Unprecedented challenges also call for unprecedented efforts to tackle complex problems. Applying a systems change perspective allows actors as diverse as non-governmental organisations, businesses, and governments to create interventions that address the underlying root causes of complex problems and tackle the drivers of poverty and inequality.

What is systems change?

According to the Observatory of Public Innovation, systems change requires working across organisational boundaries and scales. By applying a systems lens to complex problems, organisations can map the dynamics of the system they’re trying to improve, explore the relationships between different actors in the system, and identify suitable interventions. The method requires a shift in mindset from linear thinking to embracing the complexity and interconnectedness of systems, individuals, and problems. 

“System change is about confronting the root causes rather than the symptoms by transforming structures, customs, mindsets, and power dynamics,” said Charlotte Brunnström, strategy lead at H&M Foundation.

Since 2020, the foundation has been implementing the so-called Collective Impact method, a highly structured collaborative model where a diverse group of actors come together in partnerships to solve complex social challenges. The aim of the method is precisely to achieve this deeper systems change, explained Brunnström.

“As a philanthropic foundation, we can engage in long-term initiatives that are not just about head-counting or finding a quick fix. And as a non-profit, we can engage in activities that focus on perception change and behaviour change, but also trying to change power relations and resource flows, which takes time,” she said.

How does the Collective Impact method work?

The CI method consists of a cluster of implementing partners each providing an intervention. Together, they provide a holistic solution to the primary actor – sometimes referred to as beneficiaries in other models – through deep collaboration coordinated by one, neutral backbone organisation.

In Bangladesh, for example, the H&M Foundation has set up a CI initiative called Oporajita – meaning “undefeated” in Bengali – to help prepare and equip women garment workers for the changes brought about by increased automation of the ready-made-garments, or RMG, industry. The livelihoods of women garment workers are particularly at risk. “The reason for this is two fold. Many women lack the necessary skills and are sometimes also illiterate. But the big problem is that there are a lot of deep-rooted stereotypes in Bangladesh, saying that women cannot work with advanced tech and that they aren’t capable of leadership positions,” said Brunnström. That’s why only providing skills training isn’t enough – the initative also works to change these harmful gender norms, but also to ensure women have access to childcare and create a decent work environment.

The Asia Foundation, as the backbone organisation, coordinates the efforts and communication between the 11 implementing partners which jointly offer interventions ranging from creating sustainable livelihood alternatives for unemployed workers to addressing gender-based discrimination and harassment. 

Another CI initative supported by the H&M Foundation is Saamuhika Shakti – meaning “collective strength” – in India, which works to enable informal waste pickers to have greater agency to lead secure and dignified lives. To many of India’s rural population who migrate to larger cities such as Bangalore in search of better economic opportunities, waste picking is often a gateway occupation until they manage to get settled and make more connections, explained Akshay Soni, the executive director of Saamuhika Shakti and a managing director at The Nudge Institute, the programs’ backbone organisation. 

Waste pickers also play a crucial role in ensuring materials such as plastics are recycled. Globally, only about 9% of plastic gets recycled. In India, that number is over 30%, and it’s mainly because of waste pickers, explained Soni. Despite their crucial role in the recycling ecosystem, their work is often met with stigma and prejudice from the rest of the population. 

Working with partners to offer a holistic solution

The benefits of the CI method lie in bringing together specialist organisations to jointly address a multi-layered, complex problem, explained Soni. Organisations that run all sorts of different interventions for a community rarely manage to scale because they are generalists. “And generalists who are doing a lot of different things are unable to lower the cost of the intervention on a per-person basis, to give a great ROI [Return on Investment] on philanthropic money,” he said.

Specialist organisations, on the other hand, look at one problem really deeply and “solve for it by uncovering the layers of the onion right down to the root causes,” he said. The CI method allows you to bring together a group of specialist organisations to solve for a single community, explained Soni. “So you’ve lowered the cost of the intervention by using the specialists and getting them to come together.”

“The CI method allows you to bring together a group of specialist organisations to solve for a single community”

Akshay Soni

In the case of Saamuhika Shakti, that means some organisations are focusing on providing vocational training and life skills for the waste pickers, while others are working to improve professional pride among waste pickers and to encourage Bangalore’s general population to respect and value waste picking.

When Sivalami was 13 years old, she used to go waste picking with her mother whenever the family needed some extra income. She has experienced the stigma that comes with the profession firsthand. “If it was a male who was waste picking, they [the community] would still have some respect for them. But because it was a woman leading the family and going waste picking, they would often accuse us of being thiefs, of stealing,” she said through a translator. 

