Harris Reed, Klarna Launch Designer Competition Centering Gender Inclusion, Sustainability

Emerging British-American, inclusive fashion designer Harris Reed is collaborating with Klarna, a shopping and payments service, to launch a competition aimed at finding new talent within the fashion community.

The competition is open to entries in the U.K. and U.S. and aims to challenge young designers to craft their pieces with sustainability and gender-inclusivity in mind, creating looks with recycled, eco-conscious materials.

Harris Reed is best known for his genderfluid designs that play with themes surrounding the feminine and masculine, along with inspiration from the current social and political issues he feels most connected to. His website describes his brand and personal identity as “romanticism gone nonbinary.”

Reed will judge the competition, which will ask runway designers to design a look best representing their fluid world through a sustainable lens. The competition is open to all designers but encourages members of the LGBTQ community in particular to take part. The winner of the competition will have direct access to Harris over a mentoring lunch to receive guidance and advice on the world of fashion and feedback on their design.

“My vision is that inclusivity and sustainability will become central to the future of fashion,” Reed says. “There is no better way to foster this eco-conscious, inclusive culture than to instill this in the next generation of aspiring fashion designers. This competition builds on my previous work to champion gender inclusivity and I look forward to meeting with the winner and future creative talent.”

David Sandstrom, the chief marketing officer at Klarna, says that this competition fits with the aims of the company, which he says champions diversity and inclusion in all they do.

“Partnering with Harris Reed for this competition is a great opportunity to back the future of British American fashion, it builds on our work both supporting the fashion industry and designers but also ensuring consumers have sustainable fashion choices open to them,” Sandstrom says.

The competition closes on April 28, and anyone in the U.K. or U.S. over the age of 18 is eligible for entree. Those interested can learn more and enter here.

Photo courtesy of Harris Reed and Klarna