H&M Foundation's 10 Global Change Award Winners Have One Thing in Common

Yahoo

20-05-2025

When H&M Foundation kicked off the Global Change Award in 2015, it was with the goal of sussing out ideas that could nudge the fashion industry in a more sustainable direction. Ten years, 56 innovations and 10 million euros ($11 million) in cash later, its mission has crystallized to tackling one specific challenge—climate change—but with what it says is a double-headed people and planet approach.
'We often see the holistic perspective being overlooked, resulting in well-meaning solutions that either create new problems or leave people behind,' said Annie Lindmark, program director at the philanthropic organization, which is funded by H&M Group's founding family, the Perssons.
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On Tuesday, H&M Foundation announced what it described as 10 'bold ideas' to decarbonize fashion across four areas: responsible production, sustainable materials and processes, mindful consumption and the intriguingly named 'wildcards,' which covers 'cross-cutting ideas we haven't even thought of yet that can spark transformation across the system,' she said.
Hailing from H&M Foundation's native Sweden, China, Bangladesh, Germany, India, the United Kingdom and Ghana, the winners include an industrial heat pump that can slash energy consumption by two-thirds, a metal-free RFID clothing tag, a biodegradable cyanobacteria-based dye and a technology platform that connects people with designers who can upcycle their castoffs into one-of-a-kind looks.
That the organization focuses on early-stage startups is on purpose. While innovation at every level of maturity is vital to moving the needle, Lindmark said, there remains 'very limited' support available for entrepreneurs embarking on their journey, even those in the so-called 'tinker window.'
'We're a philanthropy,' she said. 'So we also feel that we're uniquely positioned to absorb risk, and that allows us to support that refining, testing, packaging, prototyping phase of the ideas. Neither H&M Foundation nor our partners take any equity or intellectual property rights in the winning innovations. Innovators can collaborate with whoever they want, and the aim is really to find innovations that allow major change for the entire industry.'
It's also not the ideas themselves, but rather the 'changemakers' behind them that the Global Change Award seeks to spotlight. Impact, Lindmark said, can come in 'many forms and shapes,' meaning that the best ideas aren't the sole reserve of entrepreneur-inventors in the conventional mold.
'That's why we also think that it's important to take a quite broad scope when we find our winners,' she said. 'So we don't only support winners that are innovators and entrepreneurs, but also the ones who identify themselves, perhaps more as researchers or systems thinkers, they might be running a nonprofit and so on. But of course, also the ones that are thinking more of that startup dream.'
Judges ran submissions through four main criteria before reaching what Lindmark calls the 'drumroll moment': how well the the innovation supports one of its categories, plus decarbonization; the changemaker's vision, meaning the 'person behind the mindset'; the innovation's readiness to develop and scale; and the concept's uniqueness. Each winner will receive a 200,000-euro ($225,000) grant and entry into the yearlong GCA Changemaker Programme.
Helmed by Youbing Mu, Xiaobo Wan and Shuang Su, DecoRpet fills a 'critical gap' in purifying and decolorizing polyester from mixed textile waste by using a low-temperature process strip nearly all dyes and impurities, delivering a 99.9 percent pure material for high-quality recycling, Lindmark said.
'It is a smarter, cleaner way to recycle polyester at scale,' she added. 'It supports the industry's move to using more textile-to-textile recycled materials. It addresses the challenges of recycling mixed-composition fabrics, transforming them into high-quality new materials, and it cuts energy usage in the recycling process by around 30 percent.'
The 'dynamic duo' of James Parkin and Chris Benson has a vision to replace steam boilers everywhere with a standardized, low-cost system that is not only possible, but 'for the first time, practical,' Lindmark said.
'We know from the industry that steam is essential to nearly every stage of garment production, but most systems still rely on fossil fuel boilers that waste energy and drive missions,' she said. 'The innovation replaces outdated gas and oil boilers with high-performance heat pumps that run on electricity, not fossil fuels. And the result of this is a cleaner, more efficient steam system that can cut energy use by over 75 percent, also helping decarbonize one of the industry's biggest emission sources.'
Chloe So and Barna Soma Biro, who met during their graduate studies in innovation and design, were shocked to realize how much e-waste is generated from something as small as a clothing tag.
