Selection Criteria

All expressions of interest need to demonstrate a clear, cohesive aesthetic and quality production. Collections must show strong evidence of Indigenous agency. Applications will be assessed against the following selection criteria:

Fashion Design

• Strong collection story with cultural integrity.
• The collection shows evidence of fine attention to detail, with high quality garment construction and high quality fabric selection.
• Designs must be original.

Textile Design and Fabric Innovation 

• Strong embodiment and reflection of Indigenous identity, history and/or culture in textile design.
• Evidence of new textile design and art.
• Use of innovative fabric selection and/or printing techniques.
• Evidence of well considered colour palettes that support the story behind the collection.

Sustainability and Ethics

• Consideration of environmental and sustainable practices when sourcing textiles, printing onto textiles, and manufacturing garments. 
• Consideration of ethics pertaining to cultural safety, social impacts and protection of Indigenous Cultural Intellectual Property.

Indigenous Agency and Best Practice

• Show evidence of consultation with communities and artists in collaborations (for example, artist agreements, letter of support from artists/Art Centres, video from the artists talk about their role in the collaboration)
• Evidence of Indigenous agency throughout the entire design process. For all collaborative collections, the assessment panel needs to clearly see that artists have contributed to, and approved, each element of the collection’s development including textile design, garment design, manufacturing, packaging and labeling, marketing and sales etc.
• Evidence that financial benefits are being returned to Indigenous artist(s), Art Centre, and/or designers.