Bronze Fashion, Apparel and Garment Design · 2025
Undiscovered Landscapes Sustainable Coat
- A' Design Award 2025 Bronze Winner in Fashion, Apparel and Garment Design
- Awarded April 15, 2025
- CLIENT: Fashion House Lekeckas
- Estimated Number of Design Views: 73,035
- Verification code 146AC461C6 · Verify this award
About Undiscovered Landscapes Sustainable Coat
While it is possible to explore almost every corner of the Earth on computer screens, is it possible to rediscover the world? This collection is inspired by receding views of Earth, where buildings, streets, and cars fade, leaving only geometrized contours. Coats made from sewing industry waste, it leads a new sustainable aesthetic. The textures of the fabrics resemble shifting landscapes, like maps seen from above, urging reflection on sustainability and global political tensions. The coat symbolizes warmth, offering refuge against life’s fragility and the uncertainty of changing world.
Kestutis Lekeckas's Undiscovered Landscapes Sustainable Coat emerges from a design philosophy that seeks harmony between architectural garment construction and environmental consciousness, situating itself within contemporary sustainable fashion movements that prioritize material innovation and enduring design over disposable trends. The composition demonstrates sophisticated chromatic restraint, employing geometric color blocking as primary formal strategy: deep black zones anchor the silhouette's right side and lower register, while luminous off-white or natural ecru occupies the upper left quadrant, with graduated charcoal and medium gray panels creating tonal transition across the torso that suggests landscape stratification or geological layering. This calculated chromatic progression achieves visual interest through geometry and value relationship rather than pattern or ornamental excess, reflecting minimalist design principles that celebrate essential form. The substantial belt wrapping the natural waist employs darker textured fabric suggesting woven or felted construction, providing focal point and emphasizing the coat's architectural structure while creating proportional division that elongates the upper body and grounds the lower volume. Technical execution reveals accomplished tailoring: clean seam work visible in color block transitions, precise edge alignment, and structural integrity that maintains form without evident stiffness, suggesting quality fabrication and pattern-making expertise. The choice to photograph the garment within dormant grassland rather than studio environment proves conceptually significant, positioning the sustainable coat literally within the landscape that perhaps inspired its name and material philosophy, the muted earth tones of dried grasses and distant forest creating organic chromatic dialogue with the garment's neutral palette. The setting's seasonal character suggests transition, dormancy holding potential for renewal, perhaps metaphorically resonating with sustainable design's promise to reimagine fashion's relationship with natural systems and material cycles. The model's composed, direct engagement with camera establishes dignified presence, his groomed presentation and frontal stance conveying confidence in the garment's aesthetic merit and conceptual integrity, while the solitary figure within expansive landscape evokes themes of individual agency within larger ecological contexts. Lighting conditions favor soft, even illumination characteristic of overcast northern light, eliminating dramatic shadows and instead emphasizing form through tonal gradation and color relationship, a technical choice that foregrounds the garment's structural qualities and material character over theatrical effect. One observes how the vertical format and centered placement create stability and monumentality despite the human scale, the figure anchored yet not diminished by the horizontal landscape expanse, suggesting balanced relationship between designed object and natural environment. The coat invites contemplation regarding material provenance, construction methodologies that minimize waste, design longevity that transcends seasonal obsolescence, and fashion's capacity to embody values beyond surface aesthetics, asking viewers to consider how garment choices participate in broader conversations about sustainability, craft tradition, and mindful consumption.
Press Kit
- Unique Properties
- Sustainable coats made from production waste, typically discarded, aim to promote a zero-waste production vision. Only the highest-quality natural wool fabrics, such as merino, cashmere, and alpaca, are used. By combining fabric pieces, Lithuanian folk heritage and traditional patchwork techniques are incorporated. Fabrics in various colors, textures and structures form a map-like pattern, symbolizing the complex global situation and the need to redraw our mental maps for a sustainable future.
- Dimensions & Packaging
- Unique pieces are sewn using the standard sizing system, but they can be altered, adjusted, and individualized, and made to order.
