The Aboitiz Green Fashion Revolution (GFR), an interschool fashion show and design competition organized annually by the Aboitiz Group’s social development arm Aboitiz Foundation, was awarded a Silver ‘Stevie’ at The 2016 International Business Awards or Stevies held last October in Rome, Italy.

The Aboitiz GFR bagged the award for the category Communications or Public Relations Campaign of the Year-Sponsorship. As a Silver Stevie winner, the Aboitiz GFR received a final average score of at least eight out of a possible 10 points based on the campaign’s quality of innovation and the usefulness of the campaign’s supporting entries in helping understand the portrayed innovations.

The Stevie Awards, the world’s premier business awards, were created in 2002 to honor and generate public recognition of the achievements and positive contributions of organizations and working professionals worldwide.

Last year, Aboitiz food business unit Pilmico Foods Corporation’s sustainable entrepreneurship campaign Mahalin Pagkaing Atin, which aims to promote local produce by instilling a “pride of product, pride of place” mindset for both farmers and local consumers and providing essential linkages and partnerships for local farmers, also won a Stevie Award (Gold).

The Aboitiz GFR was the brainchild of a group of Aboitiz scholars during the Aboitiz Scholars’ Corporate Social Responsibility Summit in December 2011 and was first staged in 2012 through the auspices of the Aboitiz Foundation. Since then, it has been challenging students to create clothing, footwear, and accessories that make use of recycled materials and highlight the importance of the 3Rs—Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle. It is currently an initiative under the Aboitiz Group’s Wealth on Waste Program that promotes creative recycling of waste materials after their useful life.

“We in Aboitiz have a sustainability mindset of doing well by doing good, always making the right long-term decisions that balance the interest of people, planet and profit through initiatives such as the Aboitiz GFR. We are honored to receive this recognition as we intensify our efforts to create a BetterWorld through sustainable, ‘green’ fashion,” said Sonny Carpio, Aboitiz Foundation Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer.

An annual favorite within Cebu’s college and university fashion circuit for the past four years, the Aboitiz GFR—with the theme “ECOUTURE: Greener Design for a BetterWorld”—successfully debuted in Manila for the first time last January, and will be held once again in Cebu on November 26.