Moate design wins Bord na Móna Recycling Secondary Schools Challenge

Moate Community School's design Pay AtTENTion was one of three winners in the Bord na Móna Recycling Secondary Schools Challenge.

Addressing Sustainable Development Goals #1 No Poverty, and #12 Responsible Consumption & Production, and inspired by the homeless crisis and his witnessing of tents being abandoned after a recent music festival, student designer Niall Maxwell sought to raise awareness of the plight of homeless people and urge festival goers to reconsider their consumption habits and actions.

Niall saw a tent as a vital life-saving commodity to some while a disposable accessory to others. He felt that such an extreme contrast of uses, essential versus disposable, needed to be highlighted.

His dress is a statement piece that can be used to promote SDG awareness, campaigns, and promotions, with Niall approaching Electric Picnic and homeless charities.

The material used was gathered from tents, which were sewn and gathered together to reflect the way a homeless person can gather up their possessions and huddle into a tent for safety at night.

The colour and neck piece incorporates zips from tents and forms a cage around the model. This represents how poverty and homelessness can lock a person into this dire situation, leaving them with a feeling that there is no escape.

The dress goes beyond the eye and tells the story of homelessness and the paradox between camping in a tent and living on the streets with nothing but a tent for shelter.

The judges noted that its messaging and visual impact can improve awareness at festivals on so many levels, calling it a provocative installation piece that goes beyond simply ‘fast fashion’ but challenges ‘the haves’ to examine how they consume resources while the ‘have nots’ exist in the margins.

A prize sum of €1500 is awarded to Moate Community School, with the grand prize winner to be announced on Monday (May 19).