SHEIN launches $100,000 designer competition and chance to start own label

Earlier this year, fashion retailer SHEIN launched SHEIN X, a tutorial programme created to support and foster emerging design talent.

That programme is now being taken one step further with the ‘100k Challenge’, inviting SHEIN X creators to compete for the chance to be featured in the SHEIN AW21 fashion show and win $100,000 to start their own label.

To compete, designers were required to first be accepted into the SHEIN X programme, before submitting their designs under the theme ‘Be Bold, Be You!’. Applications for this year’s entries were closed on May 23, but the next stage of the competition will see 30 designers awarded a spot in the second round, with the globally streamed final then held in September 2021.

SHEIN X provides designers with a platform to promote and sell their designs, while offering workshops to encourage and help them to develop their skills as designers.

The programme has successfully launched 20 designers so far, and it now accepts up to 50 designers each month.

Designers will be given guidance and advice throughout the competition as per the SHEIN X programme, and the finalists will be trained and coached by a panel of star-studded judges, to help them through to the final round where the winner will showcase their collection during Fashion Week.

SHEIN X allows designers to do what they do best, create, while SHEIN does what it does best - handle the manufacturing, marketing and selling. The designers share in the profits and keep ownership of their creations.