Designers of the Year 2020: Introducing Our Fashion Design Judges

Top brass from Cos, Herschel Supply Co. and Duer will be crowning Western Living‘s Fashion Designer of the Year in 2020. Get to know them below, and then get your entry ready: the deadline for DOTY 2020 is April 1. 

Karin Gustafsson, COS

At a young age, growing up in the Swedish city of Linköping, Karin Gustafsson was inspired by her mother to create her own clothes and experiment with patterns. This led her to study traditional womenswear tailoring and dressmaking in Stockholm. Throughout her education and career Karin developed a signature technique of designing through draping. It is therefore apt that just 10 years later she would be instrumental in the creation of the first COS collection formed partly using this method.

At the age of 23, Karin began designing her own range. The collection was extremely successful in her native Sweden and in 2000 she took the opportunity to further her formal education by attending a foundation course at the London College of Fashion. Enjoying the lifestyle and fashion scene in London, Karin continued her education at Middlesex University before completing studies at the Prestigious Royal College of Art. It was at her final collection show that the team at COS noticed and appreciated her work.

Karin joined COS as an Assistant Designer immediately after completing her studies in 2006, when COS was still merely a concept yet to be fully shaped or realised. Regardless of this Karin felt an immediate affinity with the brand and its design aspirations. After just one year she was promoted to a Designer in the classic section of womenswear and in 2011 accepted the role Head of Womenswear Design. In 2016 Karin was appointed Creative Director at COS. Today, Karin Gustafsson serves as the Head of Design at COS.

Lyndon Cormack, Herschel Supply Co.

With over 20 years of shared experience in the fashion industry, brothers Jamie and Lyndon Cormack are highly involved in both the everyday activities and long term strategies at Herschel Supply.

As the head of sales and operations, Lyndon also has a key executive role. With several years’ experience in the fashion industry, his branding vision and commitment to consistency drive Herschel Supply's growth and success within the world market.

Both Jamie and Lyndon's shared passion for design and business extends to other collaborative investments. Together, they have ownership interests in the Richmond, Virginia-based apparel and lifestyle retailer Need Supply, as well as luxury fashion boutique Totokaelo, which has locations in Seattle and New York City.

Gary Lennett, DUER

What I know is jeans. This has been my singular focus for most of the last 25 years.

I am perhaps most proud of my latest venture, DUER, where we are reinventing the jeans category with fabric that has five times more stretch and is 30% lighter and stronger than traditional denim. The brand has expanded to include men’s and women’s pants, jeans, shirts and jackets all of which feature technical proprietary fabrics that offer performance benefits, while maintaining the look and feel of premium streetwear. In addition to our dedicated storefronts in Vancouver and Toronto, DUER is now sold in over 300 retailers in 150 cities across North America and Europe.

Want to show these all-star judges your stuff? Enter our 2020 Designers of the Year now! Deadline April 1, 2020.