H&M awards €1 mn to five innovations of fashion industry

Global Change Award is the non-profit H&M Foundation’s fifth annual innovation challenge. Now, more than ever, H&M Foundation wants to continue to support long-term development, innovation and entrepreneurship for a sustainable future. The goal is to identify early stage, disruptive ideas that can make fashion more sustainable, and to scale them to transform the entire fashion industry.

This year, the Global Change Award Expert Panel selected five winning innovations out of 5,893 entries from 175 countries, during the period August-October 2019.

Incredible Cotton by Galy (US/Brazil) won the prize money of €300,000 for using biotechnology to create lab-grown cotton. Feature Fibres by Werewool (US) won €250,000. Tracing Threads by TextileGenesis (India) won €150,000. Zero Sludge by SeaChange Technologies (US) won €150,000. Airwear by Fairbrics (France) won €150,000.

Incredible Cotton by Galy uses biotechnology to create lab-grown cotton. Feature Fibres by Werewool creates fabrics from protein DNA with natural colours, stretch and other features. Tracing Threads by TextileGenesis tracks sustainable fibres through transparent and reliable blockchain technology. Zero Sludge by SeaChange Technologies separates and cleans wastewater to eliminate toxic sludge in landfills. Airwear by Fairbrics converts greenhouse gas into sustainable polyester.

“H&M Foundation supports the fight against the corona virus, and at the same time we continue to support entrepreneurs and innovators for long-term sustainability. Every year I am amazed by the ideas submitted to the Global Change Award. The innovations are in themselves challenging the way we think about fashion. We need to leave the old, linear ways of thinking behind, and move faster towards a planet positive and sustainable model. The winning innovations will help our industry reinvent itself and hopefully inspire others to also find new solutions,” said Karl-Johan Persson, board member of H&M Foundation.  

In addition to the €1 million grant, H&M Foundation enrolls the winners in a one-year Innovation Accelerator Program. The programme, run in cooperation with Accenture and KTH Royal Institute of Technology, is designed to connect the winners with the fashion industry and speed up the process of bringing their innovations to the market. 

“Winning the Global Change Award validates the recognition and belief in our vision as a company and open new doors for partnerships, technology and call to action for the entire industry. We are going to work hard to make our vision come true and we believe this award is one of the most important steps for this accomplishment,” said Luciano Bueno, founder and CEO of Galy.  

Since the start in 2015, the innovation challenge has seen over 20,000 entries from more than 200 countries and territories. During these five years, the Foundation has granted €5 million in 25 sustainable innovations, many of which have become global commercial products and services, working with some of the largest brands in fashion. 

This year Global Change Award received 5,893 entries from 175 countries. The top 10 countries it has received applications from this year are India, Nigeria, Pakistan, US, UK, China, Ghana, Ethiopia, Kenya and Bangladesh.

While funding remains a top challenge, new tech is also central to realising the ideas that enable a shift in the fashion industry.

The technology areas most commonly mentioned by the innovators are apps, AI, blockchain, machine learning, and analytics. Other emerging key technologies are for example big data, virtual reality and internet of things.

The Global Change Award innovation data show some regional differences in what the entrepreneurs are focusing on when it comes to consumer-centric behavior. For example in Africa, entrepreneurs are twice as focused on recycling than in North America. Also, charity, product service, and responsibility get more focus. In North America, entrepreneurs are twice as focused on circularity than in Africa. Here, crowd funding is also much more common than in Africa.

The expert panel for the awards consisted of Abrima Erwiah, co-founder and president Studio One Eighty Nine; Betelhem Dessie, CEO of iCog Anyone Can Code and project advisor of Solve IT; Burak Cakmak, dean of the School of Fashion at Parsons School of Design; Malin Åkerman, actress and environmental activist; Rosario Dawson, actress and co-founder Studio One Eighty Nine; Sonam K Ahuja, actress; Tariq Fancy, founder and chairman at Rumie, CIO of Sustainable Investing, BlackRock; Vanessa Cheung, founder, The Mills; Wanjira Mathai, chair, the Wangari Maathai Foundation; William McDonough, chief executive McDonough Innovation and co-founder, Fashion For Good.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (PC)