The sixth edition of the award once again acknowledges the most innovative Master’s theses dedicated to sustainability and innovation in the fashion, luxury and design sectors.

Now in its sixth year, the initiative promoted by Save The Duck in collaboration with the POLIMI School of Management of the Politecnico di Milano continues to highlight research that advances sustainability within the fashion, luxury and design industries. The award, worth €5,000 (gross), is designed to celebrate students who, through their master’s thesis, contribute to the development of production models that are more environmentally and socially responsible.

The prize is awarded to the thesis that most effectively addresses key strategic areas for the sustainable transformation of the industry, including the development of innovative and low-impact materials, the implementation of sustainable production processes, the design of circular business models, the elimination of animal-derived resources, and the revision of the supply chain as a whole.

The Evaluation Committee, composed of Silvia Mazzanti from Save The Duck and POLIMI School of Management professors Hakan Karaosman, Alessandra Neri and Antonella Moretto, granted the first prize to Giulia Vallone and Chiara Urbinati for their thesis, “Driving Sustainable Consumer Choices in Luxury Fashion E-commerce: A Statistical Study on Informational Nudging”. The Committee highlighted the coherence of the work with the award’s objectives, the robustness of the quantitative methodology adopted, and the study’s ability to generate scientific evidence relevant both for the academic community and for industry practitioners.

The award ceremony opened with a roundtable discussion moderated by Prof. Hakan Karaosman, exploring the current state of sustainability in the fashion industry and the main challenges that still hinder a full transition. Speakers Antoinette Fionda-Douglas (Beira), Maria Teresa Betti (Radici Group) and Nandita Shivakumar (trade unionist) emphasised the crucial role of transparency as a prerequisite for the adoption of circular and sustainable models, as well as an essential tool for fostering responsibility across the entire value chain. They also highlighted the pressing need to strengthen social protections within global value chains.
The conversation reinforced the importance of an ongoing dialogue between industry, academia and civil society as an essential condition for accelerating the uptake of more ethical, traceable and sustainable practices.

The ceremony reaffirmed the importance of fostering continuous collaboration between research, education and industry, recognising this synergy as a key condition for advancing more responsible and sustainable models throughout the fashion system.