However, she would also feel pride in ensuring the plastic she picked got recycled. ”The knowledge that when I pick up plastic, I’m making sure it’s getting made into something else. And if I don’t pick it up, it will just be there in the soil and not degrade for years and years,” she said.  

Sivalami stopped waste picking eight years ago when she got married, and now works as a community health care worker and has also participated in the tailoring classes offered by the Saamuhika Shakti initative.

The CI method also places a lot of importance on engaging directly with primary actors who have lived experience around the issues each program is trying to solve. During the design phase of the inititive, the backbone organisation ensure their needs and views are taken into account when creating each intervention. “They need to also be part of the solution,” said Soni.

Implementing the Collective Impact method

The CI method is built on a shared vision, shared agenda, shared goal, and unique metrics for each organisation, explained Brunnström. At the beginning of a program, all the implementing partners are convened by the backbone organisation to jointly develop this common agenda and metrics. The shared measurement system includes different indicators linked to each implementing organisation’s specific intervention, but also indicators that are linked to the common goal and the common agenda, explained Brunnström. 

This helps to track progress, but also to ensure mutually reinforcing activities, coordinate each partner’s activities, and encourage continuous communication so that everyone knows what others are working on. The evaluation of a CI initiative is not quantitative and simple, for example, counting the number of people engaged in an activity is not super important for us, added Brunnström. “We are more focused on other kinds of more long-term results such as changing policy, power dynamics, or resource flows.”

A key part of each CI initative is a strong and neutral backbone organisation – which is carefully selected by the H&M Foundation –  consisting of a local team dedicated to coordinating the work of the cluster. The backbone is not an implementing organisation itself but works like our extended arm in-country, coordinating the daily work of all the implementing actors, explained Brunnström, adding that it’s also crucial for fostering cross-sector communication. 

“The CI method is built on a shared vision, shared agenda, shared goal, and unique metrics for each organisation.”

Charotte Brunnström

One of their key responsibilities is to get actors within the cluster to collaborate. At the start, The Nudge Institute assumed that organisations would collaborate – but they did not, explained Soni. A lot of nonprofits have the so-called “not-invented-here-syndrome,” meaning they are often reluctant to implement other organisation’s interventions even if they might be effective, he explained. The CI method works to change that mindset and they ended up introducing collaborative KPIs to incentivize collaboration – and it worked, explained Soni.

“The backbone organisation plays this cohesive role because they have the overview of the entire program, they understand who’s doing what and how we can leverage each other’s strengths,” said Saurabh Dey, manager at the Circular Apparel Innovation Factory, one of 11 implementing partners in the Oporajita initative in Bangladesh as well as a partner in Saamuhika Shakti. 

“The backbone organisation plays this cohesive role because they have the overview of the entire program, they understand who’s doing what and how we can leverage each other’s strengths”

Saurabh Dey

Each implementing partner is responsible for or “leading” at least one workstream and is then encouraged to collaborate and support other organisations on theirs. The Circular Apparel Innovation Factory, for example, works on three different workstreams: identifying alternative employment opportunities with a circular economy lens, ensuring micro-entrepreneurs adopt circular practices, and promoting circular innovation in the textile R&D space, explained Dey. They lead the work on the first workstream and support other organisations in the cluster on the other two. 

To him, the greatest benefit of the CI method is “targeting an intervention based on a primary actor rather than focusing on a huge geography and [having] each organisation trying to come up with their own agenda…it allows you to ensure the primary actors get the holistic support they require,” said Dey. 

Lessons Learned from Collective Impact

One of the biggest benefits of the CI method is precisely the collaboration it encourages, but for that to work, funders need to be willing to invest in the added cost of a backbone organisation and also accept that not all impact will easily be traced back to each and one of the organisation. “Most philanthropic money globally is focused on breadth of intervention, not depth of intervention, which is where it starts to fall apart. So that is the problem of actually getting people to collaborate,” said Soni. 

Funders such as H&M Foundation have the opportunity to catalyze change and impact with big bets and collective actions. “As innovators, philanthropic organisations can test new ideas and adopt innovative approaches, so philanthropy should use these advantages to focus on the root causes of the current broken systems,” said Brunnström.

It’s also important to invest time and funding for everyone in the cluster to establish relationships and to build trust. “I think that’s a prerequisite for everyone to be transparent about the challenges that they’re facing, and ways to help each other,” said Brunnström. 

