If you’re a young designer living in the UK, then ASOS is looking to get behind your brand – and there’s only one week left to apply to be in with a chance of scoring its Fashion Discovery Prize.
The competition is open to young, independent labels headed up by designers who show ingenuity, creativity, and potential. Dedicated to nurturing new talent, ASOS will not only take your brand to its global audience, it will provide winners with mentorship on all things brand based: from production, to marketing, design, to supply and selling. It’s a once in a lifetime opportunity to inject the expertise of a worldwide fashion powerhouse into your label.
Alongside this, ASOS also offers a £50,000 cash prize to a minimum of two winners selected by a panel of industry experts. Susie Lau, Gemma Shiel and Elgar Johnson are among the panel of judges who will be selecting this year’s winners, alongside ASOS top team including CEO Nick B, ex-BFC chairman Hilary Riva, Creative Director John Mooney and Head Buyer Jo Hunt.
There’s also the ‘people’s choice’ winner, voted for by the public from a shortlist of ten applicants – the person with the most votes receiving a coveted spot on ASOS.com to sell their collection through.
Last year’s winners – Japanese and sci-fi influenced brand HANGER, and latex lingerie designer Elisa Poppy – have already launched their labels on ASOS.com after a year of mentorship and brand building. HANGER designer Claire Yurika Davis gave some advice for this year’s applicants: “I would say go above and beyond what you would normally do. That was my approach. In every aspect, I got as much help as possible.”
So do you have what it takes? Applications close on October 30th, and you can find out exactly what you need to do here. If you need some creative inspiration, check out lookbook from last year’s winner HANGER below, and read an interview with designer Claire Yurika Davis here.
