To mark the second year of their partnership, M&S and YoungMinds are running the Young Designer Competition for children to create a winning design for this year’s M&S and YoungMinds Hello Yellow kidswear collection. Hello Yellow marks World Mental Health Day on 10 October. Every year for Hello Yellow, YoungMinds calls on teachers, pupils, parents and colleagues to wear yellow on the day to show young people they aren’t alone with their mental health.
Spearheaded by M&S x YoungMinds Partnership Ambassador and mum Rochelle Humes, this Children’s Mental Health Week, the competition invites young people across the UK to design a sweatshirt or hoodie that will be sold in M&S stores across the UK and online. All profits will be donated to YoungMinds to help more young people feel supported with their mental health.
M&S and YoungMinds are looking for inspiring designs to feature on two special pieces in the 2025 YoungMinds Hello Yellow kidswear collection. There are two age categories for the competition – 5-11 and 12-16 year-olds – with one winner from each age category.
The winners, along with their guardian, will get behind-the-scenes access to see their ideas become a reality, with their designs featuring in the M&S x YoungMinds Hello Yellow range 2025 available at M&S this autumn. Furthermore, they will receive an invitation to visit the M&S support centre in London to see their design become the artwork, see the printing of the products at the supplier factory in the Midlands, and be part of the launch in September.
The winner will also receive enough sweatshirts or hoodies featuring the winning design for everyone in their school class to wear on Hello Yellow.
M&S has raised over £3 million in the first year of its partnership with YoungMinds to support young people’s mental health. Launched in October 2023, the partnership aims to raise £5 million over three years. This will enable YoungMinds to double its reach to support seven million young people and the adults in their lives through easy-to-access online resources and its dedicated Parents Helpline.
Since the partnership launched, YoungMinds has been able to reach even more young people and the adults around them. Already these funds have contributed to YoungMinds supporting over 3.2m young people to manage their mental health through easy-to-access information and advice. The funds have also helped support over 1.9m adults through the YoungMinds Parent Helpline, training and online information.
More young people than ever are struggling with their mental health, with five pupils in every classroom likely to have a mental health condition. Research commissioned by M&S and YoungMinds found that despite struggling with their mental health, 65% of young people had not asked for any kind of formal support, with 33% of those saying they felt too embarrassed to ask for help.
Through their charity partnership, M&S and YoungMinds are working together to change this by raising awareness and showing young people that it’s okay to reach out for help when they are struggling. For further information on the Young Designer Competition, please click here.