Together with the backbone organization we need to ensure coordination and accountability among all the members of the cluster and foster the trust needed to achieve long-lasting and collective change, she added.

What is Open Perspectives?  

Open Perspectives by H&M Foundation is an inspirational physical and digital face-to-face concept to share insights and learnings from our own work, from the textile industry and from others who inspire us. The overarching goal is to inspire others to contribute to the vision of enabling a more inclusive and sustainable fashion and textile industry.  

If you didn’t have the opportunity to watch the session live, you can find it in its entirety above.  

Transformative narratives can change the world

The event was kicked off by keynote speaker Per Olsson, Associate Professor and Deputy Science Director at Stockholm Resilience Centre, Stockholm University, who shared his views on the power of discourse in shaping perceptions, and specifically, some the challenges that arise and must be faced head-on if we are to succeed.  

Per Olsson “Over time we have
been separating nature and people, but I think it’s fairly easy to mend;
I think we have it in us that we’re completely dependent on healthy ecosystems for our own health and survival. And it’s about life! The planet won’t die, it has gone
through several things for four billion years. Ultimately, the questions is, do we want to be
part of this journey with the
planet for longer?” 

“The planet won’t die, it has gone through several things for four billion years. Ultimately, the questions is, do we want to be part of this journey with the planet for longer?”

Per Olsson

After a short film showcasing a current exhibition at Fotografiska (in partnership with the H&M Foundation and Planethon) called The Echo Chamber by celebrated photographer Erik Johnasson – who through his work invites us to explore the power of perception – the stage was then given to our own Charlotte Brunnström, Strategy Lead for Inclusive Societies at H&M Foundation and Andrew Merrie, Head of Futures and Research Lead at Planethon. The discussion centered around the power of perception including themes concerning prejudice and how we overcome it, as well as looking at what we can draw on from the past to help guide us in creating a better future.  

Charlotte Brunnström “I want to stress the importance of being inclusive. I want to remind us all about the importance of being aware of the current power relations out there and constantly ask yourself, who’s invited to the conversation? Is there a diversity of backgrounds and competences? If we all do that we will surely make better decisions.”  

“I want to remind us all about the importance of being aware of the current power relations out there and constantly ask yourself, who’s invited to the conversation?”

Charlotte Brunnström

Before concluding remarks, an evocative and impactful video made our partner BBC Media Action (the BBC’s international charity using media and communications for good) who works with perception change in our project in India, was shown highlighting the negative perceptions and social implications that can arise from those simply earning a living and trying to contribute to a better society, in this instance, a more circular economy.  

Speaking to the sentiment behind this video, and in summing up the session,  Planethon’s Andrew Merrie commented that “There are so many groups of people that are invisible but could be invaluable. If we imagined creating an army of invaluables from all around the world, that would create a huge network of valuable people helping to create the future we say that we want. We often talk about the role of technology to be key to create a better future, but we need to bring human dignity at the forefront and we need to image how different groups of humans are part of creating the society we want.”  

Thank you to all those who participated in the event. 

Interested to learn more? Below you can find some interesting resources to dive deeper into some of the topics explored across Open Perspectives.  

• Planethon
• BBC Media Action
• The Echo Chamber

As impatient change makers, we are curious to explore new ways of using innovation as a driver for change. The Global Change Award is our main lever for innovation and has supported so many brilliant innovators with bold ideas throughout the years, of which many have been piloted and adopted by the industry.

It makes me really proud. Since GCA was launched in 2015, we have gathered a lot of learnings from both our successes and failures. And we are constantly evaluating how we can create even better impact for both the planet and people. So now we’re working on how we can take GCA to the next level.

But why now?

Well, GCA has evolved through the years. From being “a green prize for fashion”, as media dubbed it the first year when circularity was the focus – which was quite an unknown term in 2015 – to the wider planet positive scope that we have today. Every year we’ve made a few tweaks here and there, but change is not happening fast enough, and we believe we can help to find and accelerate the solutions the industry needs to create a bigger impact. I also believe that as a philanthropic foundation, we have an even bigger role to play as we can contribute with funding, support and absorb risk that most private and public actors can’t. So, the decision to take GCA to the next level was pretty simple. And this is what we are working on right now.

So what does this mean, when can I apply?

It means keep an eye out for this space, because a lot of exciting new opportunities will emerge during 2024!

Watch Open Perspectives on YouTube.

