Weaving sustainability into fashion at the Circular Design Challenge

Runway-ready pieces made from chicken feathers, a minimalist wardrobe crafted from banana leather and stainless steel scraps, and a glimpse of an exciting new world of ingenious sustainable couture at the 2025 edition of the Circular Design Challenge.  In a fitting finale to the year-long search for the winner of India’s largest award for sustainable fashion, designer Varshne B took home the coveted prize for her collection ‘Symbiosis’, from her eco-conscious label CIRCLE, which includes multifunctional unisex pieces in clean silhouettes woven out of biodegradable plant-based fabrics, including Calotropis fibres, Korai grass, banana leather and repurposed deadstock or leftover fabrics. The runners-up, designers Radhesh Agrahari and Muskan Sainik, were applauded for their unique approach to transform chicken feathers and poultry waste to build outfits made of lightweight, natural fibre with a wool-like texture, and handmade papers for their brand, Golden Feathers. 
 

 Six finalists walked the runway at the Lakme Fashion Week in partnership with FDCI in the Indian capital on a crisp October evening, their designs picked out by jury panels of fashion industry leaders and sustainability experts across continents from a pool of more than 160 applicants — the largest cohort yet for the Reliance Industries Limited and the United Nations in India Circular Design Challenge since its inception in 2018.  The challenge, which looks to embed sustainability at the heart of fashion, has helped unearth fresh global design talent and innovation by weaving values including responsible production, design-led innovation and closed-loop manufacturing into the fabric of the fashion industry to set up a future-proof fashion ecosystem that is ethical, responsive, and inclusive.  “This is the future of fashion where innovation meets creativity and churns out designs with circularity at the core,” United Nations Resident Coordinator in India Shombi Sharp said, as he joined a jury panel including Kimi Dangor, Kulsum Shadab Wahab, Orsola de Castro, Payal Jain and Serge Carreira to shortlist the winners at UN House in New Delhi. The finalists, including British designer and UK shortlist winner Maximilian Raynor, EU winner and founder of Italian brand Cavia Martina Boero, Jesica Pullo's Argentine-Italian fashion brand BIOTICO, and Indian label Farak from designer Rishabh Kumar, also had the opportunity to showcase their designs before Government of India Ministry of Textiles Additional Secretary Rohit Kansal during the final jury meeting, held days before the finale. 
 

The designers were celebrated for their efforts to exemplify the United Nations ethos of 'Leave No One Behind' that is central to the idea of sustainability. Jesica Pullo’s Biotico, from Buenos Aires, for example, is co-created with persons with disabilities through skill building craft, while Rishab Kumar’s Farak, from Jaipur in India, works alongside traditional artisans to revive a centuries-old art of printing using wooden blocks. Chennai-based designer Varshne B, who works with artists who weave traditional korai grass mats in in Tamil Nadu, sources banana leather from Jinali Mody, who was recently awarded the UNEP Young Champion of the Earth 2025 for her material-science startup that turns banana crop waste into a plant-based leather alternative. 
 The two finalists were awarded seed funding and a mentorship, with the winning label CIRCLE earning a runway showcase for the winning collection at the Lakmē Fashion Week x FDCI in March 2026.