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Cirque du Soleil and Swarovski Unveil Sustainable Fashion Challenge ESM’s Winners in Montreal

Cirque du Soleil and Swarovski Unveil Sustainable Fashion Challenge ESM’s Winners in Montreal

Published 04-21-16

Submitted by Swarovski

Click to watch the video

The École supérieure de mode de l’ESG UQAM, Cirque du Soleil and Swarovski have announced the winners of the debut Cirque du Soleil and Swarovski sustainable fashion challenge.

Pursuing the same goal of acting responsibly as a business, Cirque du Soleil and Swarovski gave Fashion Business students at École supérieure de mode (ESM), part of l’École des sciences de la gestion de l'Université du Québec à Montréal (ESG UQAM), the opportunity to reimagine Swarovski crystal-embellished costumes that have previously appeared in some world famous shows from Cirque du Soleil. The two companies worked together with the fashion school to connect young talent with these incredible materials and to engage their skills in a sustainable fashion challenge.

Nadja Swarovski, Member of the Swarovski Executive Board, commented: “It was a pleasure to collaborate with Cirque du Soleil to support these young fashion talents and to find new ways to explore sustainability issues within their educational and creative development.”

Working in teams, students at ESM, were commissioned to transform fantastic Cirque du Soleil costumes into new designs using crystals and fabric, inspired by both brands’ ongoing commitment to supporting emerging talent and engaging with key sustainability issues. In addition, Cirque du Soleil and Swarovski also actively assisted the students with sustainability and product lectures.

Marie-Ève Faust, Professor at l’École supérieure de mode (ESM) de l’ESG UQAM mentioned: “It’s an honor for us to collaborate with internationally renowned businesses such as Cirque du Soleil & Swarovski. Not only students are learning beyond usual product development academic themes but they were able to reason and conceptualize products according to XXI century features.”

The judging panel, which included ambassadors from Cirque du Soleil, Swarovski and ESM, were highly impressed by the effort and innovation demonstrated by the students. Two teams were equally recognized as winners.

Winners of KALÉI team transformed Swarovski crystal-embellished costumes from Cirque du Soleil to create, a kaleidoscope with crystals inside it, evoking memories of early childhood as well as a cloth bag made of costume scraps for carrying the kaleidoscope. The team members said:  “We are really proud of KAÉLI; the project meant everything to us. It was a team project from beginning to end, and we put a lot of time and energy into it.” 

Winners of BAR VIP team created a coaster with, on one side, crystals and, on the other, recipes for a variety of cocktails that could be matched with the characters from Cirque du Soleil shows. The team members said: “It was great to be able to benefit from the Cirque du Soleil–Swarovski partnership in our product development course. It was a fantastic opportunity for us and all the other teams. We are thrilled to have won, and we think our project has real development potential.” 

Benoit Mathieu, Vice-president of Costumes and Creative Spaces at Cirque du Soleil said:

‘‘We were exited to collaborate with Swarovski in order to support young local fashion talents in a unique and creative way. This initiative enables us to combine creativity and development sustainability, two values which are dear to our core values. We were impressed to see the talent discovered with this project.’’

See the challenge’s video

  

About Cirque du Soleil
From a group of 20 street performers at its beginnings in 1984, Cirque du Soleil is now a major Quebec-based organization providing high-quality artistic entertainment. The company has close to 4,000 employees, including 1,300 performing artists from close to 50 different countries. Cirque du Soleil has brought wonder and delight to more than 160 million spectators in over 400 cities in sixty countries on six continents.
For more information about Cirque du Soleil, visit www.cirquedusoleil.com.
To find out more about the ONE DROP Foundation, visit www.onedrop.org.

About Swarovski
Swarovski delivers a diverse portfolio of unmatched quality, craftsmanship, and creativity. Founded in 1895 in Austria, Swarovski designs, manufactures and markets high-quality crystals, genuine gemstones and created stones as well as finished products such as jewelry, accessories and lighting. Now run by the fifth generation of family members, Swarovski Crystal Business has a global reach with approximately 2,560 stores in around 170 countries, more than 25,000 employees, and revenue of about 2.33 billion euros in 2014. Together with its sister companies Swarovski Optik (optical devices) and Tyrolit (abrasives), Swarovski Crystal Business forms the Swarovski Group. In 2014, the Group generated revenue of about 3.05 billion euros and employed more than 30,000 people. The Swarovski Foundation was set up in 2012 to honor the philanthropic spirit of founder Daniel Swarovski. Its mission is to support creativity and culture, promote wellbeing, and conserve natural resources.
www.swarovskigroup.com

About École supérieure de mode (ESM) de l’ESG UQAM
Founded in 1995 through a partnership between the Université du Québec à Montréal and the Groupe Collège LaSalle, ESM is the only Québec school offering a university programme in fashion studies. The bachelor`s degree programme in fashion management and design is a collaborative venture with the Faculty of Arts. It includes three concentrations: design and style, commercialization, and fashion industry management. With its strong international reputation, ESM helps to promote and develop Québec fashion by training highly qualified professionals and giving them the skills to enhance a constantly changing sector.
www.esg.uqam.ca/mode

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Swarovski

Swarovski

Swarovski delivers a diverse portfolio of unmatched quality, craftsmanship, and creativity. Founded in 1895 in Austria, Swarovski designs, manufactures and markets high-quality crystals, genuine gemstones and created stones as well as finished products such as jewelry, accessories and lighting. Now run by the fifth generation of family members, Swarovski Crystal Business has a global reach with approximately 2,560 stores in around 170 countries, more than 25,000 employees, and revenue of about 2.33 billion euros in 2014. Together with its sister companies Swarovski Optik (optical devices) and Tyrolit (abrasives), Swarovski Crystal Business forms the Swarovski Group. In 2014, the Group generated revenue of about 3.05 billion euros and employed more than 30,000 people. A responsible relationship with people and the planet is an integral part of Swarovski’s heritage. The global Swarovski Waterschool education programme has reached 257,000 children on the world’s greatest rivers, and the Swarovski Foundation incorporated in 2013, works to support culture and creativity, promote wellbeing, and conserve natural resources to achieve positive social impact.

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