Christina Dean

Sustainable-fashion pioneer Christina Dean founded the Hong Kong-based NGO Redress in 2007, to encourage better practices in the fashion industry by educating designers and consumers. Under Dean’s leadership, Redress has become a global force in the fight against fashion waste via initiatives such as the Redress Design Award, currently the world’s largest sustainable design competition, as well as organising second-hand clothing sales and upcycling workshops in Hong Kong. Living by the motto, “God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; courage to change the things I can; and wisdom to know the difference,” this tireless advocate evidently never thought that taking on the behemoth textile industry was an impossibility. After writing her book Dress [with] Sense, on how to create a more conscious closet, Dean has contributed opinion pieces for major publications, and her TEDx Talk “You are What You Wear” has been viewed more than 500,000 times on YouTube. In 2017, Dean also created the social-impact business, The R Collective, which encourages upcycling and has since rescued and repurposed more than 200,000 metres of textile waste.