The jury panel, which included changemaker Yara Shahidi and Mr. Tommy Hilfiger, awarded the €200,000 and mentorship prize bundle to Rwandese and Dutch startups to help their endeavor to reshape the style panorama.
Amsterdam–(ANTARA/Enterprise Wire)- Tommy Hilfiger, which is owned by PVH Corp. [NYSE: PVH], is happy to announce Lalaland and UZURI Okay&Y as winners of the third Tommy Hilfiger Trend Frontier Problem, a devoted international program designed to seek out and help concepts that result in a extra inclusive style panorama. This system’s ultimate digital occasion befell on January Twelfth-Thirteenth, the place the six finalists pitched their ideas to a prestigious jury panel. The winners will share a prize fund of €200,000 and obtain a year-long mentorship with inside specialists from Tommy Hilfiger and from INSEAD — one of many world’s main and largest graduate enterprise faculties. Additionally they secured a spot in an INSEAD program that brings folks, cultures, and concepts collectively to domesticate progressive leaders.
Trend Frontier emblem (style frontier)
Greater than 430 startups and scaleups from 22 nations submitted their concepts in January 2021 for this initiative, which echoes Tommy Hilfiger’s sustainability imaginative and prescient to Waste Nothing and Welcome All. This yr’s program notably strived to amplify and help Black, Indigenous and Individuals of Colour (BIPOC) entrepreneurs who’re working to advance their communities, whereas fostering a extra inclusive future for the style trade. For the primary time, followers of the TOMMY HILFIGER model have been in a position to take part within the preliminary phases of the problem, the place they solid their digital vote to assist slender down the purposes to establish the finalists. Alongside Tommy Hilfiger associates on the ultimate occasion, they have been additionally invited to vote for his or her favourite pitch to award an extra €15,000 to one of many finalists.
“This empowering problem introduced collectively passionate and hard-working people with contemporary concepts on easy methods to create a way forward for style we are able to all stay up for,” mentioned Tommy Hilfiger. “It was a powerful ultimate occasion, and I’m proud to proceed this journey with the entrepreneurs who offered groundbreaking and impactful options that problem how we expect, construct, and create.”
Lalaland, a Netherlands-based platform that makes use of synthetic intelligence to generate personalized and inclusive artificial fashions of various ethnicities, was awarded €100,000. “Creating expertise that drives a extra inclusive and various e-commerce platform is on the coronary heart of our imaginative and prescient at Lalaland,” mentioned Michael Musandu, co-founder, and CEO of Lalaland. “Being a part of the Tommy Hilfiger Trend Frontier Problem introduced unimaginable insights and can elevate our A.I. resolution to succeed in extra folks than we might have imagined. By way of donning this achievement, our workforce can not wait to empower a welcoming on-line procuring expertise, so no shopper feels under-represented.”
UZURI Okay&Y, a Rwandan-based eco-friendly shoe model that makes use of recycled automobile tires from sub-Saharan Africa and employs native youth, was additionally awarded €100,000. “We’re honored to be named a winner of the Tommy Hilfiger Trend Frontier Problem,” mentioned Kevine Kagirimpundu, co-founder, and CEO of UZURI Okay&Y. “This chance has offered mentorship, strategic steering, and given us a platform to share our dream of bringing sustainable footwear choices from Africa to the worldwide market. We’re devoted to drive actual influence and encourage the youth of at present to craft a cleaner future.”
Garments to Good, a South African-based social enterprise that creates micro-business alternatives and jobs for folks with disabilities by textile recycling, was awarded €15,000. “We really feel blessed to be acknowledged by the Tommy Hilfiger Trend Frontier Problem viewers, it’s an expertise we’ll always remember,” mentioned Tammy Greyling, Operations Director and Occupational Therapist at Garments to Good. “It’s humbling to know others imagine in our dream to essentially make a distinction for folks with disabilities and their households. Receiving this award will empower Garments to Good to proceed creating micro-business and job alternatives by textile recycling from the South African neighborhood.”
The jurors who oversaw the Tommy Hilfiger Trend Frontier Problem ultimate occasion included:
• Mr. Tommy Hilfiger
• Martijn Hagman, CEO, Tommy Hilfiger World and PVH Europe
• Yara Shahidi, award-winning actress, producer, and alter agent
• Esther Verburg, EVP, Sustainable Enterprise and Innovation, Tommy Hilfiger World and PVH Europe
• Adrian Johnson, Entrepreneur, Adjunct Professor of Entrepreneurship, Expertise and Media at INSEAD
• Katrin Ley, Managing Director of Trend for Good and Founding Curator of the Amsterdam World Shapers Hub
• Yvonne Bajela, founding member and principal at funding agency Influence X Capital
Tommy Hilfiger’s mission is to turn out to be a number one sustainable designer way of life firm that Wastes Nothing and Welcomes All, by the way it creates its product, manages its operations and connects with its communities and stakeholders. Extra details about Tommy Hilfiger’s sustainability journey, which is powered by PVH’s Ahead Trend technique, could be discovered on https://accountability.pvh.com/tommy/.
Pals and followers of the model are invited to affix the dialog on social media utilizing #TommyHilfiger and @TommyHilfiger.
About Tommy Hilfiger
With a model portfolio that features TOMMY HILFIGER and TOMMY JEANS, Tommy Hilfiger is among the world’s most acknowledged premium designer way of life teams. Its focus is designing and advertising and marketing high-quality males’s tailor-made clothes and sportswear, ladies’s assortment attire and sportswear, kidswear, denim collections, underwear (together with robes, sleepwear and loungewear), footwear and equipment. By way of choose licensees, Tommy Hilfiger affords complementary way of life merchandise corresponding to eyewear, watches, perfume, swimwear, socks, small leather-based items, house items and baggage. The TOMMY JEANS product line consists of jeanswear and footwear for women and men, equipment, and perfume. Merchandise beneath the TOMMY HILFIGER and TOMMY JEANS manufacturers is accessible to customers worldwide by an in depth community of TOMMY HILFIGER and TOMMY JEANS retail shops, main specialty and shops, choose on-line retailers, and at tommy.com.
About PVH Corp.
PVH is among the world’s largest and most admired style firms, connecting with customers in over 40 nations. Our international iconic manufacturers embody Calvin Klein and TOMMY HILFIGER. Our 140-year historical past is constructed on the power of our manufacturers, our workforce and our dedication to drive style ahead for good. That is the Energy of Us. That’s the Energy of PVH.
