Spot the Project Glow Wear People's Choice Award Winner

This year's winner of the Project Glow Wear People's Choice Award is Tamsin Robb, whose stunning navy trench coat with reflective spots took out the top award by garnering an impressive 613 "likes" by fans of her design.

"Tamsin's winning coat was a worthy winner and provides a fabulous example of style meeting function. The garment was designed to both look great and improve the visibility of the wearer by illuminating them to other road users in the dark," says Barbara Donaldson, Greater Wellington Regional Councillor and Chair of the Sustainable Transport Committee.

The Project Glow Wear reflective design competition, which is in its second year, takes a creative approach to increasing the visibility of people on foot and bike in low light conditions. The competition challenges designers and everyday creatives to develop clothing and accessories that feature retro-reflective elements that highlight the wearer as they go about their evening and early morning journeys.

Melanie Thornton, Greater Wellington Regional Council Manager Sustainable Transport and Project Glow Wear organiser, says the competition aims to increase awareness of the effectiveness of reflective elements in clothing and accessories - particularly when worn on moving parts i.e. arms and legs.

"Retro-reflective elements under direct light have an uncanny ability to highlight the human form, but until Project Glow Wear, retail options were largely limited to the classic high-vis vest. We aimed to get people thinking outside this boxy option, and a quick glance through the 2017 entries will show that the many entrants have done just that."

The People's Choice Award, which carried with it a prize of a $350 Prezzy card sponsored by Greater Wellington Regional Council, was voted on over a two week period via an album of images of all entries entered in the 2017 competition. The album, hosted on the Project Glow Wear Facebook page, showcases the impressive style and innovation of the 143 looks entered in the competition. Many entries gathered a huge number of "likes" from the voting public with hundreds of comments and shares. The album can still be viewed at facebook.com/projectglowwear.

Two sold-out runway shows in Wellington and Auckland in August point further to the growing buzz around the competition. Finalists in the competition were showcased along with examples of international reflective fashion from Australia's Hey Reflect'o and the United States' Heisel and ICNY Sport.

The overall $10,000 prize pool for the competition attracted more than 200 items competing in 13 categories, double the number of entries received when the competition was launched in 2016. Prizes included a $5,000 internship package at Arrow Uniforms, a $500 Levi's voucher, internship at Mandatory Menswear, a Wacom tablet, a Singer sewing machine, shearing scissors and cash prizes.

All New Zealander's over the age of 15 were invited to enter: designers, home sewers, crafters and students. Each entrant received up to a metre of sew-on or iron-on reflective fabric to get them started on their design.

Cr Donaldson says this year's Project Glow Wear once again delivered on its promise to boldly go where no fashion design competition has gone before by showing that reflective clothing can be both high fashion as well as high impact.

"The project team was blown away by the quality, creativity and wearability of entries received this year."

The competition is supported by the transport teams at Greater Wellington Regional Council, Auckland Transport, Hutt City Council, Wellington City Council, Kāpiti Coast District Council and Upper Hutt City Council alongside NZ Transport Agency,  Levi's®, Arrow Uniforms, Lux Light Festival, Singer, Mandatory Menswear, the Wellington Sewing Centre, Oversew Fashion,  Vespertine NYC, Zealandia and Massey University School of Design.

Pictures here:

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/w0o7jxttfxgsp3n/AABRUZWdVW3fpTlFfEcy2SxXa?dl=0