Pulpatronics' version of the RFID tag is metal-free, chip-less and laser-printed on paper using a carbon-based conductive material, making it cheaper to produce and recyclable or compostable at the end of its life, Lindmark said. It also eliminates the need for metal mining.
'What really caught our eye with Pulpatronics is that it preserves resources, reduces e-waste and lessens environmental damage,' she added. 'It tackles the problem of single-use electronics while reducing overall greenhouse gas emissions.'
CircularFabrics, the brainchild of Josephine Mayer, Miguel Chacon-Teran and Ruben Serrano, seeks to tackle the growing problem of textile waste. They developed NyLoop, a technology that can be placed on-site through portable units, that recovers high-quality nylon from blended post-consumer textiles without breaking it down.
'And this creates a fully recyclable new nylon supply that meets industry standards for durability while reducing the need for virgin materials and supporting a more circular system,' Lindmark said. 'It is in many ways a game-changing step, especially since most nylon garments, particularly blends, still end up in the landfill, locked out of the recycling and loaded with untapped value.'
Founded by Chandni Batra, A Blunt Story's plastic-free sole, dubbed Uncrude, comprises agricultural waste, plant-based materials and recycled components that won't leave behind microplastic waste.
But it also supports a more inclusive value chain that benefits farmers, workers and consumers by 'really putting the people on the planet at its core,' Lindmark said. 'The differentiation is that by monetizing agricultural byproducts, revenue streams for farmers are created, and that reduces the reliance on environmentally harmful practices of burning waste.'
Mohammad Redwanur Rahman's Brilliant Dyes harnesses cyanobacteria—photosynthetic microscopic organisms better known as blue-green algae—to power the production of biodegradable, non-toxic dyes through a low-energy extraction process that is scalable, efficient and cost-effective.
'It is a closed extraction process that enables zero-solvent waste,' Lindmark said. 'It has the potential to cut the carbon footprint of synthetics in the indigo dye sector by around 50 percent and it addresses the skin diseases caused by environmental pollution from dyes. So once again, also really putting the people on the planet in the focus.'
Mohammad Abbas Uddin told H&M Foundation that his work was 'completely personal' because he has witnessed firsthand the effects of unsustainable textile production in his homeland of Bangladesh.
Decarbonization Lab is a dedicated R&D space that develops low-emission techniques in textile treatments and dyeing with the 'goal of modernizing outdated industry practices,' Lindmark said. 'By bridging research and real-world applications, the lab would provide practical tools, key studies for both industry and education, focusing on low-cost, low-impact process innovation. And it is going to support measurable improvements in water use, energy efficiency and sustainable production.'
Led by Jade A. Bouledjouidja, Renasens has created a technology that can recycle blended textile waste into new material inputs, such as polyester and cellulose, without depolymerization, toxic chemicals, high energy use or even water.
'This process turns waste into a circular resource, while helping mitigate pollution,' Lindmark said. 'We see that it's a step forward to a future where waste is no longer discarded but designed to be reused. And the main differentiator we see here is that it enables the dissolving of the cellulose polymer while keeping the polyester fiber intact. And it also limits microplastic release, which we know is a huge problem.'
After a decade working in fashion, Daisy Harvey was exhausted and disillusioned. So she developed Loom, a technology platform that connects people with designers who can transform the clothes lurking in the back of people's closets into bespoke pieces they'd want to flaunt.
'By making upcycling easy, personal and accessible, it helps extend the life of clothing and reduce the impact of overproduction,' Lindmark said. 'It also has the potential to help brands reduce losses from overstock or returns by upcycling. What really stood out with Loom for us was that it enables the circular economy. It is relatable technology that can be easily adapted by the mainstream, and it really has the potential to divert the landfilling of textile waste through upcycling instead of discarding.'
Growing up in Ghana, Yayra Agbofah saw how the deluge of low-quality secondhand imports overwhelms communities such as Kantamanto Market. This isn't just an environmental issue, he said, but one involving dignity, health and livelihoods.
'The Revival Circularity Hub is a creative hub in Accra that transforms textile waste into value through upcycling, repair and design,' Lindmark said. 'It is very much rooted in the community, and the lab equips local artisans with tools and skills to reimagine art and materials, turning unsellable garments into new products and opportunities. It is a community-driven approach that can repurpose textile waste from home furnishing, industrial materials, packaging solutions and construction materials.'