A message from 2063

Seeing is believing. That’s why Open Perspectives opened with a story told by a future generation, aimed at the changemakers of today. The science-backed scenario – made in collaboration with Planethon – illustrated what a possible future textile industry could look like if we dare to transform ourselves and the system.

In 2063, the textile industry can be inclusive and serve Earth for all. It requires radical transformation. But it is possible. The scenario is based on large numbers of industry reports, brimming innovations, and interdisciplinary papers from sustainability science, the planetary boundaries framework and the book Earth for All: A Survival Guide for Humanity.

It’s now in our hands to make it happen.

Unleashing exponential transformation

Climate scientist, Professor Johan Rockström, opened the summit by sharing the state of knowledge and the urgent actions required to hold the 1,5 degrees Celsius limit, halt biodiversity loss, and ensure a safe landing for both planet and people. We have less than seven years until the window closes.

“The planet is so small, and the world has become so big that nothing but exponential transformation at scale is now required. It is possible, not only necessary, and requires all hands on deck and a pathway that is accelerated.”

Prof. Johan Rockström

Watch Johan Rockström’s keynote (10 mins).

Change the narrative – change the system

Anna Gedda, Global Manager at H&M Foundation, sent a call to action to the brands, suppliers, innovators, academia, investors, NGOs and decision-makers in the audience.

“Continue to listen to the experts, be guided by their insights, support and scale innovation in the way you can, address the systems and not the silos, and be that story of change that helps others to act. It all comes down to us.” – Anna Gedda.

Watch Anna Gedda’s opening remarks (10 mins).

Pitching for the planet

Throughout Open Perspectives, an array of Global Change Award alumni and social entrepreneurs backed by H&M Foundation took the primetime opportunity to pitch their solutions to the stakeholders watching. The audience were introduced to

• Werewool – Creating fabrics on DNA level with natural colours, stretch and other features
• Resortecs – A dissolvable thread that makes repairing and recycling a breeze
• Phool – Vegan leather made from discarded temple flowers, in collaboration with waste pickers
• GALY – Using biotechnology to create lab-grown cotton
• Ashaya – Sunglasses from packets of chips, made in collaboration with waste pickers
• BIORESTORE – A laundry solution that restores old and worn garments to mint condition

After the summit, new and previous GCA winners, as well as social entrepreneurs, showcased their innovations to investors, brands and industry stakeholders capable of accelerating their journey from lab to launch.

Turning ideas into impact

Panel discussion on innovation’s role in transforming the textile industry with impact advisor Linda Greer, food entrepreneur Miles Kubheka, and Closed Loop Partners’ Caroline Brown. Moderated by Christiane Dolva, H&M Foundation.

“Follow the tons. How much impact are you going to be able to have, how fast are you going to be able to have it, and make the case that this is going to be a significant innovation to help the world,” says Linda Greer in a call to action to every innovator in the room.

Watch the panel (15 mins).

Addressing systems change

Panel discussion on systems change with Resortecs’ Ann Runnel, The Good Business Lab’s Anant Ahuja and Novetex Textiles Limited’s Ronna Chau. Moderated by Jasmin Malik Chua, Sourcing Journal.

“I would like to be put out of business, because there’s no longer any excess inventory and not because people aren’t willing to talk about their excess. Right now though, there are a lot of brands with a lot of excess, that don’t know how to deal with it because it’s been accumulating over years. The changes aren’t happening quickly enough, we need to go at it all angles, help and provide more solutions.” – Ronna Chau.

Watch the panel (15 mins).

Storytelling for a sustainable future

Rachel Arthur, advocacy lead at the UN Environment Programme, called on the fashion industry’s unsung heroes to step forward and dare to tell new stories, stories that shift narratives and show what a possible fashion future can look like.

“We need every piece of talent this industry has. And that starts with bringing those who get these stories in front of consumers to join us at the table: Marketers, storytellers, artists, image makers, role models, writers, creators, designers, influencers, advocates and more. We need them to help us envision what this new world looks like.”

Rachel Arthur

Watch Rachel Arthur’s keynote (10 mins).

Watch the live stream from Open Perspectives to learn more from Professor Johan Rockström, Ronna Chao, Miles Kubehka, Caroline Brown, Linda Greer, Rachel Arthur, entrepreneurs and many other brilliant minds.

But there’s still a long way to go before the ten newly minted Global Change Award winners will dress the world in their breakthrough materials, overhaul the industry’s supply chain, and transform how we recycle our unwanted garments.

That’s why, during one year, an eco-system of experts, organisations and industry stakeholders are mobilising to support each team to scale at speed.

