 The culmination of the fashion accelerator program at recent pitch competition signals the nurturing of businesses in St. Lucia's fashion industry. 14 young designers participated in the pitch competition and 12 were awarded grants and mentorships to aid in establishing sustainable businesses. Minister for Commerce, Manufacturing, Business Development, Cooperatives and Consumer Affairs, Honourable Emma Hippolett advised participants to adopt a global perspective in their development of their businesses. It cannot be simply about buying or retailing or manufacturing and selling or displaying your products and expect customers to buy. Let me remind you, graduates, of the importance of customer care and customer service. Branding, networking, partnerships, training, retooling, leveraging the use of technology and recognizing that we are operating in a global space. So in short, the products that some of you when you open your businesses would have must get itself through your efforts and the various mediums raised to any part of the world. Honourable Emma Hippolett indicated that the outcomes of the fashion accelerator and pitch competition are in alignment with the Love St. Lucia campaign, which encourages St. Lucia to buy locally. Honourable Emma Hippolett says it also supports the government's thrust to establish a youth economy. As a government, what we intend to do is to give the Love St. Lucia campaign greater backing and momentum to benefit the various sectors, including the fashion industry. This is an industry that is quite diverse, from designers to tailors to seamstresses to stylists to hairdressers, barbers, nail technicians, makeup artists, photography, and so much more. There is also the aspect of patents and intellectual property that we are also hoping to engage young talent entrepreneurs so as to better position themselves to maximise on the opportunities that will be presented. This is in keeping with my government's thrust towards a youth economy, which we promise and have started to roll out. Participant in the fashion accelerator and pitch competition Donna Hyacinth is a recipient of a $10,000 grant. Her business accru-creations offers climate-friendly fashion alternatives through the recycling and upcycling of clothing and textiles. People are buying clothes more than ever before and not keeping it as long. Too much of it ends up in our landfills, thrift stores receive donations that they can sell or handle, and textile recycling remains little known. And can I exaggerate a bit more on the amount of textile that goes to our landfills globally? Over 90 million items of clothing end up in landfills, and more than 500 billion in value is lost every year due to underutilised clothes and lack of recycling. So in that case, we need to recycle more of our textile than we do to control the glut. So how do we go about solving that problem? By creating awareness of the problem, of course. Unwanted fabric used or new textile will be collected from companies and individuals and then upcycle or recycle into wearable fashion and products which can be sold to customers and businesses. We also provide a service such as upcycling and garment reconstruction. The Saint-Douche Fashion and Contemporary Design Accelerator was a joint initiative by the Caribbean Development Bank, basic needs trust fund, Creative Industries Innovative Fund, Saint-Douche Social Development Fund, and the Saint-Douche Fashion Council end of stand supported by the Ministry of Commerce, Manufacturing, Business Development, Cooperatives and Consumer Affairs. From the Government Information Service, Hermione Mark reporting.