H&M Foundation launches third annual Global Change Award

The Global Change Award is one of the world’s biggest challenges for early stage innovation and the first such initiative in the fashion industry. Some of last year’s winning innovations were leather made of wine making leftovers, digital threads weaved into garments to ease the recycling processes and climate positive nylon made from water, plant waste and solar energy. Neither the non-profit H&M Foundation nor the H&M group take any equity or intellectual property rights in the innovations, as the aim is to influence the fashion industry as a whole.

"Now in its third year, the Global Change Award has really become a positive force in the fashion industry. It has proven to be a true catalyst for the winners, giving them support and access to a valuable network so they can bring their innovations to the market quicker and better prepared. I’m really curious to see what disruptive innovations we will receive this time," says Karl-Johan Persson, board member of the H&M Foundation and CEO of H & M Hennes & Mauritz AB.

We must find better ways to make what we use, and wisely use what we have. The Global Change Award is an important initiative to drive this forward.

Edwin Keh, Chief Executive Officer, HKRITA and member of the Expert Panel.

An Expert Panel with extensive knowledge within fashion, environment, circularity and innovation select the five winners, and it’s then up to the public to distribute the €1million grant through an online vote. Besides sharing the grant, the winners are provided with a one-year Global Change Award Accelerator Program that will speed up the development of their innovations and maximize the impact on the industry. The program will take the teams to Stockholm, New York and Shanghai, and is provided by the H&M Foundation in partnership with Accenture, one of the world’s leading strategy and consulting companies, and the KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, one of Europe’s leading technical and engineering universities.

"Sustainable and responsible consumption is the way forward. We must find better ways to make what we use, and wisely use what we have. The Global Change Award is an important initiative to drive this forward. By intentionally and thoughtfully reusing, recycling, and repurposing, we can drive significant and radical improvements to our world," says Professor Edwin Keh, Chief Executive Officer, The Hong Kong Research Institute of Textiles and Apparel and member of the Expert Panel.

Expert panel:

• Bandana Tewari, Editor-at-large, Vogue India (New)
• Chiling Lin, Actress and sustainability influencer (New)
• Dame Ellen MacArthur, Founder of the Ellen MacArthur Foundation
• David Roberts: Distinguished Faculty Singularity University
• Edwin Keh, Chief Executive Officer of The Hong Kong Research Institute of Textiles and Apparel (New)
• Lewis Perkins, President Cradle to Cradle Products Innovation Institute
• Sophia Bendz, Executive in residence at Atomico (New) 
• Steven Kolb, President and CEO The Council of Fashion Designers of America (New)
• Vikram Widge, Head, Climate Finance & Policy, IFC, World Bank Group
• Xiuhtezcatl Martinez, Youth Director, Earth Guardians (New)

For more information:

Information about the Global Change Award, how to apply and press material are available at globalchangeaward.com.

Global Change Award launch film

Read and download a booklet with facts about the Global Change Award

For questions please contact:

Malin Björne
PR & Communications Manager, H&M Foundation
malin.bjorne@hmfoundation.com
+46 (0)70 796 39 75

Global Change Award is an innovation challenge initiated by the non-profit H&M Foundation in 2015. By catalysing early innovations that can accelerate the shift from a linear to a circular fashion industry, the aim is to protect the planet and our living conditions. Global Change Award is one of the world’s biggest challenges for early stage innovations. Five winners share a €1M grant and a one-year tailor-made accelerator program. Neither the H&M Foundation nor the company H&M take any equity or intellectual property rights in the innovations. The aim is to influence the fashion industry as a whole. For further information, please visit globalchangeaward.com.

H&M Foundation is privately funded by the Stefan Persson family, founders and main owners of H&M. Since 2013, the family has donated 1.3 billion Swedish Krona ($177 million/€144 million) to the Foundation, aiming to improve living conditions for people on a global scale. For more information, please visit hmfoundation.com.