Lab made vegan leather, fibres made of nettles, a digital system to make products recyclable from scratch, children’s clothes that expand and a biodegradable toxic-free membrane for outdoor wear are this year's Global Change Award winners, sharing a €1 million grant. The award is an innovation challenge by H&M Foundation, aiming to make fashion circular.

“The winners of the Global Change Award prove that it’s possible to improve the environmental impact of the fashion industry. They are a true inspiration and great partners to any fashion company that wants to contribute to protecting the planet and our living conditions. The initiative with Indiegogo adds an important piece as it also enables the public to be at the very heart of finding and funding a future for sustainable style,” said Karl-Johan Persson, board member of H&M Foundation and CEO of Hennes & Mauritz AB.

The Loop Scoop by circular.fashion received €300,000, Sane Membrane by dimpora bagged €250,000 while Sustainable Sting by Green Nettle Textile, Clothes that Grow by Petit Pli and Lab Leather by Le Qara received €150,000 individually.

In addition to the financial grant, all winners also get access to a one-year innovation accelerator programme provided by H&M Foundation in partnership with Accenture and KTH Royal Institute of Technology, taking them to Stockholm, New York and Hong Kong. The programme also gives access to virtual coaching sessions during the year. This setup brings significant value to the winners and has proven to cut years off the development timeline.

“In five years, our idea will have increased the use of fiber recycling and multiple reuse possibilities tremendously. We envision that 150 million circularity.ID’s will be out on the market, ensuring that each circularly designed garment will be regenerated to high quality fibers after use,” said Ina Budde, co-founder of circular.fashion.

Among the thousands of entries to this year’s Global Change Award, 45 per cent rank 'funding' as their biggest obstacle. Clearly, crowdfunding holds great untapped potential as a funding option as well as an opportunity for the whole innovation ecosystem to contribute and make a difference. H&M Foundation’s initiative with Indiegogo puts consumers in the front seat, enabling them to take active part as supporters, backers and testers of the five innovations.

“Additional funding could unlock the opportunity for us to experiment with recycled fibers, colors and patterns which we currently are unable to achieve at our size. It would also allow us to make additional hires needed ahead of entering scaled production of Petit Pli suits,” said Ryan Yasin, founder of Petit Pli. (RR)

Fibre2Fashion News Desk – India

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