President of the competition: Rector of KNUTD, Prof. Oleksandra Volodymyrivna Olshanska.
Competition Director: Head of the Department of Fashion Technology, Haranina Olha Oleksandrivna
Address: 01011 Kyiv, 2 Mala Shiyanovska (Nemirovich-Danchenko) St., academic building 4
e- mail :
DEAR COLLEAGUES, PARTNERS AND PARTICIPANTS!
Registration begins on
V INTERNATIONAL STUDENT DESIGN COMPETITION "DIGITAL FASHION" (suit, shoes and accessories)!
Kyiv National University of Technologies and Design announces the start of registration for the 5th International Student Design Competition "DIGITAL FASHION" (suit, shoes and accessories), the final of which will be held on November 26, 2026, in online mode.
The goal of the competition is to support young designers, stimulate their professional development, and unleash their creative potential in the fashion industry.
The main objectives of the competition:
- creating conditions for the disclosure and realisation of the creative potential of young people;
- popularisation of digital technologies in the design of fashion industry products
- development of professional competencies of designers in the field of digital planning, visualisation, and design
- promoting the principles of sustainable fashion and responsible design
- encouraging the search for creative solutions and an experimental approach to design
- presentation of the results of the creative activities of the Contest participants to the professional community of designers and fashion industry specialists;
- promoting the development of professional and creative ties between young designers from Ukraine and designers from other countries of the world.
The founder and organiser of the International Student Design Competition "DIGITAL FASHION" (suit, shoes and accessories) (hereinafter referred to as the Competition) is the Kyiv National University of Technologies and Design (hereinafter referred to as KNUTD).
Post-Releases:
Competition procedure
The participants of the competition are students of educational institutions studying in the fields of design and the fashion industry, as well as creative youth, which constitutes the potential of the fashion industry, as well as various sectors of light industry. The competition is a platform for the development of young designers, the implementation of their creative ideas using modern computer graphics tools, the exchange of experience and the demonstration of their own vision to Ukrainian and foreign experts in the field of fashion.
The competition is held in a single stage: the jury evaluates the submitted works and determines the winners of the Competition by nomination.
The competition is held in two nominations:
- "Costume" – development and presentation of digital design projects for clothing collections;
- "Shoes and Accessories" - development and presentation of digital design projects for shoe collections and accessories, including jewellery.
Participation in the competition program becomes possible upon submission of an application for participation and works that meet the requirements.
The number of participants from educational institutions is unlimited. Each contestant has the right to participate in any nomination (including in several at the same time, but with different competition works). Mandatory condition: the submitted works must correspond to the specified competition task. The competition work must be the result of independent creative activity without the use of generative artificial intelligence
Materials submitted for participation in the Competition must be submitted within the deadlines established by the organising committee.
Participation in the Competition is free.
Digital Competition Task Fashion 2026:
RE-FORM. NEW FORM. NEW COMFORT
Modern fashion is in constant search for new forms, materials and constructive solutions. The focus of attention of the new generation of designers is not only the aesthetic appeal of the product, but also the person, their needs, comfort and peculiarities of interaction with the environment.
Comfort, ergonomics and functionality are becoming important characteristics of modern clothing, footwear and accessories. At the same time, reducing the negative impact on the environment, rational use of resources, and finding more responsible approaches to creating fashion products remain pressing challenges for the fashion industry.
RE-FORM is a call to rethink the usual and create a new vision of fashion! We invite young designers to experiment with form, design, materials and technologies, creating products that combine modern aesthetics, ergonomics, comfort and principles of sustainable development.
The goal of the competition is to find creative design solutions for new-generation clothing, shoes, and bags, in which the new form enhances human comfort and reduces environmental impact.
When developing competition sketches, the following requirements must be taken into account :
New form. Rethinking traditional silhouettes, designs and shapes of products, using non-standard design solutions and innovative approaches to shaping.
Comfort and ergonomics. Ensuring convenience when wearing and operating the product, taking into account the person's anatomical features, functional purpose, and conditions of use.
Relevance of design. The product must comply with current fashion trends and demonstrate the originality and creativity of the design idea.