- Tags
- sustainable fashion, men's fashion, coat, unisex coat, lekeckas, kestutis lekeckas, sustainability, sustainable design, circular design, fashion
- Production Technology
- Zero-waste technology – made from production waste. Patchwork techniques inspired by Lithuanian heritage. All materials are of natural origin.
- Design Challenge
- The complexity of the design process lies in combining different materials with varying compositions, thicknesses, structures, and types. A sufficient amount of scraps must be collected and sorted, and the design style cannot be predetermined, as the design process is closely integrated with the cutting process. Due to limited quantities and material parameters, the use of fabric pieces is restricted. Additionally, to maximize resource utilization, the geometric parameters of the details are carefully considered. Accessories are made from the smallest scraps.
- Project Duration
- The coats presented are made for the 2024/25 season, but the aim is for them to remain relevant for multiple seasons, focusing on timeless design and slow fashion principles. This is the first coat collection belonging to our ongoing zero-waste project, inspired by the sustainable suit design that won gold at the "Design Award & Competition" 2020/21. This design has evolved from a limited collection into a long-term project.
- Operation Flow
- Models can be repaired and updated in our design studio, taking into account the specifics of production (made from pieces), it is easy to replace worn parts of the material with new ones, additional cuttings can be introduced, so after updating the product can look completely new, it corresponds to the circular design category.
- Research
- Delving into the specifics of the Lithuanian national costume, especially the coat design, in order to reproduce the details of identity in the coat design, as well as into the Lithuanian patchwork art, in order to adapt it to the connection of details from different materials
- Inspiration
- Amidst ongoing military conflicts and the efforts of powerful forces to redraw maps, sustainability issues are often sidelined. In this shifting world, art, fashion, and individual choices become vital forms of resistance and expression. Through conscious design, fashion sparks reflection, encouraging others to consider the consequences of their actions and the impact of global shifts on the future.
- Image Credits
- Photographer: Migle Golubickaite,
Hair style: Kristina Gorodeckiene,
Model: Samuele Francesconi MBOYS agency,
Assistant: Alina Kusaite.
Colors of Undiscovered Landscapes Sustainable Coat
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Grand Interview about Undiscovered Landscapes Sustainable Coat
While traditional fashion production remains essential today, it often lacks the tools or vision to shift toward true sustainability. A more responsible path forward would combine high-quality, natural materials with long-lasting design principles. At the same time, integrating the creative use of offcuts and even defective textiles into limited-edition, artisanal production could form a cohesive system—offering the industry a viable model for transitioning toward circular, sustainable practices without abandoning its core.
Global political tensions, especially the redrawing of borders through military force, had a profound impact on this collection. The fragmented fabrics in the Undiscovered Landscapes coats reflect the instability and complexity of today’s world. The map-like visuals are not just aesthetic; they symbolize the shifting mental and geopolitical landscapes we are all navigating. Through this work, I wanted to show how fragile our systems are and how urgently we need to rethink them, not only politically, but also in how we produce, consume, and relate to material things.
The process begins with sourcing leftover, high-quality natural wool fabrics such as merino, cashmere, and alpaca from local production facilities. These are often small offcuts or pieces with minor flaws that would otherwise be discarded. Each fragment is carefully examined, sorted, and classified based on its thickness, elasticity, texture, and drape.From there, a compositional process begins. Rather than forcing uniformity, I allow the fabrics’ differences to guide the design. Thicker, more structured pieces are used for areas that need support, like shoulders or collars, while softer, more flexible ones are placed where movement is needed. The goal is not only to ensure functionality but to create a visual language through contrast.The assembly of fragments is intuitive and slow, like building a collage. Seams become both structural and expressive elements, forming patterns that resemble aerial landscapes. It is a process of translating waste into meaningful design, where every texture tells part of the story.
I am deeply inspired by Lithuanian heritage, especially our national costume and the resourceful traditions embedded in folk culture. Patchwork, for example, is not just a decorative element but a meaningful practice that appears throughout Lithuanian heritage. It reflects a mindset of care, repair, and respect for materials—principles that are closely aligned with sustainability today.A few years ago, we collaborated with the Lithuanian Museum of Ethnography on an exhibition that showcased how people, especially in times of scarcity, creatively repaired and repurposed everyday objects and clothing. That tradition of "sustainability through necessity" stands in powerful contrast to my own work, which deals with "sustainability in the context of excess." By referencing folk techniques and values, the Undiscovered Landscapes coat connects the past and present, showing that sustainability is not a trend but a deep, enduring mindset that can guide us even in a globalized, overproducing world.