These are the key takeaways from the first week of the year-long GCA Impact Accelerator programme 2023.

1. Hire people who thrive in areas where you struggle

You might think this is a no-brainer, but as humans we’re hard-wired to be attracted to and prefer those who are like ourselves. This leaves us tempted to bring in partners and hire employees who think like us, have the same skills as us — and even look like us.

Definitely a big no-no, according to food entrepreneur and author Miles Kubheka.

Hire slowly, fire fast and take your time.

Miles Kubheka

“If you’re not intentional about the people you bring in, people will make the place their own. Instead, you should hire slowly, fire fast and take your time — even if it feels like you’re burning,” he says.

In the long run, Miles Kubheka explains, a company’s co-founder is likely to become its greatest asset, and maybe even the face of the brand. And entrepreneurs shouldn’t fear someone else stealing the show — because the innovator may stand behind a brilliant idea, but it often comes down to a co-founder to make that idea famous.

“It’s almost always the marketer who becomes famous, and that’s fine. In the end, the founder and the co-founder are two people, passionate about two very different things.”

2. Bridge the gap between climate impact and capital benefit.

For an innovation to create real impact, it can’t only reduce emissions or halt biodiversity loss. It must solve a problem for people, too. And for corporations to be genuinely interested, solving those problems needs to serve a capital benefit.

“When we look at some great solutions, they also happen to be amazing in terms of recapture of raw materials and reuse of materials. Sell a product once, get it back, and sell it again with a different margin. These are all dollars in the bank for companies, and a great accelerant for growth,” says Caroline Brown, managing director at Closed Loop Partners.

The textile industry needs to encourage start-ups and scale-ups to look at, measure and take pride in their climate impact. But simultaneously, they need to look at how the innovation is good for all parts of a business and an employee community, she concludes.

3. Make friends. And do your homework.

Scaling requires capital. And lots of it.

The problem is that an investment rarely comes from sending a cold email. Instead, it overwhelmingly comes from connections. How to get them? Go mingle.

“Making friends is absolutely vital, because they can be the ones connecting you to investors. Always think ‘who are the people in the room and where else do they hang out? Be direct and ask to connect,’” says Dominic Deane, venture capital investor at The Mills Fabrica.

While friends are good for lots of things, Dominic Deane also stresses the importance on researching each potential investor carefully.

“Do a ton of research! You need to know what the investor your targeting likes, where they’re from, who they work with and what they like to invest in.”

4. The future is glocal. Not global.

The pandemic disrupted every single supply chain on the planet, and the long, complex and fragmented pre-pandemic chains aren’t coming back.

According to Anderson Lee, president and CEO at Pinneco, the dramatically transformed markets are now going from global, to glocal.

“Glocal means to have a global perspective to grow many local markets. In other words — to be very focused and build a narrow chain where you aim to buy materials, hire workers and sell products in one market,” he says and continues: “The pandemic broke the long supply chain, because so many of us went bankrupt.”

Global supply chains often have a negative impact on the planet, and their vulnerability became crystal clear during the pandemic. As fashion brands and textile manufacturers are pivoting to enter a new industrial age, Anderson Lee forecasts glocalisation will play a major part in future-proofing the entire industry’s supply chain.

5. Don’t follow the money. Follow the carbon.

We’re right now experiencing the impacts of climate change in real time. But the large-scale impacts of it are hard to grasp, and even harder for consumers to see their role in. The solutions with the power to provide a soft landing need to communicate it loud and clear.

“It’s a math problem and you need to follow the tons.”

Environmental scientist and impact advisor Linda Greer

“It’s not about innovation for innovation’s sake, but about making the case in numbers that a solution emits this much less carbon, positively affects the industry in a certain way, and that it’s going to be able to scale into a certain level,” Linda Greer says.

Watch the live stream from Open Perspectives to learn more from Miles Kubheka, Caroline Brown, Anderson Lee, Linda Greer and many other brilliant minds.

“We have an urgent opportunity to support innovations that could transform the entire fashion industry – that’s why we’re doubling the grant and the number of winners. We’re giving these innovators a total of 2 million euros and access to our accelerator program – but we’re also giving the industry an opportunity to connect with these brilliant innovators. I’m excited to see the impact these innovators will make on the industry.”

Karl-Johan Persson,
H&M Foundation board member and chairman of H&M Group

The Global Change Award 2023 winners are:

H&M Foundation launched the GCA to provide the tools, connections, and resources necessary for early-stage innovations to move from idea to scale as quickly as possible. The winners receive €200,000 each and embark on the yearlong GCA Impact Accelerator. H&M Foundation together with GCA’s core partners Accenture, KTH Royal Institute of Technology and The Mills Fabrica offer tailored coaching and support to accelerate their journey from idea to scale.

