Centre for Sustainable Fashion (CSF) has been working with the team at Kering to develop innovation for sustainability in LCF students across communications, design, and strategy. From a pool of applicants across BA and MA courses, we worked with the most creative and rigorous thinkers, makers, and practitioners through a programme of mentoring and coaching.
Six finalists were selected for their standout work in response to briefs from Stella McCartney and Alexander McQueen. Prior to the announcement of 2015's winners, we caught up with each of the changemakers selected as finalists to hear more about their innovative ideas – in this blog we speak to Neliana Fuenmayor. The winners of the Kering Award for Sustainable Fashion receive €10,000 and a paid internship at the brand.
Finalist – Neliana Fuenmayor
MA Fashion Entrepreneurship & Innovation student Neliana grew up surrounded by mountains and rivers in the Venezuelan Andes, and credits this as the foundation of her passion for sustainability. A designer by trade, Neliana has worked in various areas of the fashion industry, including launching her own womenswear brand. This experience channeled Neliana’s main focus towards transparency as a tool for communication, and through the Kering Award was able to deepen her work with a focus on Stella McCartney as a brand.
‘The moment a customer buys into a product is vital to the whole supply chain. It is a sacred moment where all resources and efforts put into that one product are validated and with it, the stories that will be carried throughout the lifetime of the item.’
Neliana notes, "I feel passionate about the business of fashion and how it can be as creative and inspiring as design itself. I believe every product is unique, its trace will never be repeated, this is why I believe in sharing the story of a positive product."
Through the Award, Neliana worked with experts from the CSF and with Claire Bergkamp, Head of Sustainability & Ethical Trade at Stella McCartney, to offer unrivaled insight to the ways in which they are telling the stories of sustainability to empower their customers.