Although two years have passed since the beginning of the pandemic, there are still many uncertainties and difficulties, the fashion world is trying to restart and stay in constant motion.

For young fashion designers above all, now more than ever, it is important to take advantage of all the opportunities made available at an international level and this is where fashion contests come into play.

Precisely for this reason, we have decided to gather the most important international fashion competitions, creating a detailed calendar of the events, dates and the prestigious fashion prizes.

Below you will find the different fashion challenges divided by month, although keep in mind that the world is slowly restarting and it has not yet returned to a new stable normality, not everything can be defined and definitive, that is why many dates have not been confirmed yet, so we’d like to remind you that consulting the sites and social channels of the individual events it’s important to keep you up to date and not miss any opportunity.

JANUARY

The International Festival of Fashion, Photography and Fashion Accessories of Hyères is a fashion competition organized every year in the South France.

In the past editions the event lasted 4 days and the nominated designers and photographers joining the fashion competition had the possibility to present their creations to the jury for each sector: fashion, photography and accessories design. The prizes were awarded thanks to donations from the festival’s partners, in order to provide support and practical help to all applicants in the different. Their collections were seen by many journalists, buyers and public through fashion shows and exhibitions in the stunning set of Provence.

The theme and the deadlines for this year haven’t been released yet, please check the Hyères Fashion Festival‘s website to get all the informations and stay updated.

FEBRUARY

A’ Design Award & Competition is the world’s leading international annual juried competition for design. The A’ Design awards are organized in a wide range of creative fields to highlight the very best designers from all countries in all disciplines. A’ Design Award & Competition promises fame, prestige, publicity and international recognition to all the awards winners through their prestigious prizes.

This fashion challenge has been established to promote and recognize the best fashion designer works in all countries. The main goal of the institution is to create a global awareness and understanding for good design practices and principles by highlighting the best talents. The ultimate aim of the A’ Design Awards is to push designers, companies and brands worldwide to create superior products and projects that benefit the society.

Every year, projects that focus on innovation, technology, design and creativity are awarded with the A’ Design Award. Entries are accepted annually till February 28th and results are announced every year on April 15th. Fashion designers worldwide are called to take part in the fashion contest by entering their best works, projects and products. Entries are accepted as long as they were designed in the last 10 years. For more info check the A’ Design Award & Competition website.

MARCH

The Redress Design Award is the world’s largest sustainable fashion design competition. Organised by Redress, the contest works to educate emerging fashion designers around the world about sustainable design theories and techniques to drive growth towards a circular fashion system. By putting sustainable design talent in the global spotlight, the fashion competition creates a unique platform for passionate and talented fashion game-changers to transform the global fashion industry and rewards the best emerging talents with career-changing prizes to maximise long-term impact.

Each fashion competition cycle takes participants on an educational journey lasting several months. The top ten finalists will be selected to go to Hong Kong to take part in sustainable fashion educational activities and showcase their collections.

The fashion challenge is divided in three stages, at first the fashion designer has to create three-ready-to-wear outfits using waste textile materials to complete the application. For the second part and semi-final judging, the designs will be scored in three categories; creativity and originality, sustainability and marketability. If you are successful in becoming a finalist, you must create those same three ready-to-wear sketches from the open application into finished physical garments, along with designing and creating one more showpiece outfit. You will also need to design one ready-to-wear outfit that will be created virtually for the Grand Final Fashion Presentation.

To enter the competition the participants must be over 18 years old and have less than four years of professional experience in the fashion system, collectives and groups are not allowed. If you wish to partecipate, you have to submit your application before the 16th of March 2022, you can find all the details and requirements on the Redress Design Awards website.

Another fashion challenge normally held in March is the IFTA – ITALIAN FASHION TALENT AWARD, dedicated to the emerging designer of the new Made in Italy.

Because of the pandemic emergency last year edition was postponed from March to October, as for this year the dates and deadlines are not confirmed yet, therefore if you wish to take part in the fashion competition you should check the IFTA – ITALIAN FASHION TALENT AWARD website to stay updated on all the news, as well as their social media accounts.

APRIL

Another important international fashion contest is the Arts of Fashion Foundation Competition and the 2022 edition’s theme is RESONANCE.

The primary goals of this institution are the promotion and rewarding of creativity and inventiveness, the discovery of emerging talents and the establishment of new contacts and exchanges between different countries, schools, universities, and institutions, in order to give the opportunities and tools to establish a career in the fashion field.

Fashion design students are given until the 1st of April to register. The submission requires a proposal for their mini collection containing sketches, materials and technical drawings of three silhouettes or accessories based on their ideas and interpretations of the chosen theme.

