Global fashion platform Junk Kouture has linked up with Waste2Wear an innovative company that makes fabric out of recycled plastic bottles, who come on board to sponsor the ‘Creative for a Cause’ prize at the 2020 Grand Final, to be broadcast on RTÉ at the end of the year.
Waste2Wear will sponsor the new award at Junk Kouture’s first ever broadcast final, a prize awarded to students who create a design which is based on a meaningful cause, that is personal to them.
For more than a decade, Waste2Wear has been passionate about creating fabrics and products from recycled plastics. They have recycled hundreds of millions of plastic bottles into school uniforms, high-end fashion, bags, sportswear, workwear, floor underlays and curtains. Taking responsibility for every step of the recycling process, to ensure transparency and traceability, this year they launched their own Blockchain technology. This provides indisputable evidence of the origin of the goods from bottle collection to finished products and shows every single transaction in the supply chain. A QR code is added to their Blockchain system to ensure control and verification of the entire manufacturing process.
‘Creative for a Cause’ was introduced to the competition this year, with the goal of rewarding a design team who have researched meaningful causes, ones which resonate with them, which inspired the design of their entry. The prize this year will be the Waste2Wear ‘Creative for a Cause’ award trophy.
The news follows Junk Kouture’s recent Global Launch announcement, which will see the youth fashion programme begin in five new municipalities from January 2021- including London, New York, Paris, Milan and Dubai. The programme will challenge 12-18 year olds from these places to create high-end couture from everyday junk, before displaying them to a global audience via the Junk Kouture platform. National winners will be selected, before a Global Digital Final in June 2021.
Rory Kelly, SVP of Partnerships at Junk Kouture said: “Throughout the Junk Kouture programme, we promote the innovative use of materials and encourage students to show how they can manipulate and repurpose materials to use them in the design process – particularly everyday items like plastic. Waste2Wear’s commitment to creating fabrics and products from recycled plastics has seen them recycle hundreds of millions of bottles into a range of items including school uniforms, high-end fashion, bags and more. This is the kind of example we want to endorse within Junk Kouture and we are delighted to have them on board.”
Orla Govaerts, Communications Manager for Waste2Wear said: “We are pleased to be working with Junk Kouture in what we hope will be the first steps to a long, positive-impacting relationship. Our youth are the changemakers of the future, so we are proud to show them that this is a sustainable alternative when it comes to fashion. Fabric made from Waste2Wear recycled plastic bottles use 70% less energy, 75% less CO2 and 86% less water than traditional fabrics”.
You can find out more about Waste2Wear here: www.waste2wear.com