H&M announces Global Change Award winners

By

Cajsa Lykke Carlson

Published
Feb 1, 2016

H&M, the Swedish fast fashion giant, has revealed the winners of its Global Change Award, which the company's non-profit H&M Conscious Foundation launched in August 2015.

The award's aim is to protect the planet by closing the loop for fashion through bold, pioneering ideas. “The response of the first Global Change Award is overwhelming. Over 2,700 innovators from 112 countries shared their ideas to help close the loop for fashion. The winning innovations are important contributions in the journey towards a circular fashion industry. Now, we invite the public to use their voice and influence how much funding each idea should get,” says Karl-Johan Persson, board member of the H&M Conscious Foundation and CEO of H&M.

The five winning ideas are:

* The polyester digester - using microbes to recycle waste polyester textile.

* Growing textile fibre under water - utilizing algae to make renewable textile.

* Making waste-cotton new - conversion of waste-cotton into new textile.

* An online market for textile leftovers - a marketplace for industrial upcycling of spill in production.

* 100 percent citrus - creating new textile out of citrus juice production by-products.

A €1m grant will be split between the five ideas, with the public deciding how much money to be given to each idea - the idea that gets the most votes online receives €300,000, second most votes receives €250,000 and third, fourth and fifth most votes receive €150,000 each.

“The Global Change Award rewards truly out-of-the-box thinking in utilizing advanced technological approaches to make the fashion industry more sustainable – for example, creating less environmental waste and using less energy – while making fashion products that are even more appealing. In this sense, the five winning innovations all have the potential to be truly game-changing,” says Ellis Rubinstein, President and CEO, The New York Academy of Sciences and member of the Global Change Award jury.

Voting is open for everyone at globalchangeaward.com 1-7 February. The winning idea, as well as the people behind the winning innovations, will be unveiled at a grand award ceremony in Stockholm, February 10.