Junk Kouture sustainable fashion initiative launches in the UK

Sustainable fashion initiative Junk Kouture, which challenges students aged 13-18 to create bespoke garments using only recycled materials, has launched in the UK following success in Ireland which has seen over 100,000 participants.

Alongside a team of technical judges, participants will be judged by a panel including esteemed fashion veteran and Course Director of Central Saint Martins, Fabio Piras, as well as RuPaul's Drag Race judge Michelle Visage.

Junk Kouture is a year-round, free-to-enter programme for entrants in second-level education that challenges its participants to design, create and model their wearable haute couture styled from waste.

The initiative is also set to be rolled out to include students in New York, Milan, Paris and Abu Dhabi, with the ultimate achievement of qualifying for a spot at the Junk Kouture World Final, taking place in September 2022.

The goal is to have launched Junk Kouture in 13 cities by the end of 2023, with a 10-year goal of impacting the lives of one billion young people across the globe by 2032.

Fabio Piras said: “Commitment to artistic expression, vision, and practice excites me as an educator whose role is to encourage and mentor fashion designers studying on the Masters course at Central Saint Martins.

“Junk Kouture stands for such engagement, beautifully promoting the view that while creativity must be empowered and uncompromising, it also must be responsible and considerate. I am delighted to join the Junk Kouture competition and can’t wait to enter the worlds these emerging young talents will bring to life.”

For over a decade in Ireland, Junk Kouture has created an engaged, active and inspiring community of young people working together to make a difference within climate change, while changing the way young people view waste materials – promoting how they can be renewed and regenerated for a creative vision.

Junk Kouture is also partnering with activists Kids against Plastic to amplify the movement and the role young people play as future changemakers in the environmental movement, inspiring young people to make a difference while becoming “circular engineers” in their own right.