NGOs, youth lend support for Aboitiz Green Fashion Revolution Cebu 2017
On the government side, the National Youth Commission and the Philippine Fiber Industry Development Authority (PhilFIDA) have officially endorsed this year’s GFR Cebu, with Ben Gomo of the PhilFIDA serving as a judge.
From the NGO side, actors Antoinette Taus and Alex Godinez—members of resource allocation-oriented NGO CORA Foundation—also served as judges. The two actors firmly believe that Filipinos can design and wear trendy fashion apparel that have been created out of repurposed materials that have been recycled in an environmentally-sensitive manner.
Bringing together students from Fashion Institute of Design and Arts, Fashion Institute of the Philippines Cebu Branch, St. Theresa’s College of Cebu, Cebu Technological University-Argao Campus, Cebu Institute of Technology-University, and University of the Philippines-Cebu—the most number of competing schools in GFR’s six-year history—this year’s GFR Cebu bannered the theme “Life Flourishing on Land and in Water.”
Aside from Gomo, Taus, and Godinez, Jess Ouano of Anthill Fabric Gallery and Dave Devilles of Aboitiz Equity Ventures, Inc. also served as judges.
Prior to the finals night, a pre-judging activity took place as part of the contestants’ final scoring tally.
“We are truly excited for this year’s GFR Cebu, inspired by the overwhelming response we have received from our young Cebuano fashion designers and the support from our celebrity partners. By supporting the creation of environmentally-friendly fashion designs, our youth can indeed do their part in co-creating communities that are safe, empowered, and sustainable,” Maribeth L. Marasigan, Aboitiz Foundation first vice president and chief operating officer, said.
A brainchild of a group of Aboitiz scholars during the Aboitiz Scholars’ Corporate Social Responsibility Summit in December 2011, GFR and was first staged in Cebu and Manila in 2012 and 2016, respectively, through the auspices of the Aboitiz Foundation, the corporate foundation of the Aboitiz Group.
Since then, it has become an annual favorite among the college and university fashion circuit, 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 Race to Reduce 2.0 Program that promotes creative recycling of waste materials after their useful life. Approximately 1,600 kilograms of waste material from various Aboitiz business units are repurposed annually for Aboitiz GFR since it began in 2011.
In 2016, 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, and last March, a Gold Anvil Award at the Public Relations Society of the Philippines’ Anvil Awards.
This year’s GFR continues to support 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).
