This past month, the digital fashion house, The Fabricant, held a three-month global 3D design competition in collaboration with Adidas and Karlie Kloss. The theme of the contest was based on digital design and aimed to elevate and showcase the digital fashion talent of tomorrow as well as to bridge the gap between technology, fashion and sport – an intersection of Karlie Kloss’s passions. The whopping 300 submissions from 34 different countries were created 95% using CLO. The Fabricant hosted dedicated Twitch streams in order to teach participants the ins and outs of the software. While many participants had never used CLO prior to the #makingstrides competition, the submissions, which were inspired by a piece in the Adidas x Karlie Kloss activewear collection, highlighted a new route into the tech environment through digital fashion.
The top 20 design submissions of the 3D design contest were selected and narrowed down to three final winners. The finalists of the competition received cash prizes of up to €3,000. However, all of the top 20 submissions were auctioned via blockchain through KnownOrigin, a crypto art marketplace. All of the auction proceeds went directly to the featured artists, while voluntary contributions supported new events and programming for Kode With Klossy’s alumni community of over 5,000 scholars. Kode With Klossy supports the next generation of young people working at the intersection of fashion and technology.
This was one of the first global 3D design competitions that focussed on addressing the longstanding gender disparity in the tech world, which has predominantly earned notoriety as an embedded ‘bro culture’. The #makingstrides competition used the new and evolving sector of 3D digital fashion and CLO to further enable and celebrate women’s creative participation in the tech environment. We had the opportunity to get an exciting close-up of the top three winning designs, which can be seen below. We also gained exclusive access to the judging comments from Amber Slooten, Co-founder and creative Director of The Fabricant, as well as unique insights from the third winning finalist on his submission!
The first place winning design of the 3D Design competition was created and submitted by Teresa Manzo and was celebrated for its unique combination of fashion and 3D. “There are so many contradictions going on in this beautiful editorial, where fashion and 3D are so well combined. It’s utterly different to what we normally see in 3D and it captured our attention instantly. This piece goes against all the matrix aesthetics with its mood and mix of textures, and shows a whole different perspective.”
The second place design for the 3D design competition was created and submitted by Federico Pelat. The judges were in awe of Pelat’s graphic capabilities. “This submission stood out because of the graphic capability combined with fashion and 3D, which makes a beautiful and interesting combination to keep staring at, discovering something new everytime you look.”
The third place design submission for the 3D design competition was submitted and created by Freeks Freriks. His inspiration was contemporary science fiction imagery and 1960’s space footage. It was his first time using CLO and he was extremely grateful for the Mixamo feature within CLO, which significantly helped his design process. The judges were impressed with the weave of the fabric and styling details. “The jacket is shown as a peaceful, gravity-defying celestial body. There’s so much craft to appreciate, from the mathematical objects that float past like asteroids to the jacket itself, which we witness as if from a viewing deck, taking in everything from the weave of the fabric to its styling details.”
We are extremely proud that CLO has been of use in such an exciting initiative to further creativity and free gender roles within digital fashion and the tech world. You can check out all of the top 20 submissions here.
To find out more about The Fabricant visit their website or Instagram page.