Introducing The 1 Granary Design Awards
Ending the industry’s habit of crediting one person for the work of many.
For years, we’ve argued that the people who shape fashion the most – the in-house design teams – rarely get the recognition they deserve. And this year made the gap impossible to ignore. Every headline circled the same question: who is arriving, who is leaving, and which creative director will be next. Meanwhile, the designers who keep the industry moving stayed invisible, even as their work held everything together.
So we decided to shift the focus.
The 1 Granary Design Awards recognise creativity, craft, and innovation across 20 categories, judged by the people who actually do the work. Instead of repeating the industry’s habit of celebrating one figure at the top, we wanted an award that reflects how fashion really operates: collectively, collaboratively, and through thousands of decisions made by teams who never get to walk a red carpet.
Where most industries honour a wide ecosystem of contributors, fashion awards tend to spotlight a single name. And with so many ceremonies funded by the same brands that secure the nominations, the outcome often feels predetermined long before the envelope is opened. So we invited over 1000 designers, from major luxury houses to independent studios, as well as the industry’s creative directors, to take part. Their choices shaped the shortlist, and they’ll decide the winners.
This is the first peer-led award of its kind in fashion. Just designers recognising other designers. The validation that comes from your peers is often the most vital kind – it affirms that your contribution matters, not just to the bottom line, but to the craft itself.
There’s a growing desire across the industry to return to real craft, real authorship, and real accountability. Recognising individual contributors isn’t a “nice gesture”; it’s fundamental to the future of design. The myth of the lone genius served an older version of fashion, but it doesn’t serve the reality of how clothes are made today. Creativity has always been a group effort. The industry just pretended otherwise.
With 1 Granary Design Awards, we want to end the culture of invisibility, the idea that designers should stay hidden behind NDAs, and the practice of treating full teams as footnotes in their own work. It’s a step toward a system where talent is credited, careers are built on truth rather than mythology, and the next generation sees a future for themselves beyond becoming “the name on the label.”
The final round of voting is now open to the same group. Winners will be announced on the 9th of December. It feels right to close a volatile year by acknowledging the people whose persistence, skill, and judgement carried the industry through it.
The 1 Granary Design Awards are an extension of everything we stand for: protecting designers, raising standards, and building better systems around creative work. We hope this will mark the start of a shift in perspective that has been overdue.
