Eight Young Designers Reach the Final of the H&M Design Award 2026
Eight emerging designers are through to the final of the H&M Design Award 2026, according to WWD. The competition, run by H&M, the Swedish clothing retailer, is back after a five-year break. Its return was announced in January.
The finalists were picked from more than 1,000 applicants from more than 60 fashion schools around the world. They are Chico Yu, from Bunka Fashion Graduate University in Tokyo; Macy Grimshaw and Ennis Finnerty Mackay, from Central Saint Martins in London; Evelina Kryvopust, from Polimoda in Florence; Fantin Delattre Pirenne, from La Cambre in Brussels; Jessica Lin, from the Institut Français de la Mode in Paris; and Yichun Liu and Yvonne Schichtel, both from the Royal Academy of Antwerp.
Each finalist receives a 10,000 euro endowment, a grant that is paid to the designer and does not have to be repaid. The overall winner will be announced at a ceremony in London on 18 November.
The winner will receive 150,000 euros. They will also get a year of one-to-one mentoring that covers production, marketing and public relations, and sustainability and circularity. Circularity means designing clothes so they can be reused, repaired or recycled rather than thrown away. The winning collection will then be made and sold in selected H&M stores around the world and online.
The jury that will choose the winner includes Paloma Elsesser, Beka Gvishiani, Ib Kamara, Calum Knight, Emma Chopova, Laura Lowena and Hillary Taymour. Their names give a sense of the people who will judge the finalists' work, which ranges from clothing design to the wider creative industry.
The award has a track record of launching young names. Hannah Jinkins was announced as the winner of the 2016 edition. Richard Quinn, a Central Saint Martins graduate, won the 2017 award, and Stefan Cooke won in 2018. Each of those earlier winners was chosen from a shortlist of eight international finalists, as this year's group is.
For the finalists, the award is a chance to see their work sold to a mass audience. For an H&M-owned label, it is a way to tie the company's name to new design talent. Ten years ago, a prize like this might have ended with a runway show or a photo shoot. Now the winning collection will sit on the same racks as the company's everyday clothes, priced for shoppers who may never have heard of the designer.
The ceremony on 18 November will settle who takes home the 150,000 euros and the mentorship. Until then, the eight finalists are in the running, each with a grant already secured.
