Designer and Students Awarded

RadiciSpandex Corporation celebrated Jeffrey Chow, creative director for contemporary womenswear label Poleci, as the honoree designer judge for the tenth annual edition of “Stretch to the Future,” one of the longest-running fashion design competitions sponsored by a fiber company. The award presentation occurred during the judging session held at Kent State University’s New York design studio to determine the winners of this year’s competition, held for the fourth consecutive year with the junior class design students of the university’s Fashion School.

Chow led the panel of apparel industry experts, which included members of the charitable organization The Underfashion Club (UFC), which returned for a third year as sponsor of the contest’s lingerie award. The judging panel selected scholarship winners in the categories of eveningwear, activewear, swimwear, lingerie and a Grand Prize Overall.

Winning top honors in eveningwear was Samantha Hawkins, who also won the Grand Prize for an elegant black gown created in stretch fabrics donated by Guilford Performance Textiles and McMurray Fabrics. Bethany Clark took the activewear prize for her garment made of fabrics from McMurray and Polartec while the swimwear prize went to Ashley Gerber’s corsetlike two-piece suit constructed of fabrics donated by Guilford and McMurray. Phillip Fry emerged as the lingerie category winner with a bra-and-panty set featuring fabrics donated by Polartec and TDB Tecidos.

This year’s winners were selected from a field of 51 students --- 20 more than last year’s entrants. The students competed with garments designed in stretch fabrics containing RadiciSpandex RadElast spandex donated by ABC Elastic Corp., Contempora Fabrics, Cyber Knit Fabrics, Darlington Fabrics, Guilford Performance Textiles, McMurray Fabrics, Monte Textil S.A., Polartec, Rentex, Sextet Fabrics, and TDB Tecidos.

In addition to Chow, the judging panelists included RadiciSpandex Corp. Marketing Manager Kim Hall, Allison Spahr, Global Director of Design, Polartec; Ruth Finley, Publisher, Fashion Calendar; Mark Lazarus, Vice President, Technical Fabric Development, Sustainability and Innovation, A&H Sportswear; Roseanne Morrison, Fashion Director, The Doneger Group; Menachem Katz, President, Cyber Knit Fabrics; Augusta Smargiassi, Senior Deputy Trade Commissioner, Italian Trade Commission; Laura Parzych, Product Development Manager, Darlington Fabrics; Debbie Lakis, Intimate Apparel Designer, Warnaco, Inc.; and Vivienne Lee, Design Director, Warnaco, Inc.

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