The Undiscovered Landscapes coat is designed with future adaptation in mind. Since it is constructed from individual fabric fragments, the structure naturally allows for easy repair, replacement, or even aesthetic updates over time. Instead of hiding wear and tear, the design embraces change as part of the garment’s evolution.This approach transforms the traditional idea of longevity—from simply preserving the original form to actively engaging with the garment as a living piece. Owners are encouraged to maintain, personalize, and even reshape the coat, extending its emotional and functional life. In this way, circularity is not just about recycling materials, but about building a long-term relationship between the garment and its wearer.
The biggest challenge when working with small and diverse fabric fragments was avoiding visual chaos. With varying colors, textures, structures, and thicknesses, there’s a real risk of creating something that looks messy, overly busy, or unintentionally rustic. My intention was to achieve a refined, harmonious, and even luxurious aesthetic, regardless of the fact that the coat is made from scraps.It was all about creating a visual dialogue between the fragments so that they complement rather than compete with one another. This required a lot of sensitivity and time, but in the end, each coat became not only a sustainable garment but also a coherent visual statement.
The map-like patterns in the Undiscovered Landscapes coat are a visual metaphor for shifting perspectives. Just as borders on maps are redrawn in times of conflict or change, I believe we also need to redraw the internal maps that guide our values, habits, and priorities—especially in relation to sustainability.Each fragment in the coat represents a small part of a larger system, stitched together to form a new, cohesive whole. It is a way of asking the viewer to reflect: what do we consider waste, and what could we choose to value instead? The coat becomes a wearable landscape of transformation, suggesting that change starts with how we see, think, and connect to the world around us.
Winning Gold at the A’ Design Award for the Recreated collection gave me even more confidence in this idea and confirmed that the aesthetic I was developing is both relevant and contemporary. That recognition helped the concept grow into a larger project. We are now actively working to use all the leftover suiting fabric from our production.Designing a suit from offcuts already brings challenges, but suiting fabrics are usually similar in texture and weight, and they can be rotated easily, which makes composition more manageable. Coating fabrics, on the other hand, are far more complex. They often have a fixed direction, significant differences in thickness, and sometimes even a visible nap or pile. It took time and experience to mature the idea before we felt ready to apply this zero-waste strategy to coats.I’m very happy that this next step has also proved successful and was recognized with a Bronze award. It confirms that sustainability and aesthetics can evolve together, even within the strict limitations of textile waste.
My background in materials engineering and technological sciences has shaped the way I approach fashion by teaching me to see things from the inside out. Engineering helps me understand how materials behave, how they connect, and how they respond to form and structure. Design, on the other hand, focuses more on external expression, emotion, and aesthetics.This project begins from within. It starts with the material itself: its properties, limitations, joining possibilities, and how it fits into existing patterns and constrained forms. Only after resolving these internal aspects does the garment take on its visual and aesthetic value. This approach allows the design to emerge naturally from the material rather than being imposed on it. It is a slow, thoughtful process that combines technical insight with creative intention, grounded in the belief that sustainability begins with respect for the material.
I see the principles behind the Undiscovered Landscapes coat as part of a broader shift in how we think about fashion production. Instead of relying on uniform materials and predictable processes, this approach embraces irregularity, fragmentation, and limitation as creative tools. It shows that beauty and value can come from what is usually overlooked.In the future, I believe we will see more integration between traditional production and one-of-a-kind, waste-based design. Large-scale systems could begin to incorporate zero-waste thinking, not only by reducing excess, but by designing with it. This would allow for more flexible, adaptable production models that combine craftsmanship, circularity, and emotional connection.What we need is a change in mindset. Materials should not be treated as disposable, but as resources to be understood, respected, and extended. I hope this project can offer one example of how that future might begin.