Hera Sweaters Limited declares winners of sustainable sweater design contest-2021

adv-06

Hera Sweaters Limited (HSL) has announced today, the winners of the International Sustainable Sweater Design Contest 2021 (SSDC21). HSL launched the “Sustainable Sweater Design Contest 2021 (SSDC 21)” with an aim to acknowledge the talent of emerging designers and encourage them on their way to higher sustainability and responsibility.

Contestants from 14 countries, namely USA, Ukraine, UK, Sweden, South Korea, Slovakia, Poland, Malaysia, Lithuania, Ireland, Iran, India, China and Bangladesh participated in the Competition, where they were judged by a renowned panel of judges comprising Ms. Bibi Russell (Bangladesh), Ms. Emma McClelland (UK), Ms. Aysen Bayram (UK) and Mr. Mohammad Iftekhar Rahman (Bangladesh). Top 20 contestants were selected to participate in the final round. The Winners in the Final Round are- First -Agata Pasieczna Vena Pe (Poland), Second – Nicole O’Reilly (Ireland) and Third -Erin Fairall (UK).

Agata Pasieczna (Vena Pe) is a designer, who graduated from Fashion Design in 2020 from National College of Art and Design in Dublin, Ireland. A single mother with two small children, Agata encountered many challenges and hardships to realise her lifelong dream of becoming a fashion designer.

Being committed to preservation and sustainability, Agata uses organic or recycled fabric and yarns, trying to stay as sustainable as possible. Working only with natural materials supports her moral values, and provides the wearer an opportunity to wear garments made with love and higher understanding.

Vena Pe is a young designer, originally from Dublin who has very recently relocated to Wicklow Ireland. She graduated in 2020 from NCAD with an international degree in Fashion Design specializing in knitwear and since then has been working in sustainable fashion hub Studio minti.

2nd Runner Up- Erin Fairall is a student of Kingston University London, studying BA Fashion and specializing in knit and print design within fashion. She experiments with shape and surface through collage and mark-making, where she can be most creative and playful with color and fabrics. Erin enjoys translating these ideas and textures through knitwear techniques such as intarsia and jacquard, working with certified sustainable materials, and utilizing dead stock and second-hand yarn to prevent these materials from ending up in landfill.  She has recently launched her own business, specializing in children’s and women’s knitwear. Erin hopes that by sharing new and eco-friendly ways to shop consciously, she can convince consumers to reject fast fashion and instead, choose sustainable and natural materials, cherishing the clothes they have and making them last for generations to come.

HSL, a LEED Gold certified sweater factory in Bangladesh, is committed to sustainable production process, and believes in the principles of “Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle