Enthusiastic youth designers’ triumph with creative uniform designs

Team Project Sun emerged as the Champion of the Grand Finale of Sunway International Schools’ Uniform Design Competition, with more than six months of brainstorming, patterning, stitching and styling. 

Team Project Sun from Sunway International School Sunway City Kuala Lumpur campus walked off with a cool RM2,500 and proud certification of achievement, acknowledging their sweat and toil to design the look of the new attire that Sunway International Schools (SIS) students will be donning in 2023. 

Their effort was acknowledged at an awards ceremony today. The design collections were previewed with a fashion runway showcased at SIS campus at Sunway City KL. 
From the shortlist of seven teams for the competition, members of Team Project Sun (Wong Hou Nam, Kim Bandi, Isaac Tan Guan Lum and James Christopher Lahey) snared the cash prize and congratulations all round from the judging panel who comprised several leading figures in the Malaysian fashion making and design scene. 

The 1st runner up and 2nd runner up team that have been awarded certificates and cash prizes amounting to RM1,500 and RM1,000 were Team Sakura Sunwies from Sunway City Iskandar Puteri campus and Team Luxolis from Sunway City Kuala Lumpur campus. A special People’s Choice Award was won by Team Sunwayens from SIS Sunway City Iskandar Puteri. The winning team was determined by public online votes. Other teams namely Blue Donkey, Chan and Shuan Q each received consolation prizes of RM250 respectively.

“Modern school uniforms are so much more than about utility and durability like how they were in the past. Because uniforms are daily wear, we must consider students’ comfort and their need to carry out a variety of lifestyle activities,” states Professor Elizabeth Lee, the Chief Executive Officer of Sunway Education Group during the grand finale to announce the winners. 

Aside from Lee, the judging panel also comprised prominent fashion industry luminaries who sat down with educators from the Sunway Education Group, to examine the teams’ outputs during the finale. The judges include Dato’ Nancy Yeoh-Reissiger, President of fashion event management agency STYLO International, as well as Toi See Luon from Zang Toi’s Boutique and Café in Kuala Lumpur.

With 154 contestants and 45 teams, the competition was a unique opportunity for students, families, and communities to come together for this challenge.  To add value to the contest, a Design Workshop was held in May to guide and provide tips to participants, particularly inexperienced junior students. The session was facilitated on Zoom by former SIS student Meghna Sharma, who completed the Canadian International Matriculation Programme (CIMP) at Sunway College Kuala Lumpur after, and later graduating with a fashion degree from Nottingham Trent University UK. 

“They had some marvellous ideas, and some even knew interesting ways to produce fashion makeovers. But to translate them into viable clothing, contestants needed feedback for their designs. I hoped they found the workshop helpful,” shared Meghna, who was also Puteri Indonesia North Sumatera in 2020. 

The initial preliminary screening and scoring of team submissions was conducted in June using digital interactive platforms.   

Another judge, Augustine Wong, Director of Programme at Sunway-Stylo Fashion Design & Technology at Sunway College, said the entire process was rigorous. “Certainly, it was not easy to select the winners. Aside from functionality and practicality, I encouraged the judges to consider how contestants made inspired use of the new school logo. They also needed to blend fresh ideas while reflecting the motto of SIS, which is ‘Fortune Favours the Prepared Mind’ (from the Latin Fortuna Erudites Favet)."

The new uniform will be implemented from January 2023 in conjunction with the launch of the new logo of Sunway International Schools. It will also be proudly worn by students attending the massive new SIS Sunway City KL campus, a 8-acre purpose-built learning institution. The new look also signifies a moment of pride for the school’s attainment of GreenRE (Green Real Estate) certification.

“This competition celebrates the uniqueness of SIS’s teaching and learning or curricula,” said Dr Cheng Mien Wee, the Executive Director of SIS. She also added that this competition served as a learning opportunity for contestants, as they could acquire basic design knowledge and skills via the facilitator-led workshops and then apply what they learned into curating their respective uniform designs. 

Elizabeth Wong, the chairperson of the SIS Sunway City Kuala Lumpur’s Parent Council, also the Founder of Malaysia International School Parents Support Group (MISPSG), believed this was a good community initiative that saw encouraging support. 

The event ended with an announcement of a new partnership and collaborative fashion design programme between Sunway College and Stylo International by Professor Lee and Dato’ Nancy Yeoh. “We were delighted with the commitment of SIS students, parents and teachers showing such a spirit of community throughout the intense months of planning and preparation. We look forward to see more inspiring designs in the future.”

The main material sponsor for the competition was G&G Creations Sdn Bhd, whose owner Goh Chi Huat graciously sponsored outfit tailoring for all the seven contesting teams in the finale event.