Fashion for Good chooses young creatives for Grow 2.0 exhibition

Fashion for Good, a platform for sustainable fashion innovation has chosen six young creative talents for its Grow talent initiative from a pool of 119 applicants from the Netherlands with the support of its expert jury. The creatives will create a show for the Fashion for Good museum over the course of three months.

Fashion designers Charlotte Bakkenes, Frederieke Broekgaarden, Eva Sonneveld, and Huong Nguyen; copywriter Zainab Goelaman and content developer Christian Mpamoare among the chosen creatives. According to the Netherlands-based organization, they will produce sustainable garments using creative and sustainable biomaterials and will create a story about the process.

Grow talent is part of Fashion for Good’s year-long exhibition Grow, which explores biomaterials in the fashion industry. Grow 1.0, the company’s first show, is currently on display. The chosen creatives will work on the second show, Grow 2.0, which will open later this year in October, during the Grow talent project, which runs from June to September.

Managing director, Fashion for Good, Katrin Ley, said it’s critical to research and examine the properties of these materials in order to spur progress and have a positive effect on the industry. They’re ecstatic to have the designers experiment and test these biomaterials, as well as to see the unique designs they’ll create as a result of this project.

The fashion designers will investigate and test biomaterials in order to determine if they can be used to create a more sustainable fashion industry in the future, while the content producer and copywriter will document the project’s entire journey, from conception to completion.

Materials are provided by Fashion for Good innovators Finnish innovator Spinnova provides cellulosic-based fiber, Netherlands-based Flocus, provides textiles made from Kapok fiber; French-Indian innovator Green Whisper produces textiles made from banana fiber; and American innovator Natural Fiber Welding created Mirum, a plant-based, plastic-free leather substitute that is completely recyclable.

Aside from the Grow talent project’s creations, this exhibition also includes an original biomaterial production by designer Iris van Herpen, as well as a garment designed by Karim Adduchi using Orange Fiber’s revolutionary silk-like fabric made from citrus waste. The exhibition was displayed until March 2022, after which it moved to three major European cities.

The jury, the Fashion for Good team, and chosen mentors will provide guidance and support to the creatives during the project. Fashion designer Iris van Herpen; creative directors of Botter and Nina Ricci – Lisi Herrebrugh and Rushemy Botter; designer and inventor Daan Roosegaarde; and editor in chief of Vogue Netherlands Rinke Tjepkema consists of the jury members. Exhibition designer Harm Rensink, designer Rueben Selby and PR guru Leroy Aznam from Off Grid PR Agency, are among the mentors who will share their knowledge and experience.