The Winners of the 2015 Kering Award for Sustainable Fashion

Held at London College of Fashion on Tuesday 3rd November, Kering and Centre For Sustainable Fashion revealed the names of the first edition of the Kering Award for Sustainable Fashion winners.

Following an initial brief under the topic of “the positive fashion product” and among more than 160 submitted applications, the selected winners are Neliana Fuenmayor for Stella McCartney and Ingrid Rautemberg for Alexander McQueen.

The two awarded students received a €10,000 grant for their work, as well as an internship opportunity within Stella McCartney and Alexander McQueen.

Luxury brands Stella McCartney and Brioni will host next year’s contest.

– Neliana Fuenmayor for Stella McCartney

“The moment a customer buys into a product is vital to the whole supply chain. It is a sacred moment where all resources and efforts put into that one product are validated and with it, the stories that will be carried throughout the lifetime of the item.”

A MA Fashion Entrepreneurship & Innovation graduate, Neliana comes from Venezuela and moved to London in 2006 to complete her a BA (Hons) in Fashion Design and Technology at London College of Fashion, UAL. She is passionate about the business of fashion and how it can be as creative and inspiring as design itself.

Project focus : The Art of Positive Story-telling

According to Neliana, the fashion industry’s spotlight should not be on the next big name, but its next big achievement. To become pioneers of transparency in the fashion sector, she believes in communicating the powerful stories behind their positive products.

The stories serve as a sustainable and everlasting description of the product, which carries through the lifetime of the item.

– Ingrid Rautemberg for Alexander McQueen

“My objective in life, is to come up with fashion that isn’t just appreciated for its aesthetic qualities, but to make a difference.”

Overwhelmed by the immense pollution of our oceans caused by an over-reliance on plastics, fashion designer and computer scientist Ingrid focused her research on alternatives to this modern ecological disaster. This led her to explore her own bioplastic solutions using every day domestic ingredients. She has interned for Alexander McQueen, worked for Apple and completed a Computer Science course at Harvard. She is currently pursuing an MA in Fashion Futures at London College of Fashion, UAL.

Project focus : Exploring bioplastic in the fashion industry

Plastic takes about 1000 years to decompose and causes environmental problems. According to Ingrid, one solution lies in the use of “bioplastic”, not yet explored by the fashion industry. There are multiple uses and applications for bioplastics, achieving a high quality product which avoids harming any kind of living organisms on the planet both in the making and disposing of the product.

Ingrid came up with her own bioplastic formula which she calls “e-skin”, mixing natural ingredients such as nuts, seaweed and agave to use in applications for textile print.