ABOUT

Background The fashion industry produces 4% of all greenhouse gasses globally – equivalent to the annual emissions of France, Germany and the UK combined (Source: McKinsey). The innovations needed to make the fashion industry more sustainable exist, problem is they’re not getting the funding and backing they need to scale up and become viable options for big brands. Insight If we can help these businesses scale up and become viable options for large scale fashion brands, we can help the industry change. Solution We identified 10 break-through innovations, and gave them something they were missing themselves, a platform, and visual representation of what their innovations could look like. This became the Billion Dollar Collection. A virtual clothing collection where each innovation is turned into a virtual garment. The collection was completely modelled in 3D and modelled by one of the first virtual fashion models the industry had seen. Results The campaign generated universally favorable coverage (81% strongly so) for both the concept and H&M Foundation in 23 countries with an earned reach of 94M, including both dailies and key fashion titles. Coverage was most prominent in the markets we needed to hit to promote fashion reform (UK and US). Then the feedback began coming in from our start-ups: Investors were reaching out, mentioning the lookbook. As a direct result, one start-up was able to close its €4.6 million funding round, and immediately begin scaling up its technology. Others are currently in negotiations and have been using our assets directly in meetings with suppliers, investors and brands. The collection was only intended as a one-off project, but H&M Foundation will now continue the project making it an ongoing living project.