Lagos Fashion Week has been announced as a 2025 finalist for The Earthshot Prize, the global environmental prize founded by HRH Prince William to identify, celebrate, and back solutions that repair the planet.
The Earthshot Prize marks a pivotal milestone in 2025 as it reaches the halfway point in its ten-year mission to inspire collective action for people and the planet. Lagos Fashion Week has been selected as a finalist in the Build a Waste-Free World category for its work in transforming one of the world’s most polluting industries to create a new fashion economy rooted in purpose, sustainability, and cultural integrity.
Founded in 2011 by Omoyemi Akerele, Lagos Fashion Week has grown to become Africa’s largest and most influential fashion event. At its core, the platform has consistently addressed one of fashion’s greatest challenges: overproduction and overconsumption.
Today, consumers buy around 60 percent more clothing than they did twenty years ago but keep each item for half as long. Less than one percent of textiles are recycled into new garments. In response, Lagos Fashion Week is leading a transformative movement that prioritises circularity, craft-driven innovation, and community empowerment.
Now in its fifteenth year, Lagos Fashion Week has emerged as a vital movement redefining the industry’s DNA through a distinctly African lens. The platform continues to work with designers who collaborate with local artisans, operate clean and responsible production models, and embrace ethical sourcing practices that reduce environmental impact while preserving cultural heritage.
Speaking on the recognition, Omoyemi Akerele, founder of Lagos Fashion Week, said:
“The recognition from The Earthshot Prize is not just about me or Lagos Fashion Week, but about the community of designers, artisans, and young people who continue to prove that African fashion has something powerful and lasting to offer the world. For us, sustainability is not a trend; it is survival. Our task has always been to build structures that strengthen our ecosystem, empower our youth with skills and opportunities, and ensure that creativity can fuel economies across the continent. Fashion has the power to create jobs, preserve culture, and transform lives. That is why we do this work, and why being nominated as a finalist will allow us to keep pushing for a future where fashion is not just beautiful but also meaningful and responsible.”
Founded by HRH Prince William in 2020, The Earthshot Prize recognises outstanding leadership in environmental innovation across five categories: Protect and Restore Nature, Clean Our Air, Revive Our Oceans, Build a Waste-Free World, and Fix Our Climate. The Prize celebrates individuals and organisations whose work is shaping practical, scalable solutions to the planet’s most pressing challenges.
HRH Prince William, Founder and President of The Earthshot Prize, said:
“As we reach the halfway point of the Earthshot decade, I am truly inspired by this year’s finalists, which embody the urgent optimism sitting right at the heart of our mission. In just five years, The Earthshot Prize has shown that the answers to our planet’s greatest challenges not only already exist but that they are firmly within our grasp.”
Lagos Fashion Week joins a global community of leaders recognised by The Earthshot Prize for their contributions to protecting and restoring the natural world. Past African Finalists include Reeddi Capsules, a Nigeria-based portable battery-powered energy device recognised in 2021 for providing clean, affordable electricity to underserved communities.
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