Ethic 2007 winners announced

Three students from Cleveland College of Design and Communication have won Ethic 2007, a new design competition which staged its final at the Fashion and Textile Museum in SE1 on Thursday, June 28.

Twelve teams of students featuring up to three members each, entered the competition via the UK Skills website. All entrants submitted a portfolio outlining their ideas for an ethical outfit. An expert panel then selected five finalists and each team was given £100 and just two weeks to manufacture their design. The biggest challenge several of them told us, was sourcing fair trade and organic fabric. Some went down the recycling route and the innovative Three Twix's (named after their favourite chocolate bar) used only recycled materials and spent just £4.50 on materials. "You don't need £100 to make an ethical outfit - we re-used things and spent the money we saved on food and traveling to the final," they told us.

Madame Noir, the winning team is made up of Lauren McGynn, Claire Barrow and Eloise Parry. They took inspiration from York Minister and created an impressive portfolio with hand sewn and embroidered details showing how the architecture of the cathedral could be translated into a stunning black dress worthy of the red carpet. These students are just 17 years-old and have yet to embark on fashion degrees, they have completed two year national diploma courses and are now looking at applying to university. The resulting dress was a triumph and it did not look like it had been made in one week (the girls told us they only had a week because they couldn't get into their college for the first week) by students at pre-degree level.

The winning team received £150 each and has been invited to the annual reception for UK Skills, the organisation behind this award. The Skills minister was due to join us at the Fashion and Textiles Museum, but as Gordon Brown had just sacked the entire cabinet following Blair's resignation, it was not possible.

Words: Marian Buckley

www.skillschallengecompetitions.org.uk

www.ecodesignnetwork.co.uk