Dutch digital fashion house The Fabricant has announced the winners of the first Design Forward competition. This honors aspiring designers from the fashion industry who work with design tools based on artificial intelligence (AI).
The 2026 edition was the first of the competition. An international jury selected ten winners from a selection of 15 finalists.
First prize went to ‘Reborn Myths’ by Tiia Jaakkola from the Kolding School of Design in Denmark. The collection combines post-consumer denim waste with Finnish folklore and contemporary streetwear. Second place went to ‘Invisible Architecture’ by Akriti Awatwani from the Instituto Marangoni in Italy. Andre Fonseca Vieira from the University of Lisbon came third with the ‘Streetwear Preppy’ collection.
As the winner, Jaakkola will receive six months of free access to The Fabricant’s platform. There is also an interview in the ‘Digital Weave’ videocast, a mention on the company’s social media channels and a certificate of participation. The second and third place winners will receive three and one months of free access to the platform, respectively. The top ten finalists will also each receive 150 credits for The Fabricant’s platform.
Submissions from 21 countries
Designers from 21 countries and 45 design schools worldwide took part in the competition. The finalists came from Denmark, Italy, Portugal, the Netherlands, Brazil, India and Malaysia, among others.
According to Adriana Pereira, co-founder of The Fabricant, the competition shows how AI gives designers worldwide access to the same creative tools, regardless of their location.
When selecting the jury, the focus was on the role of AI: Does the technology primarily serve to create new ideas or renew existing concepts? According to the jury, the submissions in which the designers’ personal signature remained visible were particularly successful. AI was used as a supporting tool.
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