- Rediscovery Centre and Change Clothes announced as winners of the fifth Design & Crafts Council Ireland Irish Business Design Challenge (IBDC), received €20,000 each
- Two runners up, McWilliam Bags and Gemell received €5,000 each
- IBDC 2025 focuses on design solutions to make businesses more sustainable and efficient
Thursday, 20th November: The winners of Design & Crafts Council Ireland’s (DCCI) Irish Business Design Challenge 2025 (IBDC) were announced today at an awards ceremony in Trinity Portal at the Grand Canal Docks in Dublin. The micro category winner was CHANGE CLOTHES, a community-based clothing reuse hub in Dublin 8, and the small category winner, The Rediscovery Centre, the National Centre for the Circular Economy in Ireland, located in the heart of Ballymun, Dublin. Each winner received €20,000. The two runners-up were McWilliam Bags, a Cork-based company making durable, handmade bags in the small business category, and Gemell, a Dublin based company that builds software for the fabric industry in the micro business category. Each runner up received €5,000.
33 businesses from across Ireland entered and eight companies were shortlisted in this year’s awards. Now in its fifth year, Irish Business Design Challenge celebrates businesses that are committed to innovation and sustainable design and have developed products, services or strategies to make the world a better place. IBDC focuses on companies that have identified pressing challenges or opportunities, and who have used design thinking or circular economy strategies to create sustainable solutions to create new products, reimagine old ones or transform the business to benefit the environment and society. As well as creating awareness and generating support for the shortlisted businesses, DCCI’s IBDC shines a light on the value that considered design has on overall business strategy.
The Irish Business Design Challenge took place as part of Design & Crafts Council Ireland Irish Design Week 2025, a week-long programme of 70 events nationwide. This year’s DCCI Irish Design Week programme, under the theme ‘The Ties that Tie and the Links that Link’, includes keynote speeches, panel discussions, exhibitions and a series of Design Diplomacy talks, hosted at the Royal Irish Academy of Music (RIAM) until Friday 21st November.
Minister for Enterprise, Tourism and Employment, Peter Burke commented on the IBDC Awards: “The Irish Business Design Challenge Awards plays a vital role in showcasing the incredible businesses that exist right across the country in the innovative, creative and sustainable space. Small and micro businesses, which form the backbone of the Irish economy, gain a particularly valuable opportunity through these awards to present their work more broadly and to be recognised for their contribution to local communities as well as national growth. Design & Crafts Council Ireland is working hard to ensure that the support for Irish design and sustainability remains strong, and I’d like to congratulate all the winners and runners up from today’s ceremony.”
Mary Blanchfield, CEO at Design & Crafts Council Ireland, said: “DCCI is delighted to honour the outstanding work of these companies, which are adopting circular and sustainable design to reshape the way they operate. Through this initiative, four businesses have secured funding to deepen their commitment to sustainable design practices, and they are raising the bar for everyone in the sector. This kind of support empowers them to recognise their roles as design innovators and thought leaders, and to lead by example for others on similar paths. DCCI is proud to back such ambition and dedication.”
Simon Dennehy, founder of Perch Dynamic Solutions and judge for the Irish Business Design Challenge commented: “Being a judge on this year’s IBDC Awards was a real pleasure and honour. All the companies shortlisted for the 2025 IBDC Awards demonstrated a strong understanding of how design thinking can boost business efficiency and businesses can be circular and sustainable and still create incredible products and services. The vision, resilience and ambition shown by small and micro businesses play a critical role in driving future innovation and sustaining local communities. The creativity and commitment to positive change made the judging process inspiring but also deeply rewarding.”
Supported by the Department of Enterprise, Tourism and Employment, the IBDC awards, which has a prize fund of €50,000, is a competition aimed at micro and small Irish businesses from all sectors.
Following an initial shortlisting process by an expert jury, the eight finalists were then evaluated through a combination of public vote and a judging panel including:
- Sophie Reynolds, a circular economy policy and innovation lead with Irish Manufacturing Research.
- Simon Dennehy, founder of Perch Dynamic Solutions which focuses on research-led design for applied human movement.
- Lara Hanlon, a design strategist, sustainability advocate, and community builder, who is also the founder of Portion Collaborative.
The judges evaluated each entry based on the innovation of products or services borne from sustainable developments that encompass environmental quality, economic prosperity, and social equity, with sustainable design at its core.
For further information on the Irish Business Design Challenge, visit www.ibdc.ie
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For more information, please contact Eimear Harding, Communications and Public Affairs Manager, DCCI, 083 023 8743 or email [email protected]
For further press information please contact Claire Feely, Emma Kelly, Laura Daly or Eliza Gallagher at Elevate PR, 01 662 5652 or email [email protected] / [email protected] / [email protected] / [email protected]
Notes to Editors:
Irish Business Design Challenge
Irish Business Design Challenge is open to all eligible businesses to showcase their commitment to sustainability through innovative design, circular and ethical practices.
The 2025 DCCI Irish Business Design Challenge winning companies are:
Micro business category:
- Winner – Change Clothes
- Runner up – Gemell
Small business category:
- Winner – Rediscovery Centre
- Runner up – McWilliam Bags
The 2025 DCCI Irish Business Design Challenge shortlisted companies were:
Micro business category:
- Gemell – Dublin
- Ecoroots – Cork
- Change Clothes – Dublin
- Refillz – Kildare
Small business category:
- Rezero – Dublin
- McWilliam Bags – Cork
- Rediscovery Centre – Dublin
- Easydry – Louth
About Design & Crafts Council Ireland
Design & Crafts Council Ireland is the national agency for craft and design in Ireland, we support designers and makers to develop their businesses in a sustainable way, and advocate for the societal benefits of craft and design. DCCI’s activities are funded by the Department of Enterprise, Tourism and Employment via Enterprise Ireland. DCCI currently has 68 member organisations and over 3,500 registered clients.
www.dcci.ie @dccireland
