Eastman will be the Gold Sponsor of the Redress Design Award 2019 which will open in January to emerging designers and students. Designers will be challenged to transform textile waste into stunning, scalable and commercially viable collections that will inspire and redress the world. The finalists will also incorporate fabrics made with Naia™ into their runway collections for the Grand Final fashion show at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre in September 2019.
“By sponsoring the Redress Design Award, Eastman’s goal is to help educate the fashion and design community on the importance of sustainable yarns” said Ruth Farrell, Eastman global marketing director of Textiles. “We want to build awareness of the Naia™ brand within the design community and support young designers on their journey towards building the fashion brands of the future.”
Naia™ is made from fully traceable and sustainably sourced wood pulp; Eastman holds FSC® and PEFC™ Chain of Custody certifications. Naia™ cellulosic yarn is produced in a safe, closed-loop process where solvents are recycled back into the system for reuse. In addition, Naia™ has an optimized, low-impact manufacturing process with a low tree-to-yarn carbon and water footprint. With a third party reviewed Life Cycle Assessment compliant with ISO14044, Naia™ is also listed on the HIGG Materials Sustainability Index.
Redress Founder, Christina Dean commented “Sustainability know-how in fashion must extend from fibre to fashionista and there is an innovation race to find more sustainable fibres for fashion. Breakthroughs like Naia™ enable designers to strategically design for the circular fashion system, by providing low-impact materials with low-impact processing that are durable, and easy to care for. Whilst tremendous efforts are being done to reuse waste materials in the fashion and textile industry, we also need heightened focus to ensure widespread adoption of sustainable raw materials. Through the Redress Design Award and our partnership with Eastman, we can educate the next generation of designers to catalyse circular change.”