Circular Design Award: Award 2025

2025

Categories

Circular Design Innovation

Circular Design Innovation Categories

  • Clothing Design Innovation
  • Accessory Design Innovation

Challenge

Design and make a circular outfit or accessory using textile waste.

Open to

Individuals and collectives who reside in New Zealand

Entry Process

  1. Enter the Award and pay an entry fee at the link below by June 27th, 2025.
  2. Upskill and learn with on demand and workshop content. Create your outfit or accessory.
  3. Send us your entry for Judging by Friday 12th September, 2025.

Awards & Prizes

  • Circular Clothing Innovation Award | $7,500 prize pack
  • Circular Accessory Innovation Award | $5,500 prize pack

Special Prizes

*All entries eligible for these additional awards unless stated otherwise.

  • Rising Talent Award | $4,500 prize pack
  • Cotton Innovation Award | $4,500 prize pack
  • Commercial Potential Award | $4,500 prize pack

Total Prize pool $46,500+

Key Documents

Circular Business Innovation

Circular Business Innovation category

  • Circular Business Innovation Award

Challenge

Tell us how your business has (re)designed a product, service, process, or aspect of your business model, away from a linear production model towards a more circular system aimed at minimising waste and making the most of existing resources.

The circular innovation you put forward should be in commercial operation within your business and can be related to any aspect of the business’s operations.

Open To

Businesses in the fashion, clothing and textile industry from across the value chain, registered in New Zealand.

Entry Process

Enter by submitting a completed entry form between Monday 9th June and Friday 1st August, 2025.

Entries will be judged by our panel of expert judges. Award winners will be announced at the gala event.

Timeline

  • Entries open | 9th June 2025
  • Entries close | 1st August 2025 at 5pm
  • Judging | August 2025
  • Finalists notified | August/September
  • Circular Design Award Gala | 7th October, 2025

Key Documents

What is Textile Waste?

Circular Design Innovation entries must use textile waste.

For the purpose of the award, we categorise textile waste as:

Textile Waste

  • Pre- or post-consumer textile waste from across the value chain; textile swatches; cut-and-sew textile waste; damaged or faulty textiles; damaged or faulty clothing or textile products; end-of-life, unwearable or un-sellable clothing; unusable textile products; and proprietary clothing or textile products that are no longer able to be worn.
  • Cotton - to be considered for the Cotton Innovation prize outfits must be made from 100% cotton material (at least 80% of which is waste), with the source clearly identified for judges.
  • All waste must be sourced from within Aotearoa New Zealand.

Sourcing Waste Textiles

Entrants are challenged to source waste from their local region where possible. When sourcing, consider the scale of the waste problem you are addressing and how your solution might be able to provide a viable pathway for this waste. Ideally, include data on the scale of your waste stream in your entry so we can understand the scale of impact potential.

Mindful Fashion can connect entrants with waste textiles. We have on-demand education sessions available to watch where industry experts share sourcing advice and their experience from working with waste textiles. See our Learn section for more on this.

Regional Ecosystem

This Award is place-based, challenging entrants to create regional ecosystems to solve a local waste challenge. Entrants should explore their region to (where possible) source waste materials, along with the skills, knowledge and resources needed to bring their creation to life. A region could be defined as one of the sixteen local government regions4, however there is flexibility for the entrant to define their own regional boundary (larger or smaller) as long as this is outlined in their entry.

FAQs

  1. Any confidential information provided to Mindful Fashion will be treated as such and only provided to the judging panel if required.

  2. Circular Design Innovation Award entries:

    1. must be made from at least 80% waste textiles, sourced within Aotearoa, and from a local or regional waste stream where possible. Documented evidence of textile waste is required as part of supporting documentation;

    2. can be submitted by a collective or an individual. There is no limit to the number of people within a collective. Entries from collectives must name all members of the collective on the final submission form. Collectives that reach the finalist stage of the Award are responsible for managing the distribution of the prize pack themselves;

    3. Garments shown at university graduation shows are allowed to be entered in the Circular Design Innovation Award. Any garment that has been entered and placed in the top three in any other competition is ineligible to enter;

    4. Garments and accessories that are made under licence or that are currently produced by a commercial label in New Zealand are not eligible to be entered into the Circular Design Innovation Award;

    5. Garments or accessories entered into this award cannot subsequently be commercially manufactured or sold without the written agreement of the Award organisers;

    6. Each Finished Entry must be received by 5pm on the end closing date, and accompanied by a completed Entry Form and all other submission requirements, in order to be considered.

  3. Circular Business Innovation entries will be accepted from any business in the clothing and textile industry across the value chain that operates and is registered in New Zealand. Members of Mindful Fashion are encouraged to enter.

  4. Individuals or collectives who are employed by Mindful Fashion member businesses are encouraged to enter, but it is not a requirement.

  5. Mindful Fashion staff cannot enter.

  6. Mindful Fashion Board member companies can enter, as long as this is declared on their entry form.

  7. Individuals who are employed by Mindful Fashion Board member companies, or sponsor or partner companies of this Award can enter, as long as they are doing so in their own capacity and this is declared in their entry form.

  8. Prizes are not transferable for cash. Where a collective entry wins a prize, the collective must decide how they would like to manage the distribution of prizes within their collective.

For any queries email: [email protected]