CEBU CITY—Touting a striking, unembellished design portfolio decked in shades of brown with yellow highlights, the Fashion Institute of Design and Arts (FIDA), was declared the grand prize winner at the at the recently concluded Aboitiz Green Fashion Revolution (GFR) 2016 Cebu held at the SM City Cebu Trade Hall.

With its collection dubbed “The Lost City” that was fashioned from burlap, flour sacks, tarpaulins, and cork, FIDA edged out the designs of defending champion Cebu Institute of Technology-University, (2^nd place), University of San Carlos (3^rd place), and University of San Jose Recoletos (4^th place).

“This collection shows the resilience of mankind. Despite being faced with insurmountable odds, mankind always finds ways to adapt and rise above any given situation,” FIDA’s design brief read, lending support to the GFR’s theme “Life Flourishing on Land and in Water.”

Aside from winning the contest’s P50,000 cash prize and the opportunity to implement a corporate social responsibility project in coordination with the Aboitiz Foundation, the corporate foundation of the Aboitiz Group, FIDA similarly swept all four special awards, winning the Best Clothing Design, Best Accessories Design, Best Bag Design, and Best Footwear Design titles. FIDA also won the Best Male and Female Model Awards (Lawrence Reynolds and Diana Nelson, respectively).

“All of you are deserving and highly-talented, and the Aboitiz Foundation is proud to be a platform that recognizes and celebrates your talent and ingenuity. More than that, we look forward to your future work, be it in fashion or other endeavors, as people who are committed to helping others,” Sonny Carpio, Aboitiz Foundation Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, said.

All participating schools sourced their creations from an estimated 152 kilograms of recycled materials from various Aboitiz business units, which were then evaluated by an esteemed panel: Benjamin Gomo of the Philippine Fiber Industry Development Authority, Sheridan Athena Gajete of the National Youth Commission, Jess Ouano of Anthill Fabric Gallery, Malou Marasigan of Aboitiz Equity Ventures, and Joy Chicano, Project Runway Season 4 2015 Winner.

The 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.

Last month, the GFR was given a Silver Stevie Award for the category Communications or Public Relations Campaign of the Year-Sponsorship at The Stevie Awards, the world’s premier business awards.

An annual favorite within Cebu’s college and university fashion circuit for the past four years, the GFR successfully debuted in Manila last January with the theme “ECOUTURE: Greener Design for a BetterWorld.”

This year’s GFR supports two of the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals, specifically Life Below Water (conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas, and marine resources for sustainable development) and Life on Land (protect, restore, and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss).

According to the UN, oceans cover three quarters of the Earth’s surface, contain 97% of the Earth’s water, and represent 99% of the living space on the planet by volume. Yet as much as 40% of the world’s oceans are heavily affected by human activities, including pollution, depleted fisheries, and loss of coastal habitats.
As part of its Environment for a #BetterWorld campaign, the Aboitiz Foundation spearheads the implementation of programs that promote environmental conservation and biodiversity enhancement. Through the active participation of Aboitiz team members across the Group, the organization ensures that it is doing its part in caring for the planet while building a sustainable enterprise that can be entrusted to future generations. Among these initiatives include the Race to Reduce program that underpins the Aboitiz Group’s commitment to the efficient use of enterprise resources, the A-Park Program which aims to plant nine million trees nationwide by 2020, and the Aboitiz Cleanergy Park, an eight-hectare outdoor biodiversity park in Davao City that is home to the critically-endangered hawksbill sea turtle (pawikan) and 66 other species.