The Global Change Award is an attempt to move the needle in a space where global consumption of textiles and shoes is on track to increase by 65 per cent by 2030.

The belief is that creativity and innovation can flip numbers in the planet’s favor and enable great transformation in the fashion industry. The Global Change Award was initiated in 2015 by the H&M Foundation. In its fifth edition the award has received more than 14,000 entries from 182 countries. Named the Nobel Prize of fashion, it aims to reduce fashion’s impact on the planet by helping groundbreaking ideas move from tissue sketch to market. The award’s aim is to inspire a new generation of creatives, scientists and entrepreneurs to reduce the planetary impact of the fashion industry through innovation.

To win, the innovation should have the potential to make fashion circular and to scale. Other criteria are a novelty, that the idea is economically sustainable, and that the innovation team is committed to making a difference and that the innovation should allow for major change in the entire industry. Several of the previous winners have on-going co-operations and pilot projects with the industry, and some are already on the market.