PERTH, Western Australia - Eco Fashion Week Australia (EFWA), the Perth-founded, artist-run initiative championing slow fashion, textile sustainability and heritage craft, has been named winner of the Sustainability Award at the 33rd Belmont & Western Australian Small Business Awards. The award, sponsored by Regen Powert, was presented at the ‘Night of Stars’ gala in the ballroom of the Perth Convention and Exhibition Centre on Wednesday 4 November 2026, before an audience of more than 320 guests.
EFWA founder and visual artist Dr Zuhal Kuvan-Mills accepted the award on stage from Regen Power’s Shankar Senthil [title to confirm], who presented the category on the company’s behalf.
Founded in Perth in 2017, Eco Fashion Week Australia deliberately operates outside the commercial fashion model. Its runway shows and exhibitions give emerging, established and student designers a platform for eco-friendly collections; its workshops and masterclasses teach sustainable styling, eco-dyeing, zero-waste design and traditional craft techniques; and its heritage textile projects work to preserve, revitalise and find markets for endangered handmade textiles. Dr Kuvan-Mills is also the founder of Green Embassy, the organic couture label that featured in the evening’s Designer Fashion Showcase.
The Sustainability Award recognises environmental, sustainability, energy-efficiency and circular-economy practices in Western Australian business, and was one of 22 categories presented on the night.
The Awards hold a particular place in Regen Power’s own story. The Perth solar, battery and EV-charging company won the Business Management Award in 2019 and the Sustainability Award in 2021, and in 2022 was named Enterprise of the Year - a third win that saw it inducted into the Awards’ Hall of Fame. Since then Regen Power has moved from entrant to supporter, first sponsoring the Sustainability Award in 2023 and returning as category sponsor in 2025 and again this year. The company is also recognised as an Ambassador of the Awards.
“We know what it feels like to hear your name read out in that ballroom, because we have sat in those seats,” said Nikhil Jayaraj, CEO of Regen Power. “Belmont BEC and Carol Hanlon have been backing Western Australian small businesses since 1994 - long before sustainability was a word most of us used - and they backed us early. Sponsoring this award is a small way of giving something back.
“Sustainability is not only about rooftops and batteries. Eco Fashion Week Australia reminds us it is also about what we wear, what we repair and what we hand down. Dr Kuvan-Mills and her team have done the patient, unglamorous work of changing how people think about clothing, and that is exactly the kind of work this award exists to recognise.”
Belmont BEC CEO and Awards founder Carol Hanlon said the Awards, now in their 33rd year, continue to “honour the incredible passion, innovation, and perseverance of small business owners across our state”, and thanked the category sponsors and major sponsor the City of Belmont, whose support makes the event possible.
The evening opened with a Welcome to Country by Josh McGuire and a welcome address from City of Belmont Mayor Robert Rossi. Member for Belmont Cassie Rowe MLA and City of Cockburn Councillor Chontelle Stone hosted as MCs, Kaylene Taylor provided the entertainment, and the Designer Fashion Showcase featured collections from Green Embassy, House and Hide, Koi Girl, Miss Scarlett, Silverstar Designs and Sol of Eos. Hope Nursing Services, Miss Scarlett and Fortix were inducted into the Awards’ Hall of Fame.
The Belmont & Western Australian Small Business Awards were founded in 1994 and are coordinated by the Belmont Business Enterprise Centre Inc. (Belmont BEC), a not-for-profit community organisation that has helped more than 36,500 people start or improve a small business through training, mentoring and networking. The 2026 Awards were supported by major sponsors the City of Belmont, Belmont BEC and the Textile, Clothing, Footwear Resource Centre of WA (TCFWA). The full list of 2026 winners is available at belmontbec.com/awards.
About Regen Power
Regen Power is a Western Australian solar, battery storage and EV-charging company founded in Perth in 2003 by the late Emeritus Professor Chem Nayar of Curtin University. With more than 45,000 rooftop solar systems installed across Australia, it is one of the state’s longest-serving installers. In 2026 Regen Power was named WA’s best-rated solar installer by SolarQuotes for the second consecutive year and WA’s most popular solar installer by SunWiz, and it partners with Curtin University on battery-adoption research supported by the Australian Research Council. Its promise to customers is simple: Power That Doesn’t Cost The Earth. regenpower.com
About Eco Fashion Week Australia
Eco Fashion Week Australia is an artist-run initiative founded in Perth in 2017 by visual artist Dr Zuhal Kuvan-Mills. Rather than operating as a commercial fashion agency, EFWA provides educational, promotional and community-driven programs focused on slow fashion, textile sustainability and heritage preservation, including runway shows, exhibitions, workshops, masterclasses and heritage textile projects.
About Belmont BEC
Belmont Business Enterprise Centre Inc. (Belmont BEC) is a not-for-profit community organisation established in 1994 that provides training, mentoring, networking and support services to people starting or growing a small business in Belmont, across Western Australia and nationally. Its projects include the annual Belmont & Western Australian Small Business Awards, the designedge Innovation Festival, the TCF Resource Centre of WA and the BPW Business Incubator. belmontbec.com
Media Contact: 0894563491 · regenpower.com