At the end of May, an international panel of judges selects 50 projects that reflect creative and innovative potential. The chosen candidates are then required to edit the collection to two looks to send to the competition at the end of the summer. 
At the end of the year, these fifty projects are reviewed by a panel of fashion industry professionals and are shown on the runway for the grand finale of the Foundation’s annual symposium. Seven to eight designers are awarded and receive scholarships for creative programs and apprenticeship opportunities with established fashion houses to further develop their careers.

Applications are now open on the Arts of Fashion Foundation website, you can also find more info e details there.

Mittelmoda The Fashion Award is the well-known fashion competition at international level, reserved to fashion designers and design students of Art & Design colleges, fashion schools and fashion academy from all over the world, because of the global emergency we don’t know yet the submission deadline and the fashion challenge dates. If you wish to compete for this fashion prize, you can check the Mittelmoda website or contact them directly at info@mittelmoda.com to have more information.

MM Award is the International creative fashion award curated by the creative consulting agency MM Company to reward and promote the best creatives, companies, studios and collectives in the fields of fashion, product & interior design, promoting their connection with operators, media and companies.

Whether you are a fashion student, a professional or are part of a company or a collective, MM Award is a unique opportunity to stand out, add important recognition to your professional career and receive highly valuable communication support.

All the submitted projects will be evaluated by a jury of experts, prestigious professionals in the world of fashion.

For this year edition MM Award – International creative award reserved 2 new special mentions: “MADE IN ITALY IS”, dedicated to the project that will best represent and enhance the Made in Italy and “BEST INNOVATOR IS” , which is dedicated to the project that will best stand out for its innovative purposes.

Who can partecipate? Fashion Students from 20 to 30 years of age, Professional from 20 to 40 years of age and Companies, Design Studios or Collectives (the projects presented as a group fall into this category) founded for a maximum of 10 years, with no age limit for team members.

When? You can submit your application by 30/04/2022, as well as your projects. The winners will be announced in May. In order to access the fashion contest, a fee must be paid, which is established on the basis of when you register. For all the details and more information, you can consult the dedicated MM awards website.

MAY

Around May, you can join one of the most important and internationally renowned fashion competition organized in Italy,the ITS – INTERNATIONAL TALENT SUPPORT that hosts every year the best emerging designers coming from over 300 fashion schools from 80 countries across the globe.

Although the deadline for enrolling and the theme are not decided yet, you can visit ITS’ website for more information.

JUNE

The World of WearableArt (WOW) is an international fashion competition and it takes place in New Zealand. The fashion challenge aims to host the creation of real wearable garments that are the perfect combinations between art and fashion.

There’s no entry fee and at the moment there isn’t a set deadline for foreigner emerging fashion designers and fashion artists but you can visit the World of WearableArt (WOW)’s website to have more informations.

Another important and prestigious contest is normally launched around June: Who Is On Next?

This fashion competition is organized every year by Altaroma in collaboration with Vogue Italia, the Italian Institutions, Pitti Immagine and Camera Nazionale della Moda Italiana and it aims to support the emerging brands of Made in Italy through professional mentoring, business development, fashion shows and presentations, mass media coverage and important money prizes.

The fashion challenge is opened to all Italian and international young and emerging designers who have at least two collections commercialized and completely realized in Italy.

For more information you can contact directly the organization from the Altaroma’s website, as there are no deadlines and dates set yet.

JULY

The International Woolmark Prize celebrates outstanding fashion talents from around the globe who showcase the beauty and versatility of Australian Merino wool. It is the world’s most prestigious award for rising fashion designers.

You can apply for the 2023 fashion competition from the 10th of June 2022 to the 31st of July 2022, the chosen projects and collection will be launched from the 31st of August.

The emerging designers are encouraged to apply for the fashion prize of this competition which aims to help them to launch and establish their on brand and products, with the opportunity to commercialise their International Woolmark Prize collections via their Retail Partner Network, including the world’s leading boutiques and retailers.

The application can be submitted though the The International Woolmark Prize website, where you can also find all the requirements and additional information you may need.

EVERY MONTH

If you are constantly looking for challenges and motivation, we offer you every month a new fashion contest, organized through our platform for young fashion designers and emerging brands TFP TALENTS.

We give life to a special fashion challege reserved to the members of our Talent Community all across Italy.

You can join our platform very easily and you can find informations about the launch and deadline of the fashion contest every month, just following our @tfptalents Instagram profile or our Facebook official page. Our fashion prizes are different every month, like workshops, short free courses for branding, publications of the talent’s collection on our media or in collaboration with fashion magazines.

The platform offers also more services, such as fashion shows, emerging designer exhibitions and events, consulting services for creating and launching new emerging brands and many other initiatives created to promote the talent of young designers. For further informations about the fashion competitions or the platform take a look to TFP TALENTS’ website.

Article by Federica Macheda