Genesis and the Council of Fashion Designers of America have named Terence Zhou of Bad Binch TongTong the winner of the third annual CFDA/Genesis House AAPI Design + Innovation Grant.
The program continues to elevate AAPI designers by providing financial support, mentorship and a platform to create collections that explore cultural identity through contemporary design.
On Thursday night, the finalists, Zhou, Allina Liu, and Kim Shui presented their completed collections at an event at Genesis House in New York.
“It has been inspiring to witness the creativity and cultural perspective each designer brought to this program,” said Tedros Mengiste, chief operating officer of Genesis Motor North America. “Over the past several months, the finalists transformed personal heritage into thoughtful collections, and we are proud to support their ongoing growth within the fashion industry.”
Previous winners have been Grace Ling (2024) and Olivia Cheng of Dauphinette (2025).
During the program, each designer received $40,000 from Genesis, the automotive brand, to develop their collection, along with access to mentors and advisers across fashion, technology, and business. Over the five-month program, the designers also traveled to Seou for a cultural experience that served as inspiration for their final collections.
Zhou’s winning three-piece collection explored innovation as a state of incubation, where heritage and modernity coexist. Inspired by the Chinese creation myth of Pan Gu, each look positioned the cosmic egg as both protective shell and threshold between worlds. Translucent sculptural forms housed garments with deliberately softened, partially concealed details. Referencing the Korean moon jar, a monumental lily and an aerodynamic automotive prototype, the collection traced a progression from origin to transformation to forward motion, proposing innovation as refinement rather than rupture.
“I’m deeply honored to be selected as a CFDA/Genesis House AAPI design + Innovation Grant recipient,” said Zhou. “This program affirms my belief that innovation is not about replacing heritage, but allowing it to evolve, holding tradition in a state of becoming while imagining new futures through design.”
Zhou received an additional $60,000 to further develop his business, bringing the total grant funding to $100,000. The collections will remain on display at Genesis House at 40A Tenth Avenue in the Meatpacking District through Feb. 22. Genesis House offers experiences influenced by Korean culture and community and has a restaurant, showroom, and Cellar Stage.
“We are proud to celebrate Terrence, Allina and Kim, who each brought forward strong creative identities and thoughtful perspectives that define the purpose of this grant. Their work sets an inspiring tone ahead of New York Fashion week,” said Steven Kolb, chief executive officer and president of the CFDA.
Zhou, a New York-based Chinese designer, graduated from the Parsons School of Design in 2020 following a degree in fashion design with a year student exchange program in the U.K. at Central Saint Martins, University of the Arts London. He founded Bad Binch TongTong, a fashion and art brand, in 2021. The brand is known for its avant-garde silhouettes, surreal aesthetics, and theatrical runway moments. His creations have been worn by Kim Kardashian, Sza, Lizzo, Kris Jenner, Eileen Gu, and Karlie Kloss.
Following the announcement that he won, Zhou told WWD, “I’m really proud of myself. For me, I wanted to tell my younger self that the passion for art has never died or never waned and it becomes stronger and stronger when he listens to his inner voice.”
Zhou said this competition is unique “because they combine heritage and innovation together.”
“It’s rare to see people do that in fashion grants. They put so much focus on innovation. Basically I was encouraged to make things that people have never seen before, which is so aligned with my personality,” said Zhou, who grew up in Wuhan, China, and came to the U.S. at age 18.
As far as his process, Zhou said he mediates every day. “And when I do meditation there are certain specific images that jump into my mind. Sometimes I just hear this inner calling or a whisper, someone just whispering next to your ear. ‘Do that, this is the next thing.’ And then do whatever the guidance is telling me. ..I saw that specific image [the egg]. There’s a voice telling me, ‘do that.’ And it happens so frequently. That’s how I usually create.”
Asked what he intends to do with the prize money, Zhou said, “I will continue to develop my business. My ultimate goal is to combine this conceptual part with products and do more artwork that inspires more people. I want people to walk into my store in the future and feel that they are walking into my world. That’s my long-term goal, but for the short-term, we are going to focus on really bringing this edgy and conceptual and artistic part to the world…..I think that it’s time for Asian designers to really express that creativity.
“I want to send a message if they hear their inner voice to create something, then just go do it. I feel a lot of people see my work and they get inspired from that part. I want to continue to inspire. That’s my ultimate goal,” said Zhou.
Zhou has his own design studio in the Garment Center where he has assistants. “It’s just a bunch of kids and we love creating. We operate very differently from a fashion studio because we come in and then they never know what the plan is. So when they come in, I’m like, ‘Oh, I have this amazing idea. Let’s just experiment.’ Sometimes we’ll make amazing pieces. Sometimes things didn’t go as we imagine and we pivot. It’s really fun to work in my studio,” he said.
Most of his business is direct-to-consumer, and they focus on one viral product – the mermaid dress, which they’ve been doing for two years, and they change materials. “You don’t need to have a lot of products. But finding a product that people really love and are really willing to collect is more important than creating 10 collections,” he said.
“I think [this award] provides a great platform for me to take my work to the next level. We are very artistic, very conceptual. I feel when people see my work from their reactions, I see that it’s provoking, it’s also very meditative at the same time, and I just feel that I’m taking my work to the next level, which is beyond the boundaries of fashion.”
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