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Kylie Knott

Hong Kong fashion designer Tiger Chung goes to great lengths to source materials.
To show just how far, Chung plays a video taken earlier this year at a waste collection point near the designer’s flat in Hong Kong’s Tseung Kwan O district.
The footage shows Chung, scissors in hand, stripping leather from a discarded couch until all that remains is a wooden frame. Parts of the video are dark and grainy. It was taken at midnight, after all.
“I went to the waste site when it was dark because I didn’t want people to see me,” Chung says. “I would feel embarrassed and worry that people would laugh.”












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A post shared by Redress (@getredressed)



But it is Chung who is having the last laugh after scooping first prize this month in the annual Redress Design Award, the world’s leading sustainable fashion design competition.
“I can’t believe that I’ve won. This is a huge opportunity to showcase circular solutions on a global stage,” Chung says.
“Fashion is rightly criticised for its negative environmental impact, which is a huge concern for designers like myself,” says Chung of one of the world’s most polluting industries.
“As a fashion designer, I will keep creating, but I also need to clean up after I create, such as using the fabric that was left over from the last collection.”
According to Redress, a Hong Kong-based NGO, every second the equivalent of one garbage truck of textiles is sent to landfill or burned worldwide, and the amount of textile waste is projected to rise by 60 per cent between 2015 and 2030.
“We intend to change this and make fashion better for the planet,” it says.


The Redress Design Award – organised by Redress – gives designers a platform to celebrate sustainability, with all the competition entries created using textile waste.
Chung’s collection, titled “The Wanderer”, tapped into waste streams such as towels and curtains from hotels, blankets from airlines, car seat covers and sneakers.
A highlight of the collection is a top repurposed from a hotel shower curtain, teamed with trousers that include discarded sneakers.
The most impressive look is a leather jacket made using the material Chung cut from the discarded couch.
“Many of these waste items are comfortable, of high quality, and also a stable source of materials,” Chung says. An added bonus is that the material does not need to be treated.

“It already has stains and a natural fading effect, which I find beautiful – I don’t need to dye it or do any extra treatment,” says Chung, whose brand Tigerstrolling raises awareness about consumerism, waste and overproduction.
As well as a cash prize, Chung – who defeated nine other finalists representing Australia, France, Iran, Italy, China, Taiwan, Vietnam and the United Kingdom – will join a team from US designer Tommy Hilfiger to work on a sustainable retail project.
The runner-up was Tian Ruyin, from China, while the People’s Choice award went to Spanish-born Silvia Acien Parrilla, representing the UK.
It is easy to see why Parrilla’s collection, titled “Regenerative Folklore”, struck a chord.
The garments were made using biodegradable plant-based fibres derived from pineapple, nettle and banana, and organic cotton. For structure, instead of plastic or wire, dry branches sourced from the Spanish mountains were used.












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The looks are deeply personal, created using weaving skills passed down from Parrilla’s Andalusian ancestors, with many taught by her late grandmother.
“It is important to represent this in my collections – it’s part of my culture, my folklore,” she says.
The collection is more than merely stylish and sustainable. Parrilla belongs to an emerging wave of regenerative designers using raw materials farmed with techniques that restore the soil’s health and improve ecosystems’ functionality, water cycles and biodiversity.
“I appreciate how regenerative farming and materials are repairing ecosystems in a way that we’ve never seen before in the fashion industry,” says Parrilla, a graduate of Central Saint Martins in London.

“It is not just about the fibres used by designers but the way farmers produce them, and in which condition every supplier of the chain is treated,” she says.
To dye her material, Parrilla uses pigments from bacteria, a new and innovative process that is revolutionising textile dyeing.
The key point of bacterial dye, she says, is that it uses six times less water than synthetic dyes. She wants more designers to embrace it to reduce the industry’s water footprint while helping to reduce chemical pollution.
The fashion industry is the second-largest consumer of water and one of the biggest polluters of it.
According to environmental NGO Fair Planet, cotton – the most widely used natural fabric for clothing – requires large amounts of water for irrigation and treatment, while waste water generated in the production of synthetic fabrics releases lead, arsenic and other pollutants into water sources.

Fabric dying and treatment generate about 20 per cent of the world’s waste water, while the textile finishing and dyeing process spills chemicals (oil, pesticides) and heavy metals (copper, mercury and chromium) into the water.
Redress founder Christina Dean says the designers taking part in the annual award align with the charity’s mission to champion a circular economy – a system shaped by reducing waste and a sustainable use of natural resources through smarter product design.
“This competition win is a broader victory for the industry, which needs urgent injections of creativity from designers, and more engagement from consumers, if we’re to tackle the growing waste crisis raging globally and particularly in Asia,” says Dean.
“Urgent change and collaboration at the design stage is needed.”


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Fashion

Fashion made from discarded sofa and shower curtain earns Hong Kong designer an award

Hong Kong fashion designer Tiger Chung made a leather jacket with material sourced from a discarded couch as part of a collection that won the 2024 Redress Design Award, which champions sustainability. Photo: Jonathan Wong

Hong Kong fashion designer Tiger Chung used leather from this discarded couch to make a jacket that was part of the winning collection at the 2024 Redress Design Award. Photo: Tiger Chung 

A model wears the leather jacket made Tiger Chung at the Redress Design Award show in Hong Kong. Photo: Redress 

For this look, Redress Design Award winner Tiger Chung repurposed a discarded shower curtain for the top, while sneaker soles were sewn into the trousers. Photo: Redress 

Fashion designer Silvia Acien won the People’s Choice award for her Spanish-inspired looks. Photo: Jonathan Wong

A look from fashion designer Silvia Acien Parrilla, representing the UK, who won the People’s Choice category of the Redress Design Award. Photo: Redress 

Circular fashion promoted by Hong Kong charities to reduce volume of clothing thrown away

Redress’ Aurianne Ricquier with a mountain of clothes from a month-long donation drive in Hong Kong. The charity will repurpose, resell, repair and recycle what it can – saving the clothes from landfill. Photo: Jonathan Wong

Volunteers taking part in a three-day “Sort-A-Thon” organised by Redress. Photo: Jonathan Wong

A second-hand fashion pop-up organised by Redress. Photo: Redress

Swop Society hosts pop-up swap events throughout Hong Kong. Photo: Swop Society

Fashion student upcycles his parents’ tent and wins the world’s largest sustainable fashion design competition: the Redress Design Award

Germany’s Nils Hauser, winner of the 2023 Redress Design Award. Photo: Redress 

Clothes made from Nils Hauser’s parents’ upcycled tent made up part of his collection. Photo: Redress 

Hauser’s collection (above) won the 2023 Redress Design Award. Photo: Redress 

Christina Dean is the founder of Redress, the Hong Kong NGO behind the Redress Design Award. Photo: Redress 

Lifestyle

Fashion & Beauty

Tiger Chung, winner of the 2024 Redress Design Award for a collection made from recycled and reclaimed materials, talks about sustainability


Hong Kong’s Tiger Chung made a leather jacket with material sourced from a discarded couch as part of a collection that won the 2024 Redress Design Award that rewards sustainable fashion.


Environment

Sustainability

Hong Kong

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Profile | Fashion made from discarded sofa and shower curtain earns Hong Kong designer an award

Tiger Chung, winner of the 2024 Redress Design Award for a collection made from recycled and reclaimed materials, talks about sustainability