Pressmeddelande -
Winners of the Fabric of Life Award 2022 - Celebrity favorite Designer Selam Fessahaye and The employees and founder of Patagonia Inc.
In times when the world went from lock down to shutting out it is important than to celebrate the brave.
About the winners of the 2022 Fabric of Life Award
Designer Selam Fessahaye
Selam Fessahaye debuted her first collection at Stockholm Fashion week in 2018 and immediately left a mark on the Scandinavian fashion scene. Her visionary perspective on design tells an inclusive story while honoring the creations as art. Her award-winning brand has been called a “Changemaker” providing “The most diversely casted runways in Scandinavian fashion history”.
Fessahaye’s design process focuses on the availability of material and working with leftover fabrics - resulting in organic, vivid designs. Longevity aspects are taken into account, such as choice of quality, garment moderation and re-design possibilities, and to secure multiple lives by users and owners. Viewing clothing as a form of art where it acknowledges the high value it deserves. To gain production transparency the focus lays on local production in Sweden and sourcing materials within Europe. Born out of the existence of in-betweens – her strong brand DNA reflects the founder’s core values, captured in its design, communication, and business practices.
Since its launch Selam´s brand has obtained global reach. The designs have been acknowledged in media such as Vogue US, Harper’s Bazaar, ID, Elle and worn by Beyoncé, Tracee Ellis Ross, Sam Smith and Lil Nas X and the Swedish Crown Princess Victoria to name a few.
The employees and founder of Patagonia Inc.
Since 1973, the team Patagonia Inc. together with founder Yvon Chouinard, has been breaking barriers to build the best products while causing no unnecessary harm. They have equally long supported environmental grassroots activists, been the frontrunner in promoting fair labor practices, and advocating for corporate responsibility in general to encourage other companies to follow their lead.
Patagonia also stands at the origin of the Sustainable Apparel Coalition as well as the 1% For the Planet Fund. They were the first company in California to achieve a B-Corp label long before it became a ‘thing’.
This year 2022, another first ascent was achieved: by inventing a new kind of ownership when “Going purpose”, as 100% of the company ́s stock was transferred to the Patagonia Purpose Trust, to protect the company’s values, and the Holdfast Collective, to fight the environmental crisis.
The Fabric of Life Award 2022 aim is to honor the 40 years of exploring the opportunities that lay in combining profitable business with great products and respect for nature and people.
About the Fabric of Life Award
The Fabric of Life Award was founded in 2021 by Sweden´s leading fashion entrepreneur, Paul Frankenius, in honor of the 400th anniversary of the city of Boras, his hometown and the capital of Sweden´s textile industry. The winning nominees are selected by an international jury (Babba Rivera, Ceremonia, Haysun Hahn, Fast Forward Trending, Hanna Wittrock, Swedish School of Textiles, Linus Karlsson, IKEA, Charles Ross, School of Design at the Royal College of Art and Martin Kössler (chair).
Winner of the first Fabric of Life Award in 2021 was the Chinese-Swedish designer Louise Xin was awarded the prestigious prize based on her positive impact on the textile industry, by rising awareness on human rights and the use of forced labor.
The Fabric of Life award ceremony will take place at 15.00 CET, October 26th in connection with Scandinavia´s leading international textile conference, NEXT TEXTILE, at the Sweden Textile Fashion Center in Boras, Sweden.
The NEXT TEXTILE conference is organized by Tex! Sweden, the Boras-based association for supporting its textile industry members with support from Boras University – the Swedish School of Textiles.