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The German Sustainability Award (DNP) is the national award for top performance in the field of sustainability. The 2021 awards ceremony was held on 3 December 2020, as a hybrid event in which the finalists and the majority of the jury members were connected via live video. With nine competition categories it is the largest prize of its kind in Europe. A jury of experts selected 37 winners from 104 finalists in the new Design category which has been introduced in direct support of the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals.
Competing companies from the fashion and textile industry offered up a variety of sustainable solutions from recycled fashion to interiors and material development, resource-saving packaging solutions to furniture made from new materials and revolutionary waste reduction systems.
Among the winners were Cocccon, founded in 2012 by Indian designer Chanda Prakash. Recognised for pioneering “Fashion for Biodiversity” and producers of the bio-certified Peace Silk – a non-violent silk, the production of which only allows the silk threads to be extracted from the cocoons when the butterflies have already safely hatched.
»Our need to be fashionable endangers the earth’s biodiversity. The increase in mass production has become threatening and is one of the main causes of the destruction of our ecosystems. It has also led to more frequent unexpected environmental disasters and resulting climate changes in textile producing regions.” Cocccon designs & manufactures its textiles with the motto of creativity can care , caring for life and nature.«
»We make sure that our designs do not adversely impact the environment. We converted a conventional silk farm into an organic one and processing is done in a new ecofriendly way. This system requires less water, zero chemicals and zero emission. This has resulted in healing and revival of local biodiversity including microbes in the soil. This confirms fashion and destruction of ecology & biodiversity are not synonymous to on another. It is all about making responsible textiles for the next generations. We call this Fashion for Biodiversity .«
Chandra Prakash, Founder and Designer, Cocccon
All award winners receive a seal which is intended to help consumers determine which products and services they can consume with a clear conscience. Providing increased support for Cocccon as they continue to grow as the world’s largest producer of organic silk.
Cocccon also won second place at the 2018 HighTex Awards in Munich Fabric Start’s KEYHOUSE. This was the first time the innovation award recognised companies for their overall strategic commitment to resource saving production processes as well as innovative product development.
Cocccon were highly commended for their conscious production of luxury textiles and an innovative silk denim. The award winning GOTS-certified organic silk denim is biodegradable, with an anti-allergic finish as standard, the fabric is also handwoven and dyed using non-toxic chemicals. Prakash’s showcased the award winning Peace Silk as well as PET2Silk for the first time in Munich, which fabric shares similar qualities to silk but made of recycled PET bottles.
Prakash speaking about winning 2nd place in the 2018 HighTex Awards:
»The award is hugely important to us because it confirms our product philosophy and gives us a platform to spread the message further. We have been the world’s largest producer of organic silk for two years which constantly motivates when it comes to designing new products. The HighTex jury commended the denim-like silk shirt that requires only a fraction of water compared to conventional denim production without chemical additives.«
Chandra Prakash, Cocccon
Modularity is not a new concept. For decades, it has shaped architecture, furniture and industrial design. Applying it to soft textiles, however, opens up an entirely new discussion.
Creativity and curiosity have always been our driving force. Our work evolves through prototypes—never finished, always raising new questions about materials, processes, and possibilities.
Both the fashion and textile industry often celebrates creativity. Yet many of the industry’s creative decisions are made long before a designer ever begins designing. Colour being one of them. The thing is, by the time a designer selects yarn, someone else has already determined the available colours, sequences and combinations. Choice exists, but only within boundaries.
“Through hands-on experimentation, I explore the potential of new surfaces and alternative forms of leather, aiming to reconnect human life with the natural world as an interconnected fabric.”