“There’s a wide range of solutions among this year’s winners. If scaled, I believe they could have a real impact on the industry – which needs a holistic transformation if we are to reach a planet positive fashion future. We look forward to working with the winners during the accelerator and help enable their innovations to accelerate and scale.”

Christiane Dolva,
Strategy Lead H&M Foundation

Neither the H&M Foundation nor the H&M Group take any shareholder equity or intellectual property rights in the innovations and the winners can collaborate with whomever they want.

Notes to editors

For more information about the Global Change Award and this year’s winners, please visit globalchangeaward.com.

For visual assets and other press material, free to use, please see our press collection.

For more information or scheduling interviews please contact:
Jasmina Sofić
Media Relations Responsible, H&M Foundation
Mobile +46 73 465 59 59
E-mail: jasmina.sofic@hmfoundation.com

The Global Change Award, initiated by the H&M Foundation, aims to transform fashion and turn the entire textile industry planet positive. That means becoming an industry that benefits the planet and its shared resources, instead of harming or depleting it. Innovation has the power to do it, and GCA winners prove it. The GCA is one of the biggest innovation challenges of its kind, and each year five winners share a 1 million euro grant and get access to the yearlong GCA Impact Accelerator, provided by the H&M Foundation in collaboration with Accenture, KTH Royal Institute of Technology and The Mills Fabrica. Neither H&M Foundation nor H&M Group take any equity or intellectual property rights in the innovations, as the aim is to find innovations that allow major change for the entire textile industry. Learn more at globalchangeaward.com.

Sunglasses made from packets of chips sold out in a blink of an eye

Ashaya are recycling innovators with a pioneering social-impact-first approach. They have managed to recycle one of the most unrecyclable materials; metalized multi-layered plastic packaging (often used for food and snacks) and turn it into new commercial products, while also employing and upskilling waste pickers throughout their processes. Their first products included a new brand of sunglasses, called Without. The sunglasses were launched in BETA mode on Feb 16th, 2023, with the goal of selling 500 products in 3 months. Impressively, the product went viral and they sold out their first batch in just 6 days. Having sold close to 1000 products, the BETA mode was closed on March 20th. ”We are now working on upgrading the sunglasses, adding colours and designs and releasing the next version hopefully by June 2023.” says Anish Malpani, Founder of Ashaya. ”We are also exploring other products like lamps and premium furniture, but that’s in the early stages. In the long run, we will hopefully start selling materials B2B – that’s the most viable way of scaling up our enterprise so that more waste can be recycled and more waste pickers can be employed.”

”In the long run, we will hopefully start selling materials B2B – that’s the most viable way of scaling up our enterprise so that more waste can be recycled and more waste pickers can be employed.”

Anish Malpani, Founder, Ashaya

Phool’s leather from discarded temple flowers gains traction

Phool (the Hindi word for flower) is an Indian biomaterial company based in Kanpur that has developed an alternative to animal and plastic leather (‘Fleather’) using discarded temple flowers that would otherwise have been thrown into the Ganges river. Simultaneously Phool is creating valuable employment opportunities for a marginalised community, so far employing over 163 female ‘flowercyclers’ from waste picker communities who collect waste flowers. In time, they hope to employ 5,000. A justified ambition, given that they recently partnered with PVH Corporation, the parent company of Tommy Hilfiger and Calvin Klein, in a pilot to make fleather bags. And already more brands from different industries are showing great interest. 

Reti Ecotech are getting ready to hit the market

Old clothes can do a lot of things – being converted into bricks and furniture is one of them! Bengaluru-based start up Reti Ecotech aims to collect and convert end of life-textiles into bricks and panels, thereby redirecting tonnes of waste cloth from landfills. As winners of Techtonic in 2022, Reti Ecotech have now joined Social Alpha’s program, to receive support in their lab-to-market journey. Jahnavi Rao, co-founder explains, We are growing our team and our capacity, working on improving our product and delving into a market strategy. Some interesting pilot projects with potential customers are being are being prepared now. It’s an exciting phase of our journey, and we’re getting to learn a lot.”

”We are growing our team and our capacity, working on improving our product and delving into a market strategy. Some interesting pilot projects with potential customers are being are being prepared now.”

