The Zalando VORN Design Academy has chosen the winners of the young talent award for the fourth time. The ten finalists are currently exhibiting their creations at Berlin Fashion Week.
The Design Academy was developed in 2022 by Zalando’s Social Impact Team in partnership with VORN – The Berlin Fashion Hub. It connects aspiring designers and young brands with industry experts. “Our goal: to drive positive change in the fashion industry through education, collaboration and innovation. We provide tools, knowledge and networks necessary to develop more sustainable and future-oriented solutions,” the description says.
Material innovations in focus
Each year the program focuses on a specific field of innovation, including the fourth edition, NOVA. Material innovations were the focus as a driver of the transformation towards a sustainable fashion industry. “The designers experiment with pioneering textiles to develop their visionary designs that respond to new technologies, ever-increasing sustainability standards and current industry regulations,” says the background.
The 100 participants completed an eight-week e-learning program that focused on sustainable design strategies, branding, business modeling and advanced 3D technologies.
An expert jury then selected the ten best concepts. These were brought to life in a “design sprint” through mentoring and prototyping. The final designs will be presented on an international stage as part of Berlin Fashion Week in order to network the designers directly with industry leaders and a broad specialist audience.
Below we present the ten winners including their creations and design approach.
Daniela Milosheska
Daniela Milosheska is the founder of the made-to-order label Bastet Noir. She processes mixed fabrics made from agricultural waste such as hemp and chose the material from AltMat, which also uses agricultural waste, for her NOVA project. Likewise, no questionable chemicals were used and a quarter of the amount of water used in cotton was used in production. The trench coat, crop jacket and skirt were sewn with dissolvable Climatex thread.
Milosheska believes that clothing should focus on people, as well as craftsmanship.
Iris Dean Blackwood
Iris Dean Blackwood is a material-focused textile and fashion designer from Berlin. She believes clothing should be “modular, interactive and personalized, and more emotionally sustainable” and describes her work as being at the intersection of textile architecture, materials research and circular design. “Clothing should evolve with us instead of eventually falling apart.”
For the NOVA project, she worked with Turns’ recycled poly-cotton yarn made from old workwear. Its reversible utility jacket has removable sleeves and a hood. Not only to give the wearer more flexibility, but also to make repairs and disassembly at the end of the garment easier.
Jennifer Haas
Jennifer Haas is a fashion and textile designer from Berlin and founder of the Pinkraininthebrain label, which combines modern technologies with traditional craftsmanship. For the NOVA project, she worked with a laser cutter and the vegan and plastic-free material Mirum to develop a zero-waste garment.
Different individual parts are put together. This means that the resulting garment can be adapted to different sizes and changed as desired. Haas made a kimono, a dress and a handbag.
Jeakyong Sim
Jeakyong Sim is the founder and designer of the Berlin label Acceptance Letter. For the NOVA project, the designer chose monomaterials, including Cloudwool, Circulose and Noosa, to facilitate subsequent recycling and regeneration. This resulted in a white jacket made from Cloudwool, a loose T-shirt made from Circulose material and a Noosa wrap skirt.
“If it looks good, if it feels good, you will wear it, you will love it and you will keep it,” says the designer about long-wear items.
Lisa Vander Plaetse
Lisa Vander Plaetse works under the designer name Matuta and uses 3D design to create shoes and accessories. For the NOVA project, she chose a combination of 3D printing and knitting because these techniques are suitable for local and on-demand production.
Biodegradable and recyclable materials are important for the designer from Barcelona. She chose a yarn from AltMat made from waste materials. The 3D printed elements are made from recycled TPU from the shoe industry.
Naomi Nakajima
Naomi Nakajima is the founder of N-Naka Lab based in New York and Berlin. The label focuses on experimenting with next-gen materials that surpass conventional materials in terms of comfort, quality and environmental impact. Their vision for the future of fashion is one that uses non-toxic, bio-based materials and is completely circular.
For the NOVA project, Nakajima chose Mirum. She used the 3D modeling software Clo to develop a pattern, which she then applied to the material using a laser. This has also been laser cut to minimize waste. The parts of the motorcycle jacket were sewn with stitchlock from Climatex.
Natalie Shirin Nazemi
Natalie Shirin Nazemi is a costume and textile designer from Hanover. She is the founder of the label Shirin’s Bliss. For her, it’s important to build a relationship with what you wear.
For the NOVA project, she used Cloudwool obtained from wool waste for a long coat, the surface of which she felted with raw wool from Pomerania. An avocado-colored sheep portrait decorates the back.
Tobias Beigi
Tobias Beigi has been a designer at Hessnatur for six years and is responsible for the entire men’s line. He also wants to make the hidden waste streams visible, for example during cultivation, cutting and production.
The two garments created as part of the NOVA project – a denim jacket and a pair of denim trousers – are made from denim using pineapple leaves. All metal parts can be easily removed and recycled. The pattern on the jacket and trousers was made from leftover fabric left over from production.
Viktor Stoykoski
Viktor Stojkoski is a designer from Copenhagen. His design consists of several modules or parts that can be put together in any way, as he wants to inspire wearers to make their own clothing.
Willem van Helvoirt
Willem van Helvoirt is the founder of the label Achilles and the Tortoise, which aims to make sustainability fun. With his NOVA design, the designer from Amsterdam tried to combine as many materials as possible in order to be able to experiment with them. He used Cloudwool for a fitted jacket, Circ for a skirt and AltMat for trousers.
