Designers Hugo Dumas and Carla Zhang bring fresh solutions to fashion’s growing waste problem

2025 Redress Design Award first prize winners Hugo Dumas from France and Carla Zhang from Mainland China. Image supplied.

The statistics are stark. The global textile industry is a mere 0.3% circular, consuming 3.25 billion tonnes of materials annually — over 99% from virgin sources.

Textile waste continues to mount, with the equivalent of one garbage truck of textiles landfilled or burned every second around the world.

Textile waste is estimated to increase by about 60% between 2015 and 2030.

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“For 15 competition cycles, we’ve invested in designers because they hold the pen to rewrite fashion’s story.

"Fashion’s current linear and wasteful system is unacceptable. Designers aren’t being adequately empowered, from university classrooms to industry boardrooms, whilst consumers are, ethically speaking, asleep in their wardrobes.

"Around the world, the catastrophic corresponding carbon and water pollution, and textile waste that’s washing up on beaches and overflowing in landfills, is telling the planet something. The question is, are we listening?” said Dr Christina Dean, founder and chair of Redress.

The Redress Design Award 2025 winners also include Mara San Pedro from the Philippines, who won the People’s Choice, and Nathan Moy, who won Hong Kong Best.

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As global textile waste takes precedence over circularity, the two first prize winners bring different and much-needed circular solutions.

Dumas received first prize for an upcycled and zero-waste collection that is regenerative and recyclability-focused. “Winning is not just about my designs, it’s about proving that creativity can outpace crises," said Dumas.

Zhang, whose handwoven zero-waste collection is made with complex factory surplus cords and yarns, shared, “Winning this competition will allow us to promote resourceful solutions to more of the industry and consumers, as a way to find value in overlooked materials. It’s challenging, and I’m ready to rise to the challenge.”

Supported by DHL, the first prize winners will receive mentorship, an opportunity to showcase their competition collections at the Shanghai Greenext Expo 2025, and a limited edition retail collaboration with Flora Cheong-Leen, with support from the Tian Art Foundation.

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Dean concludes, “The crisis is urgent, and so is the potential.

“It’s time for everyone — designers, educators, brands, consumers — to rise to the challenge. The future depends on it.”