Jahnavi Rao, Co-Foundaer, Rei-Ecotech

Padcare scored a blank check on TV show Shark Tank India

Padcare Labs has created an automated hygiene management system that can break down disposed sanitary pads into cellulose and plastic that can then be upcycled into new products. At the same time, they contribute to safeguarding women, changing attitudes around menstrual hygiene, all the while incorporating and employing waste pickers throughout their operations. 

Earlier this year, Padcare Founder and CEO Ajinkya Dhariya was one of the contenders in the popular TV show Shark Tank India, where he presented the idea of Padcare to a panel of potential investors. Amazingly, one of the investors, Peyush Bansal, presented Padcare with a blank check, giving the team the opportunity to considerably boost their operations. 

Ajinkya Dhariya tells us:

”Post Shark tank, we are receiving a lot of inquiries from all over India, we are now expanding to 4 more cities. We received inquiries from varied strata – Government – Supreme Court of India, Local Municipal Corporations from  various cities (Approaching for a city level projects) and various Corporates , Housing Societies and Education Institutes. We have also observed reduced sales cycle time indicating that people are better able to trust the brand. And we have been receiving multiple inquiries from around the globe.”

“Post Shark tank, we are receiving a lot of inquiries from all over India, we are now expanding to 4 more cities. (…) And we have been receiving multiple inquiries from around the globe.”

Ajinkya Dhariya, Founder and CEO , Padcare Labs

EON’s digital ID is enabling over 100 million items to be resold and recycled

“EON embeds principles of connectivity, intelligence and circularity in hundreds of millions of products, and has built some of the industry’s most fundamental product data infrastructure for circular commerce: connecting data between suppliers, brands, resellers, recyclers, customers, and more,” declares EON’s founder and CEO Natasha Frank.

According to her, every single product has a story to tell: from where and how it was made, to when and by what brand it was sold. EON gives the world’s products a voice — in the shape of a digital ID — that unlocks total traceability and boosts the resale and recycling of discarded items.

Since winning the Global Change Award in 2017, EON has scaled at lightning speed and entered into global partnerships with retail heavyweights like Net-A-Porter and Zalando.

“EON was just an idea when I applied for the GCA. Winning the award encouraged me to turn it into a business, and seven years later, here I am.”

Natasha Franck

In seven short years, the company has enabled more than a hundred million products to become digital and traceable. Still, these astounding numbers are just a fraction of the 80 billion pieces of clothing sold worldwide yearly. But the company’s implementation rate is constantly adding speed, and to Natasha Franck, reaching billions of products will be achieved within this decade.

“In five years, every product will have a unique digital ID, giving every product a voice and ensuring products are valued, managed and utilised to benefit our society, economy and environment. EON’s technology is powering that future.”

Dimpora’s mineral-based membranes are moving from lab to launch

The clothes designed to shield us from the elements are almost exclusively crafted from materials that harm the environment. As a consequence, conventional activewear presents a conflict between the desire to experience the natural world, and the desire to maintain it. With biodegradable, non-toxic and mineral-based membranes, Dimpora is resolving this conflict.

“We push for circularity of our membranes and laminates, ensuring we design products with an end-of-life strategy. We use our platform technology to turn the most circular and sustainable raw materials into functional membranes,” says Dimpora’s founder and CTO Anna Beltzung.

When winning the GCA in 2019, the company had only developed early lab samples based on co-founder Mario Stucki’s PHD thesis. The win catalysed their scaling journey.

“The accelerator programme opened up doors and allowed us to build a network in three textile hubs worldwide. And what really helped was the financial contribution, the help in marketing materials, and the recognition in the industry: we were taken seriously!”

Anna Beltzung

Four years in the making, Dimpora has grown from a team of two to a company of eleven and in 2022, the start-up commercialised its first product.

“We are now producing thousands of square meters in a single production run. This made it possible to serve our first commercial order with the Swiss glove brand Snowlife in 2022. And the re-order is already delivered for the coming season.”

Saltyco’s latest pilot can produce 400 tonnes of regenerative fibre-filler

BioPuff by saltyco isn’t a vegan alternative to goose down; it’s a regenerative alternative to it. With cutting-edge technology, saltyco turns native wetland plants into fibre-filler and heals damaged lands in the process.

“For the textile industry to reach net zero, both wetland regeneration and the move to healthier textiles must happen. BioPuff is a solution that brings these two urgent challenges together in one solution,” says Julian Ellis-Brown, co-founder and CEO of saltyco.

