Twyg Sustainable Fashion Awards call for nominations
The annual Twyg Sustainable Fashion Awards are now open for nominations, with new categories to celebrate five years of honouring South African fashion changemakers.
2022 Influencer Award winner, Khensani Mohlatlole. Image by Tash Singh
Striving to inspire a fashion and textile industry that is kind, fair, inclusive, diverse, nature-friendly, sustainable, and embraces circular design principles, the Twyg Sustainable Fashion Awards celebrates and supports emerging and established designers across accessories, footwear and clothing, tastemakers, and activism.
Nominations for the Awards close on Friday, 15 September 2023.
How to enter
You do not have to submit garments or prepare a portfolio: a Twyg entry form (formulated in collaboration with Eco Standard South Africa) has been created where you can simply fill in the required details for your chosen category. Click here.
And the categories are...
This year, there are 10 categories that people can nominate themselves, their brands, or their organisations for:
- Emerging Designer Award (including students)
- Accessory Award
- Footwear Award
- Innovative Design and Materials Award
- Trans-seasonal Award
- Farm-to-fashion Award
- Nicholas Coutts Award
- Social Impact Award
- Retail Award
- Tastemaker Award
Five new categories have been added this year – Emerging Designer Award (formerly the Student Award), Footwear Award, Farm-to-fashion Award, Social Impact Award, and the Tastemaker Award.
The new categories hope to expand the reach and impact of the Awards, with the understanding that it’s not just fashion designers that will transform the industry, but thought-leaders, conscious entrepreneurs, and image makers too.
The eleventh category is the Changemaker Award. This category is not open to nominations but will be awarded to the contestant with the highest overall score and will be judged against the criteria set for the Changemaker Award.
Last year, this award was won by Cleo Droomer. "It is so wonderful to embark on a new journey and for your art to be recognised and appreciated when it is such a big departure from where you have been before. I am so appreciative of the opportunity to be seen by the industry," said Droomer when he received the award. Previous Changemaker Award winners include Mbali Mthethwa, founder of The Herd, Amanda Laird Cherry and Lara Klawikowski.
Prizes
The Changemaker will be awarded a cash prize of R100,000. The winner of the Nicholas Coutts Award receives R10,000 from Nicholas’ family.
The judges
- Omoyemi Akerele (founder of Lagos Fashion Week)
- Mimma Viglezio (Swiss creative consultant, writer, editor, and broadcaster)
- Esethu Cenga (co-founder and CEO at Rewoven)
- Dr. Sipho Mbatha (Head of the Department for Design Studies at the Faculty of Arts and Design, Tshwane University of Technology)
- Nisha Kanabar (founder of Industrie Africa)
- Sharon Armstrong (fashion director for Wanted, Sunday Times Lifestyle and Sowetan S Mag)
The judging will take place in October and the winners will be announced at a private award ceremony in late November in Cape Town, South Africa.
Nominations close on Friday, 15 September 2023.
View the full list of 2023 Twyg Awards categories and entry forms here.