H&M Foundation announces winners of Global Change Award

The H&M Foundation, a non-profit arm of the H&M Group, has announced the five winners of its Global Change Award 2022, which will award 1 million euros to early-stage fashion entrepreneurs.

The winning innovations for 2022 come from the UK, Sweden, India, China, and the US, and include a laundry solution that extends the life of garments, artificial intelligence (AI) that helps smallholder cotton farmers increase yield and income, an invention that allows for the circular recycling of elastane and polyester blends, carbon-negative viscose made from CO2 emissions, and regenerative agriculture as a planet-friendly alternative to goose down.

The H&M Foundation said they were overwhelmed with applications for the 2022 awards, which “made apparent that there is no shortage of disruptive innovations out there.”

Karl-Johan Persson, board member of H&M Foundation and chairman of H&M Group, said that the recipients of the Global Change Award hold the key to the complicated challenges they are facing and prove that it is possible to reinvent fashion. Their game-changing inventions are truly remarkable and have the potential to alter the fashion business into one that is more environmentally friendly.

The winners for 2022 are: BioPuff by Saltyco, based in the United Kingdom, is a planet-friendly alternative to goose down, made from plants that help to restore land that has been destroyed.

Biorestore, Sweden-based laundry solution that recovers old and worn clothing to like-new condition.

CottonAce by Wadhwani AI is an Indian AI solution that helps smallholder cotton farmers minimize pesticide use, boost output, and increase income.

Re:lastane is a Chinese company that has invented the first gentle technology for recycling elastane and polyester composite garments.

Rubi is a carbon-neutral viscose and lyocell manufacturer situated in San Francisco, California.

Each of the five winners will receive a one-million-euro grant as well as access to the H&M Foundation’s one-year GCA Impact Accelerator program, which is run in collaboration with Accenture, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, and The Mills. The winners receive coaching and support from the accelerator to help them scale their ideas quickly through business, technology, investor and innovation readiness, and industry connections.