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This third annual design competition for fashion students advocated young designers to support the Thai textile and garment industries and U.S. cotton. Judges selected Sirus Tantiyapong (nicknamed “Yod-Yoko”), a student at Silpakorn University, as the winner of the COTTON USA Design Challenge for his collection “Dimension of Picasso.” The winning designer traveled to New York Fashion Week, and the trip was broadcast on Thai television. Yod-Yoko competed with 300 up-andcoming Thai designers over the course of the competition. Judges whittled the group down to five finalists, who had six weeks to complete their collections for the final round during which they defended their work to an honorary panel of 10 fashion industry leaders at a COTTON USA fashion show. Following his COTTON USA win, Yod- Yoko won the award for “Best Design for Shirting Fabrics” at Supima’s second annual design competition in January 2009. Yod-Yoko created two eveningwear looks with 10 yards of Supima fabric. He worked directly with Thai Textile Industry, as well as a COTTON USA and Supima licensee, to develop 200 count/two ply Supima fabrics especially for the show. The 2008 competition brought in $1.8 million in EAV, and press coverage of Yod- Yoko’s win in Supima’s design competition increased COTTON USA’s EAV to $2.7 million. CCI earned an advertising value return of $100 on every dollar invested of U.S. Department of Agriculture Market Access Program (MAP) funding.
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