About the Contest

The Functional Clothing Contest is FTC’s signature platform celebrating innovation, creativity, functionality, and interdisciplinary exploration within the field of fashion and wearable systems. It showcases how clothing can move beyond aesthetics to deliver meaningful functionality in real-world contexts.

Participants are invited to design and develop functional garments that address specific needs, such as protection, healthcare, assistive use, performance enhancement, sustainability, or any emerging application. A key expectation is that functionality is seamlessly integrated into the garment, rather than appearing as an add-on (i.e. the garment must be self-contained with all functional components integrated within the clothing). The emphasis is on design intelligence, usability, and real-world viability. The final product must be safe, wearable, and demonstrable without external support.

Contest is open to students, emerging designers, professionals, researchers, and innovators from diverse backgrounds, as individuals or interdisciplinary teams (maximum 4 members). Each team must nominate a leader as the primary contact. Teams may submit multiple entries (with different leaders).

Participation Process

Stage 1: Concept Submission (Last date: 14^th September 2026)

Last Date: 14th September 2026

Contestants are required to submit:

• Completed registration form
• A concept note describing the problem, proposed solution, and functionality
• A Digital portfolio containing the design development, technical drawings, materials, and visuals.
• A one-minute video explaining the concept (Optional)

(Participants may balance functionality with Contemporary fashion, Wearability, User relevance and Strong visual appeal. Interventions may range from Simple functional enhancements, to Ergonomic innovations, Adaptive clothing systems, Advanced conceptual or technical solutions & more. The brief is open to contestants own interpretation and imagination. Collaborative and interdisciplinary entries involving are encouraged to broaden innovation and experimentation within the competition.)

Stage 2: Shortlisting and Registration

• An interim jury will review the digital portfolios and invite selected teams for the final round. Conveyance of short-listed concepts by FTC Committee: 12th October 2026
• All selected teams must register at this stage to go to the final round (Deadline for Registration: 26th October 2026)
• All finalist teams will be given at least 3 months to make a functional, wearable prototype to demonstrate at the final jury showcase.

Stage 3: Final Showcase (Live Demonstration)

• All final garment prototypes will be presented to a jury, demonstrating the design, functional features, ease of use, mechanism or adaptability, and overall garment performance through real-time use.
  (Note: Registered contestants can either do the demonstration themselves or use an intended end-user to demonstrate. International participants or those who are unable to travel to the conference may submit garments through courier. Organizers will provide a model, facilitate fitting, styling and final demonstration. The garment must reach the organizers at least 2 weeks prior to the jury day. Participants will be responsible for arranging courier services for both sending and return of garments.)
• The presentation must also contain a video explaining the garment design/concept, inspiration, Functional innovation, User application, Problem-solved, features and mechanisms. This video will be displayed on the background digital screen while the garment/design is being showcased for review by the selection committee and jury members.
  (The videos must strictly follow the specifications - Aspect Ratio: 16:9 (Landscape), Minimum Resolution: 1920 × 1080, Format: MP4 only, Frame Rate: Minimum 30 FPS, Duration: strictly 60–90 seconds).

Evaluation Criteria

Entries will be assessed by an international jury on:

• Originality
• Creativity/ Innovation
• Practicality
• Functionality/ Problem-solving ability
• User-Centricity
• Presentation Quality

Awards and Recognition

• Top three entries will receive cash prizes and certificates (First Prize: Rs. 50,000, Second Prize: Rs. 30,000, Third Prize: Rs. 20,000)
• All short-listed entries would be published in conference proceedings
• All participants will receive certificates of participation

Ethical and Professional Standards

• All sources and references must be properly acknowledged
• Use of AI tools (for design, visualization, or research) must be transparently declared
• In case of students submitting class projects, names & consent of supervisors and/or co-workers must be submitted.
• Funding sources must be disclosed
• Any form of plagiarism will lead to disqualification

Poster Contest

The Poster Contest invites students to present innovative concepts, materials, processes, or products developed by them in the domain of functional textiles and clothing. Submissions may span any of the FTC thematic areas.
Poster entries will be evaluated by jury members considering:

• Scientific and technical rigour
• Originality and innovation
• Clarity of communication and visual presentation

All posters will be displayed during the conference. The first two authors will be provided certificates.

Top three entries will be awarded cash prizes and certificates.