Orsola de Castro is a renowned sustainable fashion designer from the UK. She co-founded From Somewhere, the revolutionary sustainable fashion label that ulilizes pre-consumer textile waste, in 1997. She has since created up-cycled collections for both the niche and mass markets, including Tescos and Topshop. In 2006, she co-founded Estethica, the sustainable fashion trade fair at London Fashion Week, which she continues to curate today.

Johanna Ho studied fashion design at the prestigious Central Saint Martins College of Arts and Design in London. Johanna showcased her first collection at London Fashion Week, which was subsequently purchased by Barneys New York, making her one of Hong Kong’s most illustrious designers to create impact overseas. Johanna has a strong sustainable fashion philosophy and design that runs through much her brand.

Margaret Kutt has expertise in sustainable fashion research, development and manufacturing. Margaret spearheads the development, execution and future growth strategies of the ‘Recycled Collection by Esprit’, which the main competition winner will design for. Margaret will work closely with the winner on their final designs for Esprit to ensure their subsequent collection is highly marketable with a strong sustainable message for consumers.

Anderson Lee is a respected apparel technical expert and a leader in promoting sustainable business practices. Amongst other accolades, he is a Convenor in the Fashion Industry Development Committee of the HKSAR; a voting member for the Sustainable Apparel Coalition; a steering member of the Global Recycle Standard; and a speaker at CCBF’s and China Water Risk’s 2°C+ Water and Prime Source Forum. He is the Business Director of the Hong Kong Non-Woven Group, which is renowned for innovation and sustainable production.

Do Do Yeung is a highly respected media and publishing expert with over 20 years industry experience. Do Do successfully reinforced ELLE Hong Kong’s position as a premier luxurious brand and expanded the print business into a multi-media platform by extending into digital channels. She oversees the Hong Kong editions of ELLE, ELLE Accessories, ELLE Collections, ELLE MAN, ELLE SHOPPING, ELLE Wedding amongst others.

Yuen Man Tse is a Hong Kong-based, Parisian-raised architect-turned fashion designer. She is the creative director for her own newly founded MVT brand. She has a passion for reconstructing secondhand clothing and some of her newest clothing and accessory lines will be up-cycled using cut-and-sew waste from MVT’s main line. Previously in 2009, Yuen Man co-founded the fashion brand, Magnan & Tse.

Winnie Wan has over 10 years’ fashion and media industry experience. She has a keen eye for local and global trends, gained from extensive travel to global fashion weeks. She also has vast styling experience, gained from working with world-class photographers on fashion spreads and from her role in art directing cover shoots. This enables her to communicate extensive knowledge and trends from within the fashion sector to fashion lovers.

Angie Mong has over 13 years’ industry experience in retail buying, merchandising, assortment and visual merchandising. She joined Esprit six years ago and now heads up their Asia merchandising. She has a keen interest in the designer’s ability to balance commercial and aesthetic considerations and she will work with the 2013 winner to develop their subsequent collection for Esprit’s Asia retail. She is a graduate from the UK’s The University of Central Lancashire and the University of Hong Kong.

Nicholas Chew has over 12 years’ experience in the marketing industry. He has worked with Esprit for over a year, during which he oversaw the production and launch of The EcoChic Design Award China 2012 Winner’s ‘Recycled Collection by Esprit’. Previously, he held various marketing roles within top-tier consulting agencies, including Ogilvy Public Relations and Weber Shandwick, where he focused on fashion, apparel and beauty brands.

Zhang Na is a Shanghai-based fashion designer and the 2008 founder of fashion brand, FAKE NATOO. The brand explores the connection between people, garments and the environment with some of her collections created by reconstructing finished garment waste. In a few short years, she has become one of the most influential sustainably-focused fashion designers in China. Zhang Na previously studied at The Xi’an Academy of Fine Arts and The College of MOD’ART in Paris, France.

Shaway Yeh is an influential media and fashion expert with over 15 years’ industry experience in China. Previously, she was involved in creative projects to promote Chinese designers, including co-presenting nine Chinese fashion designers during 2011’s New York Fashion Week and setting up a distinguished exhibition featuring China’s new fashion talents held at Beijing’s Lane Crawford in 2011. Previously, she was involved in setting up Vogue China.

Meihui Liu is a Taiwanese fashion designer who embraces the philosophy of sustainable fashion in her 1998 founded fashion brand, Victim Fashion Street. She up-cycles vintage fabrics and antique trims into stylish, unique, British-inspired timeless designs. Her eye-catching collections have been worn on stage by the likes of Madonna, Rihanna and Asian stars Faye Wan, A-Mei and Sammie Chen. Prior to presenting her own designs at international fashion weeks, She organised fashion events for independent fashion designers and studied fashion design at the Paris American Academy.

Florence Lu has over 20 years’ experience working in women’s local and international fashion magazines. She played a significant role in starting Harper’s Bazaar Taiwan and ELLE Taiwan. She authored several fashion-related publications, including ‘Designers’ Collections’, ‘44 Young Brands’ and ‘Fashion Brand A to Z’. She previously studied fashion and design at Taiwan’s Shih Chien University.

