Global fashion powerhouse PVH’s Tommy Hilfiger on Friday named Rwanda’s Uzuri K&Y fashion house as the co-winners of 3rd Fashion Frontier Challenge. The Fashion Frontier Challenge is a dedicated global programme designed to “find and support ideas that lead to a more inclusive fashion landscape”. Uzuri K&Y was shortlisted among the finalists in December and emerged winners together with Netherlands-based Lalaland. The winners were selected at a virtual event this week at which the six finalists pitched their concepts to a jury panel. The winners were announced in a virtual event. The winners share a prize fund of €200,000 and receive a year-long mentorship with experts from Tommy Hilfiger and from graduate business school INSEAD. “We are so excited to announce that we are the recipient of @TommyHilfiger fashion frontier challenge award,” “We are grateful and humbled to receive this opportunity. It has been a result of hard work, resilience and learning along the way,” the fashion house tweeted Friday. Kevine Kagirimpundu, the co-founders of Uzuri K&Y celebrated the win and said that it came after several months of hard work. “Behind this precious moment it was several months of hard work with the @TommyHilfiger team through the design sprint, mentorship and guidance,” tweeted Kagirimpundu. “This collaboration will make an impact on the shoe industry in Africa starting from my sweet home Rwanda,” she added. The eco-friendly shoe brand which uses recycled car tyres and other local materials, using a local labour force, will receive $100, 000 -a similar amount which will be received by Lalaland, a platform that uses artificial intelligence to generate customised and inclusive synthetic models of different ethnicities. South-Africa’s Clothes to Good, a social enterprise that creates micro-business opportunities and jobs for people with disabilities through textile recycling, was also awarded €15,000. The six finalists were picked out of 430 start-ups from 22 countries which had originally submitted their ideas in January last year. The programme for this latest year particularly aimed to “amplify and support Black, Indigenous and People of Colour (BIPOC) entrepreneurs who are working to advance their communities, while fostering a more inclusive future for the fashion industry”. The public was able to participate in the initial phases of the challenge, casting digital votes to help narrow down the applications to identify the finalists. Alongside Tommy Hilfiger associates at the final event, they were also invited to vote for their favourite pitch to award that additional €15,000 to one of the finalists. Entries for the next challenge open in March.
