The Global Change Award is an early-stage innovation challenge seeking bright minds that can transform fashion. Every year, H&M Foundation selects and supports the five most impactful innovations with the ultimate aspiration of a planet positive fashion future. This year, H&M Foundation doubles both grant and winners to speed up the transformation.
“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:
Material
- Algreen (UK) – Biobased foams, adhesives and coatings crafted from natural sources
- ALT TEX (Canada) – From waste to wardrobe: transforming food waste into biodegradable polyester
- KBCols Sciences (India) – Bio-fermenting textile dyes with the magic of microorganisms
- Nanoloom (UK) – Powerful high performance-fibre fuelled by graphene
- PhycoLabs (Brazil) – Oceans of opportunity: making seaweed fibres that spur social innovation
- Rethread Africa (Kenya) – Regenerating agricultural waste into bio-based synthetics
Recycling
- DyeRecycle (UK) – Renewed colours: extracting and transferring dyes from old to new fabrics
- Refiberd (US) – Adding lightspeed and laser precision to textile sorting with AI and spectroscopy
- Tereform (US) – Enabling circular solutions for hard-to-recycle waste textiles
Design
- SXD (US) – AI-powered platform turning design concepts into zero-waste patterns
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.
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For more information or scheduling interviews please contact:
Jasmina Sofić
Media Relations Responsible, H&M Foundation
Mobile +46 73 465 59 59
E-mail: [email protected]
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.
