The new generations of designers never cease to surprise us and this year’s selection – resulting from weeks of deep diving into 800+ projects from over 80 countries and days spent with the ITS 2019 Jury narrowing it down to the actual finalists – is no exception.
“A closer look at the projects – we will be releasing an extensive trends report, stay tuned – highlights common traits among young creatives spread all over the planet. They truly believe in a world with no borders, fluid and inclusive, distancing itself more and more from judgements and preconceived opinions. Male and female declinations are totally forgotten, human beings are now gender fluid. This is a vision that indeed surprises, considering the official version of a society that wants us divided, intolerant, elitist and non-inclusive. This doesn’t mean that the new ITS generation has no identity, on the contrary: identity awareness opens to diversity as an enriching factor and mix & match stands as the perfect metaphor for infinite possibilities, giving equal importance to all elements. Sustainability is the starting point for most of the creative declinations we’ve seen. It had already become relevant in 2016, with a strong focus on workers’ conditions (remembering the Rana Plaza tragedy). Today the approach – natural materials & treatments, upcycling, use of waste and discarded plastic – positively surprised us for its clarity of vision. It leaves us with hope for a journey that has just begun in the fashion industry, the world’s 2nd most polluting sector.“
Barbara Franchin – ITS Founder & Director
The ITS 2019 Sincerely True Finalists are ready to join the cosmopolitan ITS Family for the Finals on July 12th, 2019 in Trieste, Italy. They come from over 15 nations and once again they represent a global map of the strongest young creativity: Australia, Belgium, China, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Israel, Japan, Peru, South Korea, Switzerland, United Kingdom, United States, Taiwan and Thailand:
THE FASHION FINALISTS
Louis Appelmans – Belgian 
Daoyuan Ding – Chinese 
Annaliese Griffith-Jones – Australian 
Moon Hussain – British 
Cecilia Del Carmen Juarez Balta – Peruvian 
Jimin Kim – South Korean 
Rafael Kouto – Swiss 
Shie Lyu – Chinese 
Yukika Saito – Japanese 
Anni Salonen – Finnish 
Hana Yagi – Japanese
THE JEWELLERY & ACCESSORIES FINALISTS
Fabia Brüning – German 
Irina Galon – Israeli 
Corrina Goutos – American 
Joanne Guiraud – Swiss 
Skye Gwillim – British 
Yukako Hihara – Japanese 
Hazuki Katagai – Japanese 
Asumi Maeda – Japanese 
Xiaotu Tang – Chinese 
Bingqing Yi – Chinese 
Yunqi Zhang – Chinese
THE ITS FASHION@WORK BY ILLY AWARD FINALISTS
The following designers will be challenged with a radical re-design of the illycaffè coffee aprons:
Jiaen Cai – Chinese Daoyuan Ding – Chinese Annaliese Griffith-Jones – Australian 
David Huang – Taiwanese 
Ping-Chieh Hsieh – Taiwanese & Wimonwan Wichaikhamjorn – Thai Moon Hussain – British Rafael Kouto – Swiss Shie Lyu – Chinese Anni Salonen – Finnish 
Kelly Toode – Estonian
THE LOTTO SPORT AWARD FINALISTS
The following 3 designers will be required to develop a complete outfit inspired by the world of tennis and revisiting an iconic Lotto sneaker:
Jimin Kim – South Korean Rafael Kouto – Swiss Anni Salonen – Finnish
Other articles:
The Seismographer
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In the twenty years of ITS Contest rarely have we seen such consistency in training young designers that would be then be selected as finalists by the ITS Jury, a first…
The Seismographer
ITS Contest names that ring a bell.
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The Seismographer
One Collection, infinite stories: Religion. Looking at the religious elements of the ITS Arcademy collection.
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Looking for either controversy, beauty, culture or symbolism, it is no mystery why fashion drives inspiration from religion. They are undeniably intertwined: religions and religious orders have dress codes and use…
The Seismographer
Handling the History of Contemporary Fashion Evolution. Interview with the head of our Collection team, in charge of handling the ITS Foundation’s archival patrimony.
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Stepping into a museum space can often feel like everything’s stuck in time, frozen. As if it were a place where not much happens, other than cleaning and occasional moving of…
The Seismographer
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Assigned annually in London by the British Fashion Council, The Fashion Awards might seem like they’ve only existed since Craig Green won Designer of the Year in 2016. But the ceremony…
The Seismographer
Sketching, the Aitor Throup way.
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“Aitor Throup is an Argentinian-born British artist, designer and creative director.” This is the only sentence that sounds vaguely complete about what Aitor is. All attempts to pin down every aspect…