Ivy Yeung has almost 20 years’ experience in the fashion industry. She has worked with Esprit in retail and operations for five years. Previously, she worked for international health and beauty retailer, A.S. Watson, and fashion retailer, Marks & Spencer. She was born and educated in Hong Kong and had an earlier career in Human Resources, which developed her passion of people and service.

ST Ang has over 20 years’ experience in the retail industry. She has worked at Esprit in Singapore for five years, where she presently manages the Esprit business in Singapore and Malaysia. Previously she held various management roles within international fashion, beauty and luxury products companies.

Yumiko Uno is a Singaporean-Japanese fashion designer based in Singapore and the 2009 co-founder of organic cotton fashion brand, Etrican. She started her fashion career at globally renowned sustainable, fair trade clothing network, People Tree, where she gained knowledge and passion about sustainability in the fashion industry. Since then, she has become a pioneer of Singapore’s sustainable fashion movement.

Nin Castle is a London-based British-inspired fashion designer and the 2006 founder of multiple award winning independent fashion label, Goodone. Nin specialises in up-cycling and is famed for innovatively combining reclaimed textiles with new, locally produced British and sustainable fabrics. Her systematic approach to sustainable design has seen her launch collections for Topshop and Tesco.

Rosey Cortazzi has over 17 years’ experience in the fashion industry. She joined Esprit in 2011 as Global Business Manager Women Casual and that same year launched the Esprit Denim Division. Rosey has previously worked for House of Fraser, Diesel, Nike, Levis and more. She studied at the University of Arts, London.

Maria Janssen has an influential background in design, product development, trends and media. She joined WGSN in 2007 and leads teams in identifying and translating emerging trends into a cohesive WGSN creative direction. Previously she worked in design for Nike, Pringle and Marks & Spencer. She has a fashion design degree from London’s Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design.


Raphael Heinold has over 17 years’ working in the fashion industry, starting his career with Levis in 1996. His professional experience within the fashion industry was gained working in Spain and Germany. Within Esprit, he has held a number of differing positions prior to his role of Global Business Manager Women Collection.

Sakina M’Sa is a Paris-based fashion designer who launched her own label in 2002. She has since produced 15 collections, including her ‘Blue-line’ travel bag collection that was created using up-cycled iconic French workmen’s uniforms, in collaboration with PUMA. For the last 15 years she has conducted workshops for disenfranchised neighborhoods focused on garment and identity. She continues to be a reflective thought-leader amongst a wide demographic about the democratization of the fashion industry.

Béa Ercolini has worked as a journalist for over 25 years across newspaper, radio and TV. She brings this wealth of experience to her role as Editorial Director for the French and Flemish editions of ELLE Belgium and www.elle.be. She first joined ELLE Belgium as Editor in Chief for its launch in 2003. Previously she was with De La Libre Belgique à Marie Claire, de Trends-Tendances à Déco Idées and de L’Instant à Femmes d’Aujourd’hui.

Sonja Noël has extensive, innovative experience in the fashion industry. She founded one of Belgium’s most notorious fashion boutiques, Stijl, in 1984. She is renowned for spotting fashion design talent, being amongst the first to sell Dries Van Noten, Martin Margiela and Ann Demeulemeester. More recently, she opened a sustainable fashion focused boutique, Hallelujah, which stocks Christopher Raeburn, Bruno Pieters and Katrien Van Hecke.

Lilian Vos worked as a fashion designer for 10 years before moving towards the strategic side of the fashion industry as Division Director, Product Director and Brand Director for various brands. She joined Esprit three years ago as Global Business Manager.  Previously, she was an active member of Textile Exchange and she currently collaborates with students from a ‘Sustainability in Fashion’ Master’s Program.

Anna Eimerl is freelance fashion journalist with extensive fashion industry experience generated through having written for a wide range of consumer fashion magazines. Her passion for writing and fashion lead to to start her own blog, called Kalinka.Kalinka in 2008. Today her blog has grown into a highly successful media that includes forward-thinking coverage of fashion design.

Magdalena Schaffrin is a Berlin-based fashion designer and pioneer in sustainable fashion. In 2009, she co-founded the GREENshowroom, a high-end sustainable fashion trade fair. In 2012, she became responsible for the conception and development of The Ethical Fashion Show Berlin, which focuses on more casual sustainable fashion. Recently, the German government noted her as one of the ‘100 Women of Tomorrow’ for her various contributions.

Annika Wichelhaus has over six years’ industry experience working across European and Asian markets. She coordinates the design, buying and market knowledge for Esprit’s women’s casual team. Previously, she worked at Peek & Cloppenburg in Germany and Vero Moda in Denmark to complement her previous sourcing experience gained whilst working in China, India, Indonesia, Vietnam and Turkey. Annika studied economy at the Universität zu Köln and at the Universita Bocconi Milano.