H&M and DDB launch an award for Global Change in fashion

On Wednesday this week (August 26), the H&M Conscious Foundation and DDB Design Stockholm launched the first ever Global Change Award; one of the world’s biggest challenges for early stage innovation and the first such initiative in the fashion industry. By inspiring environmentally friendly, ground-breaking ideas, the aim of the challenge is to protect the earth’s natural resources by “Closing the loop” for fashion. Five winners, chosen by an expert jury, will share a grant of €1 million, and will get access to a tailor-made “Innovation accelerator.” The global public will be invited to distribute half of the total grant through an online voting, with the result to be revealed at a grand award ceremony in Stockholm, in February 2016.

The H&M Conscious Foundation and DDB Design Stockholm has launched the first ever Global Change Award

The H&M Conscious Foundation is a non-profit global foundation, funded by the Stefan Persson family, founders and main owners of the Swedish fashion company H&M. The mission of the Foundation is to drive long lasting positive change and improve living conditions by investing in people, communities and innovative ideas. The Global Change Award tackles one of the biggest challenges facing today's fashion industry; creating fashion for a growing population while improving its impact on the environment. In keeping with this ethos, neither the Foundation nor H&M will take any equity or intellectual property rights from the innovations.

The innovation accelerator is a collaboration with Accenture and the KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, will give the five winners the support and knowledge they need to actualise their ideas. Starting off with an innovation boot camp in Stockholm, provided by KTH Innovation followed up by guidance from Accenture Strategy on how to develop their ideas further. This includes the provision of a one-year training and coaching program with a particular focus on circular economy. The innovation accelerator will also provide exclusive fashion industry access and offer possibilities to build networks and try out the ideas within the fashion value chain. According to Rebecca Earley, director of the University of Arts London's Textile Futures Research Centre and member of the Global Change Award Jury, “The question for fashion is no longer 'What is the new black?' but rather 'What innovative ideas can close the loop?' The Global Change Award is looking for ideas that will protect the earth’s natural resources.”

Five winners, chosen by an expert jury, will share a grant of €1 million, and will get access to a tailor-made “Innovation accelerator”

Karl-Johan Persson, board member of the H&M Conscious Foundation and CEO of H&M, said of the award: “Ground-breaking, game-changing ideas can come from anywhere, so the challenge is open to anyone. Each year the Global Change Award aims to find the truly brave and bold ideas that make change. I´m also eager to see how the fashion industry as a whole will embrace the challenge of closing the loop.” Linus Östberg, senior designer at DDB Design Stockholm, added: “What is interesting about this is not only the work we’ve done together with the H&M Conscious Foundation, but also what the challenge aims to do; changing the whole value chain of the fashion industry.”