As a global community, we are currently facing a sustainability crisis: fast fashion. Through impact-focused national programs for college students, like the Hult Awards, Princetonians can help solve this problem.
The Hult Prize Foundation is a disruptive global leader in 21st century social entrepreneurship and youth empowerment. Her Hult Prize Challenge this year is Redesigning Fashion, which aims to launch innovative and sustainable social ventures in the clothing and fashion industry.
A fast fashion cycle centered around cheap, mass-produced, and less durable clothing has come to dominate our shopping habits. Therefore, these cycles are very costly. The fashion industry as a whole accounts for 8-10% of global emissions and is her second largest consumer of industrial water in the world. The United Nations (UN), with its Conscious Fashion and Lifestyle Network, is urging the fashion industry to “accelerate action” in its sustainability efforts to help reach the Sustainable Development Goals by the 2030 deadline. I’ve been working.
I’ve long been passionate about sustainable fashion, but it was at Princeton University that I started creating a community around inspiring creative sustainability efforts. I thrifty and upcycled my work and incorporated it into my style. But since I came to Princeton, I haven’t had time to work on these projects. Shifting my relationship with fashion, I focused on understanding the cycles behind fashion production and how to make it sustainable beyond my own consumption.
We believe that the key to solving sustainability problems lies not only in academic research, but also in the development of creativity and innovation. In November 2022, I founded the Princeton Fashion Institute with my best friend’s girlfriend, Nadine Allache. Our club aims to create a professional gateway for students to participate in the fashion industry and explore opportunities to embrace inclusivity and sustainability.
In a school like Princeton, we all have the ability to explore the aforementioned areas, as well as access resources and support to create meaningful change. The Hult Prize is the perfect opportunity to make this change.
The Hult Prize is the first program that the Princeton Fashion Institute has partnered with. When I heard about this award from a close friend, I was immediately intrigued. Not only is the Hult Prize Foundation focused on social entrepreneurship and the pursuit of original inventions, this year’s focus on fashion and sustainability was a perfect fit for my endeavours. I knew I had to apply and submit this challenge to Princeton University students. I am currently his 2023 Campus Director of the Hult Award at Princeton University.
Each year, tens of thousands of university students from over 120 countries participate in the challenge, and since its inception, participants have represented more than 2,000 institutions of higher education. With a $1,000,000 global startup prize as its flagship activity, the Hult Prize has brought impact-focused programs to campus, including his iconic OnCampus program.
The OnCampus program will serve as the first phase of the Hult Prize competition, which will be held on campus at Princeton University in late February. Winners of the OnCampus competition will automatically qualify for the Hult Prize Summit in Boston and continue their run for their own prize with $1 million in seed capital.
Hult Prize winners have the opportunity and resources to create real change. Last year, his Hult Prize Challenge for 2022 was to “put the world back to work.” The winner was He EcoBana, a social enterprise that aims to end poverty by making sanitary pads stop plastic and producing biodegradable sanitary pads. Using green and circular economy concepts to produce biodegradable sanitary napkins using banana fiber, they aimed to adopt organic and natural solutions. , these young entrepreneurs have been able to continue developing their businesses to reduce their fossil fuel impact.
This award provides students with the opportunity to create for-profit social ventures in the fashion/apparel industry. Princeton students have so much opportunity, exposure, and experience, and I know that each and every student here has the ability to change the world.
Ideas must have a positive impact on people and the planet and help the United Nations achieve its Sustainable Development Goals. I would like to emphasize that student startup ideas do not have to be fully developed. OnCampus competitions are often the first stage, so students can submit even the roughest ideas. We only look for reliability, creativity and innovative thinking. Students must submit a pitch through our website and register through the general application. This campus has great potential. A student must put his skills to good use and work to solve his one of the world’s most pressing problems.
Bahia Kazemipour (She/She) is a freshman in Mission Viejo, California, planning to study at the School of Public and International Affairs. She can be reached on her Instagram @bahia.kazemipour or email at bk6409@princeton.edu. For updates on OnCampus events and competitions, follow her Hult Prize Instagram page @hultprize or websiteand where you can find the 2023 Competitor Guidebook here.
