Scottish EDGE returned bigger and better this year to mark the 20th round of awards. Thousands of high calibre applications were received by Scottish EDGE, the UK’s biggest funding competition for high growth potential businesses. After weeks of applications and pitches, promising businesses were whittled down to the finalists. After two final days of intense pitching, judges faced a challenging task choosing the winners on the night.
Winner of the main category Net Zero EDGE went to our very own Dr Antoinette Fionda-Douglas and Beira!!
The fashion designer who hates fashion. Antoinette wants to change the future of fashion with Beira’s disruptive business model. By taking discarded materials from the luxury fashion industry and ethically remanufacturing them into limited edition womenswear, we have a 90% reduction in our carbon footprint. On top of that we pay our Italian artisans €28 an hour - we are all about putting planet and people first. We want to take away the guilt around fashion and its unsustainable habits and bring honest luxury at a fair price to the market through our investment pieces. We are thrilled that the judges believed in our mission and Scottish EDGE has invested in us and our journey.
“I am beyond delighted. It has been an incredible journey. Sustainable and ethical fashion is a tough business and doing it properly (without greenwashing) is not an easy task. Our goal is reduce carbon and waste - unfortunately recycled fibres doubles the carbon footprint of the product. So, we have a very different and disruptive sourcing strategy - we only use the best discarded fabric and trims in the world and pay people properly. It is an incredible honour to win this award and receive the recognition we have from the panel.” - Antoinette
We just want to say a massive THANK YOU to all of you as it would not have been possible without all of our wonderful customers and supporters!
It's only onwards and upwards from here!!
