a product to a service or a process – anything that’s related to the business’ operations, minimises waste and makes the most of existing resources.
Among a stacked judging panel, alongside Untouched World's Peri, is Australian sustainability expert and writer, Lucianne Tonti. She says judges this year are looking for “a holistic understanding of sustainability and nature that goes beyond buzzwords and gets to the root of the big issues plaguing fashion: reliance on virgin fossil fuel materials, overproduction, overconsumption and waste.”
Why do we need these approaches in our business models? How much textile waste can a country of 5 million really produce? The answer is, frankly, scary: half a tonne of textile waste gets sent to landfill in NZ every five minutes, according to Mindful Fashion NZ’s Thread of Tomorrow report. More than ever, Kiwis are buying clothes from overseas, and we don’t need to begin to explain the negative environmental impacts of fast fashion retailers like Shein.
What’s even more shocking is how a majority of these impacts can be minimised from the jump: up to 80% of a clothing item’s climate impact is determined at the design stage. We’re becoming more environmentally and ethically conscious consumers – 50% of Kiwis are ready to invest time and money to support companies doing good in the sustainability space – but the wider industry itself has a ways to go.
Mindful Fashion’s Jacinta Fitzgerald highlights the need to motivate sustainable brands, and prevent low quality products from being mass-produced: “We need to make it harder for businesses to put low quality products on the market with no end-of-life responsibility, and we need to support businesses doing the right thing and incentivise them.”
As reports like Strand.earth’s reveal the fashion industry’s growing negative impacts, Lucianne says we need, “hopeful, innovative solutions and awards like this are a great way to reward new ideas”.
For hopeful businesses, enter the Circular Business Innovation award here. Entries close on August 1 at 5pm, and winners for both categories will be announced at the Circular Design Award Gala on October 7.
