Mango Launches Fashion Awards

Spanish retailer Mango have just launched a new international fashion competition aimed at design entrepreneurs. known as El Botón (The Button), the idea behind the Mango Fashion Awards is to help those designers who have started out in the commercial world to grow into a flourishing label.

Explaining how Mango did not want to be chasing big name designers like so many high-street retailers, or promoting graduate talent which is already covered by so many awards, creative director Ricardo Agostini described the competition as "an original niche… an award that will focus on entrepreneurs, people who have already been brave". The requirements for entry include already having sold at least one collection commercially and having designed at least two previous seasons collections.

El Botón wants to be seen as a credible award and so is offering a €300,000 prize with no obligation to design subsequently for Mango. The competition wil take place every 18 months and is being backed by five of the top European design schools; Central Saint Martins in London, the Institut Français de la Mode in Paris, Istituto Marangoni in Milan, the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp and the Escola Superior de Disseny in Barcelona - so the entry standard will no doubt be pretty high.

A website launched for the competition is available in six languages and includes a downloadable application form- making it easy for any young international designer to participate- and with such a hefty amount to win they would be crazy not to.

A clever idea by Mango- not only will they get some great press and their pick of the top business-savvy design minds to top up their creative teams with but, thanks to all the universities involved they also get an endless supply of interns!