Environmental responsibility. The product must have one or more environmental advantages over traditional fashion counterparts, including:
using environmentally responsible, recycled or reused materials;
rational use of materials and reduction of production waste;
application of resource-saving manufacturing technologies;
reduction of the number of technological operations and energy consumption;
use of environmentally friendly finishing methods;
creating transformable, modular or multifunctional products that extend their lifespan.
Participants must demonstrate how, through creative rethinking of form, design, and technology, fashion can be created that is not only attractive, but also comfortable, functional, and responsible to people and nature.
Motto of the DF 2026 competition:
Re-form the Shape! Re-form the Comfort! Re-form the Impact
A new form is not just a different look of the product, but a new level of comfort and responsibility.
Conditions of participation:
- higher education institutions in their field of specialisation are allowed to participate, provided that they submit an APPLICATION for participation to the Organising Committee in accordance with the established procedure;
- The condition for participation in the Competition is the execution and submission within the established deadline of the COMPETITION WORK, performed using digital technologies by the author himself in accordance with the requirements specified by the Organising Committee.
- Unlimited number of participants from one educational institution;
- The number of Competition works from one author is no more than one in each nomination.
- By submitting an application, the participant confirms their agreement that the Competition has the exclusive right to place all photographic and visual materials produced within the framework of its holding (provided that the authorship of the works is indicated)
Requirements for competitive works
- The competition entries accepted for the competition must be original design projects of a product or capsule of products (clothing, footwear or accessories according to the chosen nomination) that reveal the theme " Re-form . New form. New comfort" in accordance with the principles of Sustainable fashion
- The competition work must be completed using a digital device (computer or tablet) and computer graphics and digital design tools without the use of artificial intelligence.
- The competition work has an original author's title.
- The competition work must contain:
- A design project containing a graphic and descriptive part, presented as a PDF file, and developed by according to the requirements of the Competition and in accordance with the task
- A brief video of the process of creating the graphic parts of the Design Project
Evaluation criteria:
Contest entries are evaluated on a 10-point scale using the following criteria:
- novelty and originality of the design idea;
- practical and/or innovative value of the proposed solution;
- compliance with the given theme of the Competition;
- aesthetic expressiveness;
- quality of digital visualisation and professionalism of execution;
Competition materials and deadlines for their submission to the organizing committee:
- 02.11.2026 – 17.11.2026 – submission of competition works: Contest participants must fill out the online registration form and submit their Design projects and video works. About the work applications organisational committee.
- 18.11.2026 – 24.11.2026 – remote evaluation of competitive works by jury members;
- 25 November, 2026 – summary results of the Competition by nominations;
- 26 November, 2026 – official advertisement of Competition results and award winners.
Design project requirements:
The Competition Design Project is a single PDF file containing 3 sheets, each of which indicates the name of the Project :
1 sheet - design proposal. It is a digital visualisation of the model (or capsule) from two angles, reflecting its aesthetic features and the constructive and technological solutions. It is performed using computer graphics and digital design programs (2D or 3D graphics at the author's choice).
Sheet 2 - a digital Poster or Concept Board, the centre of which is the developed author's design of the product. The remaining elements of the composition are intended to help reveal the author's main idea.
3rd sheet – concept description, containing the following information,
- Collection name
- Briefly about the collection features and target segment
- Advantages of the collection compared to analogues in the context of compliance with Sustainable Fashion principles
- Explain how the Re-form principle is implemented: what has been rethought, transformed. What makes comfort possible. What design solutions ensure functionality.
Requirements for video material submitted to the competition:
|
Video parameter |
Requirement characteristics |
|
Video duration |
60 seconds – 2 minutes. |
|
Video content |
2. The video must be horizontally oriented. |
|
Video identification |
The project name must be indicated at the beginning of the video . The participant's full name, group, and educational institution are not mentioned in the video. |
|
Resolution |
Videos must be uploaded in one of the following resolutions :
|
|
Video file format |
Videos must be submitted in one of the following formats:
To obtain high-quality video, we recommend using professional transcoding tools, in particular Adobe Media Encoder. |
More detailed information about the competition can be found at the link:
https://en.knutd.edu.ua/events-and-publications/festivals_and_contests/df/
FB https://www.facebook.com/groups/studentcenteroffashion
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