Thirty students from fashion schools across Europe will gather in Barcelona this November to tackle one of the industry’s biggest challenges: waste. From November 12th to 15th, they’ll participate in the seventh edition of the Sustainable Challenge, this year titled “Collective Mending.” Unlike traditional design competitions, this four-day workshop focuses on creative solutions for repairing and reimagining damaged clothing, placing sustainability at the heart of fashion’s future.

Organized by MODA-FAD and hosted at Disseny Hub Barcelona, the event brings together students from Spain, the Netherlands, and other European countries to work in multidisciplinary teams. Under the guidance of Amy Twigger Holroyd, Associate Professor of Fashion and Sustainability at Nottingham School of Art & Design, and other expert tutors, participants will explore how mending can become a central practice in fashion rather than an afterthought. Each team will create a complete look from repaired garments, which will be presented in a public fashion show on the final day.

By focusing on collaboration rather than competition, the workshop encourages students to share knowledge and develop collective approaches to sustainability. The organizers cover all costs, including travel, accommodation, and meals, making the event accessible to students who might not otherwise have this opportunity.

Applications are open until September 28th, offering fashion, design, and communication students the chance to be part of a project that treats repair as an act of creativity. Past editions have explored upcycling and material innovation, but this year’s theme goes further by questioning why we discard clothes in the first place. In a world where fast fashion dominates, the Challenge proposes an alternative: what if the most radical thing a designer could do is fix what already exists?

The answers may not come easily, but the conversation starts here. By training a new generation of designers to see mending as innovation, the Sustainable Challenge plants the seeds for a fashion system that values longevity over constant production.

APPLY HERE!