Three teams of Fanshawe students, led by a number of faculty, have advanced to the next stage of the international 2023 Hult Prize Challenge.
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According to its website, the Hult Prize “challenges young people around the world to solve the planet's most pressing issues through social entrepreneurship.” This year’s challenge is focused on the need for sustainability in fashion. Participants are asked to “brainstorm a game-changing social venture that aligns with the U.N. Sustainable Development Goals and positively impacts one or more key stages of the fashion value chain.” Participants then “need to build a winning team to research the potential of your amazing idea and shape it into a successful, for-profit business with high impact.”
When it comes to building a “winning team” at Fanshawe to focus on sustainable fashion, the College shines.
“The theme this year happened to play into over six years of development in College curriculum and faculty research, funded by NSERC and SSHRC, on SLOW and sustainable fashion changes in industry,” says Dana Morningstar, associate dean for the School of Design.
Under the leadership of Jennifer Wright, faculty member and researcher in the School of Design, students worked from January to March to create and submit their pitches. All three Fanshawe groups are part of a select group advancing to the next level of the competition—20,000 groups applied and only 700 are taking part in the next step of the challenge in Boston this spring.
The three groups from Fanshawe are:
L2L (London to London)
Problems identified: unethical production, overproduction and consumption
Solution: create a local and sustainable net-zero apparel hub that manufactures and resells sustainably made clothing, provides skills training and social benefits and ethical working conditions for employees.
Group members: Jules Derikozis, Thao Nguyen (Chloé). Somkiat Saelek (G), Sacree Ngaba, Khaalid Ennis
Reborn
Problems identified: fast fashion and the resulting effect on the environment
Solution: sell second-hand clothing online.
Group members: Antonio Hernandez, Chioma Asuzu, Ochuko Ogunleye
Inno Box
Problems identified: disposal of old or unused clothing
Solution: creating boxes and other containers out of used clothing.
Group members: Andra Papelleras, Camille Erika Anbio, Ma Zuza Plar