Fashion for Good selects 6 creatives for Grow talent project

The selected creatives are fashion designers Frederieke Broekgaarden, Charlotte Bakkenes, Huong Nguyen and Eva Sonneveld; content creator Christian Mpamo; and copywriter Zainab Goelaman. They will use innovative and sustainable biomaterials to create sustainable garments and will create a story around the process, the Netherlands-based organisation said.

Grow talent is a part of Fashion for Good’s year-long exhibition Grow, focusing on biomaterials in the fashion industry. Its first exhibition, Grow 1.0, is currently open to the public. During the Grow talent project, which runs from June to September, the selected creatives will work towards creating the second exhibition, Grow 2.0, which will launch later this year in October.

“It's important to test and investigate the properties of these materials that will drive change and have a positive impact on the industry. We’re extremely excited to have the talents experiment and test these biomaterials, and to see the unique creations they will realise through this project,” said Katrin Ley, managing director, Fashion for Good.

The fashion designers will explore and test biomaterials to see how they can be used to create the sustainable fashion industry of the future, while the content creator and copywriter will capture the entire journey of the project, from concept to the final exhibition.

Materials are provided by Fashion for Good innovators Flocus, based in the Netherlands with textiles made from Kapok fibre; Finnish innovator Spinnova that supplies cellulosic-based fibre; French-Indian innovator Green Whisper that creates banana fibre-based textiles; and American innovator Natural Fiber Welding that developed Mirum, a plant-based, plastic-free leather alternative that is entirely recyclable.

Besides the creations from the Grow talent project, to show the wider application of biomaterials, this exhibition also features an original biomaterial creation from designer Iris van Herpen as well as a garment created by designer Karim Adduchi using Orange Fiber’s innovative silk-like fabric made from waste from the citrus industry. Running until March 2022, the exhibition will then travel to three major European cities.

Over the course of the project, the creatives will receive guidance and support from the jury, the Fashion for Good team, as well as selected mentors. The jury consists of fashion designer Iris van Herpen; designer and inventor Daan Roosegaarde; creative directors of Botter and Nina Ricci - Rushemy Botter and Lisi Herrebrugh; and editor in chief of Vogue Netherlands Rinke Tjepkema. Exhibition designer Harm Rensink, designer Rueben Selby and PR guru Leroy Aznam from Off Grid PR Agency, amongst others, join as mentors to offer their experience and industry expertise.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (KD)