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NEW YORK—Eyewear and sunwear companies, along with makers of PPE, sustainable products and a range of other fashion accessory categories, were announced yesterday as the finalists for the 2nd annual Design Excellence Awards of the Accessories Council. The finalists were selected by the Council's board of directors based on the criteria of excellence in design, unique appearance and/or function, consumer needs addressed by product, aesthetics, innovative materials, market positioning and other factors. The final winners in each category will be selected by popular vote and the winners will be announced on Thursday, Sept. 3rd, when they will each receive a trophy designed by Marchon Eyewear. Voting for the Final honorees in all categories is now open to the public, and that voting can be done here. 

In Eyewear - Optical, the Finalist Products include:

• Airlock, Pure Airlock 2005
• Kate Spade New York, Eliana/G
• Longchamp LO2670
• RAEN, BOWMAN By Selin Olmsted Studio
• Tura Eyewear, LE2

In Eyewear - Sun, the Finalist Products Include:

• Big Horn, Salar Zu
• Champion, C-Life "Hex"
• Jimmy Choo, Shine/S
• McLaren Vision Collection, McLaren Vision
• Victoria Beckham, VB614

Each finalist will receive a certificate and “Accessories Council Design Award Finalist” logo.

Established by the Accessories Council in 2019, the Design Excellence Awards were launched to create a platform that recognizes outstanding products across multiple accessory categories. In addition to eyewear, sunwear, handbags, fine jewelry, footwear and sustainability, among others, a new category titled PPE (Personal Protective Equipment), has been added to acknowledge the innovation which accessory brands are exhibiting in this area.

The Design Excellence Award winner in the PPE category will have the opportunity to choose a COVID-19 relief charity as the recipient of a donation that the Accessories Council will make on their behalf.

Additionally, the Saga Fur Award and the NPD Award were announced on Monday as well. The Saga Fur Award was awardede to Saga Fur Handbag by LaQuan Smith, and the NPD Award, a statistically derived honor based on the product that had the highest sales growth, was awarded to the Adidas Backpack. 

Sponsors of the 2020 Design Excellence Awards include Marchon Eyewear, the Qurate Group, Saga Furs, and WWIN.