• Over 500 students from 13 campuses, including NIFT, Pearl Academy and Symbiosis Institute of Design, participated

• Exciting prizes, opportunity to complete graduation projects and pre-placement interviews with Pantaloons and Shantanu &Nikhil

New Delhi, 17^th January, 2022 (GPN):  ABFRL Pantaloons, India’s leading fast-fashion brand from Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail Ltd, announced the winners of the first season of its “Next Top Designer contest”, launched in October at several campuses across prestigious fashion schools. Top 10 submissions were invited to ABFRL, Pantaloons Corporate Office in Mumbai for their final presentations. These top 10 shortlisted submissions got an opportunity to interact with the esteemed jury Krishna Mehta, from Label Krishna Mehta as well as the Design Leads at ABFRL and Pantaloons. 

Richa Gurung won the 1st prize, Jasmeen Kaur and Harshika Chopra jointly secured 2nd, and Nisha Gurung won the 3^rd prize. The winners received prizes of Rs. 50,000 INR, 25,000 INR and 15,000 INR respectively. The winners shall receive an internship offer from ABFRL to complete their Graduation project and shall receive a fantastic opportunity in the form of a pre-placement interview, to join the Design team.

The prestigious “Next Top Designer Contest” aimed to highlight the best fashion design concepts and encourage talent from campuses across the country. The contest will encourage young designers to reach a wide, design-oriented audience and get a real-world experience. The contestant also got a rare opportunity to interact with noted designer Nikhil Mehra from the Shantanu & Nikhil label.

The inaugural year of the contest saw 405 individual and groups participants from 13 campuses including NIFT, Pearl & Symbiosis.

Congratulating the winners, Sangeeta Pendurkar, CEO, Pantaloons and Jaypore said: “We are thrilled and encouraged by the phenomenal response to the first edition of Pantaloons’ Next Top Designer contest. Postgraduate and undergraduate students of Fashion are very talented young men and women, who are in sync with the latest trends. In this contest, we want them to harness this knowledge and celebrate their creativity and individuality.” She further added, “ABFRL plans to continue to engage with students of fashion schools and provide them many such opportunities to have meaningful corporate interactions.” 

The jury included renowned celebrity designer Krishna Mehta, Vandana Gupta, Design Head – Ethnic & Non-Apparel at Pantaloons; Mohita Rastogi, Design Head – Women’s Western and Kids Girls Wear at Pantaloons;  and Arun Kumar KS, Design Head – Menswear and Kids Boys Wear at Pantaloons.

About Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail Limited

ABFRL is part of a leading Indian conglomerate, The Aditya Birla Group. With revenue of Rs. 5,249 cr. spanning retail space of 8.4 million sq. ft. (as of March 31, 2021), it is India’s first billion-dollar pure-play fashion powerhouse with an elegant bouquet of leading fashion brands and retail formats.

The Company has a network of 3,212 stores across approximately 31,000 multi-brand outlets with 6,800+ points of sales in department stores across India (as of 31^st March 2021).

It has a repertoire of leading brands such as Louis Philippe, Van Heusen, Allen Solly and Peter England established for over 25 years. Pantaloons is one of India’s largest fast-fashion store brands.

The Company holds exclusive online and offline rights to the India network of California-based fast fashion brand Forever 21. The International Brands portfolio includes – The Collective, India’s largest multi-brand retailer of international brands, Simon Carter, and select mono-brands such as American Eagle, Ralph Lauren, Hackett London, Ted Baker, and Fred Perry.

Van Heusen Innerwear, Athleisure, and Active wear are establishing themselves as India’s most innovative and fashionable brand. The Company’s foray into branded ethnic wear business includes Jaypore and strategic partnerships with Designers ‘Shantanu & Nikhil’, ‘Tarun Tahiliani’ and ‘Sabyasachi’