The team’s disruptive idea won them the GCA in 2022, an event transforming their start-up journey in a number of ways, according to the founders.

“The win helped build confidence with investors as it showcased an industry-leading organisation was getting behind our idea. The GCA also built traction with brands, exposing us to more innovators within fashion who are keen to explore next-generation textiles.”

Julian Ellis-Brown

Introducing a novel technology and a game-changing material innovation to society is a time-consuming and complex process. Currently, the saltyco team is focusing on sampling, product development, and launching a seed funding round.

“Our new pilot machinery will have the capacity to produce 400 tonnes of BioPuff per year, regenerating thousands of hectares of wetland and locking tens of thousands of kilograms of CO2 back into the ground,” says Julian Ellis-Brown.

Explore all past GCA winners and subscribe to the GCA Newsletter to track their progress.

The two new partners are Stichting Enviu Nederland (Enviu) and Intellecap’s Circular Apparel Innovation Factory (CAIF). Together with the existing collective, they will include waste workers already within the Saamuhika Shakti program into two work streams:

• A micro-entrepreneurship model on textile waste
• A circular B2B linen enterprise

“Our goal is to generate additional income streams through textile waste”, says Maria Bystedt, Strategy Lead, H&M Foundation. “Historically there has been minimal income opportunities for waste pickers in textiles, mainly because of the lack of interested buyers. Through this initiative, we are promoting inclusive circularity and improving waste pickers’ livelihood opportunities. This involves setting up grassroots waste enterprises that are managed by waste pickers, establishing connections to resellers and recyclers, and educating the public on proper handling of their textile waste.”

Manjula, Nadiya and Radhika are all involved in waste picking and part of Saamuhika Shakti.

India accounts for 8.5% of global textile waste generation. Out of total textile waste circulation in the country, domestic post-consumer collection contributes 51%, 42% comes from pre-consumer sources, and 7% is imported post-consumer waste. Furthermore, it is estimated that up to 25% of fabric is wasted during the cutting process in apparel production. Innovations in textile waste management are emerging, but as of yet, the economic value chain bypasses the waste picker. 

This new setup within H&M Foundation’s initiative Saamuhika Shakti is contributing to a larger multi-year textile-recycling program across India, adding on a social perspective, ensuring that the voices of waste pickers are part of the equation. The larger program is also seed funded by IKEA Foundation.

“Our goal is to generate additional income streams through textile waste. Through this initiative, we are promoting inclusive circularity and improving waste pickers’ livelihood opportunities.”

Maria Bystedt, Strategy Lead, H&M Foundation

“At Enviu, partnering with Saamuhika Shakti allows us to collectively work towards creating better economic opportunities while addressing systemic challenges, and social issues and creating a circular fashion ecosystem. By joining forces, we strive to create a more dignified future for waste pickers and contribute to building a sustainable world.”

Jiska Coppoolse, Program Lead, Enviu

As a philanthropic change agent for the entire industry, H&M Foundation acts with urgency and takes risks to unlock needed solutions with the ambition to find technologies that can contribute to a planet positive fashion future.

As a non-profit, we have the urgent opportunity to create change by supporting disruptive research that could lead us there. Innovation is transformation and Acousweep is proof that it’s worth investing in impatient research.

Christiane Dolva, Strategy Lead H&M Foundation

Professor Christine Loh, Chief Development Strategist at the Institute for the Environment, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, agrees that this technology has great potential.

Green tech has just taken a leap forward in Hong Kong. Acousweep will help the garment and other industries to stop a highly damaging form of pollution. HKRITA used a new technique to remove the microplastics by using soundwave-based system, preventing them from getting into the sea and being ingested by sea life that can even be ingested by humans along the food chain. Acousweep has the capacity to revolutionize industry.

Professor Christine Loh, Chief Development Strategist at the Institute for the Environment, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology

Acousweep utilises sweeping acoustic waves in a specially shaped chamber to physically trap and separate microplastic fibres from wastewater effectively. No chemical, solvent or biological additives are needed. The separated microplastics drip into a collection tank for further treatment, such as recycling. The existing lab scale treatment system handles 20 litres of water per hour while the upscaled version will be able to treat 5.000-10.000 litres of water per hour.

Visuals, free to use: https://hmfoundation.bynder.com/web/5d12e495f30d1edf/acousweep—hkrita-research/

For more information or scheduling interviews please contact:

Jasmina Sofić
Media Relations Responsible, H&M Foundation
Mobile +46 73 465 59 59
E-mail: jasmina.sofic@hmfoundation.com