LAGOS FASHION WEEK WINS EARTHSHOT PRIZE 2025

In a landmark win for African fashion, Lagos Fashion Week (LFW) has been announced as a winner of the 2025 Earthshot Prize in the “Build a Waste-Free World” category. This global honour recognises LFW’s decade-long commitment to transforming one of the world’s most waste-intensive industries through sustainability, circular design and culturally rooted craftsmanship.

Founded in 2011 by Omoyemi Akerele, Lagos Fashion Week has grown from a local showcase into Africa’s largest fashion platform, one that emphasises environmental responsibility as much as creative originality. The Earthshot Prize citation praises LFW’s model: every participating designer must commit to ethical sourcing, minimal waste and community-based production, embedding the ethos of circular fashion into its core.

LFW’s win reflects more than fashion ambition; it signals the continental shift in how style is made, worn and valued. By putting African creativity at the centre of sustainability conversations, the platform directly challenges the narrative that innovation resides only in the global North. As Akerele states, “the recognition … 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.”

The prize grants a £1 million (or equivalent) fund, which LFW intends to deploy into establishing a fully-functional circular fashion hub in Lagos, a facility that will convert textile waste into new materials, train artisans, and catalyse sustainable livelihoods across Africa.

As global fashion stands at a crossroads, pressured by over-production, throw-away culture and environmental backlash, Lagos Fashion Week’s recognition by the Earthshot Prize underscores a paradigm shift. Fashion weeks are no longer just about spectacle; they carry responsibility. And in this moment, Lagos has shown that style and system-change can walk the runway together.