Award-winning circularity in the fashion industry

Nearly half a tonne of clothing waste was heaped onto the floor of the Ponsonby Central Saphire Room on Wednesday 25th September 2024. The installation represents the amount of fabric sent to landfill every five minutes in Aotearoa.

The Mindful Fashion New Zealand Circular Design Awards, now in its second year, recognises those who are working to change this. Attendees at the Awards who were confronted by the pile were shocked at the reality of this wasted resource that, according to Mindful Fashion, “is predominantly the result of ultra-fast and disposable fashion coming into Aotearoa virtually unchecked, and very quickly ending up in our landfill.”

“This shows what a broken fashion system we have, one that needs to be redesigned so that clothes and their materials are kept in use and out of landfill. It starts with design and flows through to use and care, to repair and resell, rental, remanufacture and recycling of our clothing.”

The Awards categories recognised Creative Excellence, Excellence from a Rising Talent, Material Innovation, and a new category for 2024; Business Innovation, which invited entries from existing businesses. Untouched World took out the top spot for their ‘Rubbish Socks’.

Earlier this year Mindful Fashion New Zealand teamed up with EY to produce their report Threads of Tomorrow, which provides a range of recommendations for New Zealand to waste within the fashion industry; pointing out that the GDP contribution from the fashion industry is higher than construction and deserves greater input and support from Government policy.

Whakatupu Aotearoa Foundation provided early funding and support to Mindful Fashion New Zealand to help with their Climate Action Programme. Find out more about their story.

Photo: Saida Bruce and Jacinta FitzGerald from MFNZ standing next to clothing waste at the Mindful Fashion Circular Design Awards Gala