Levi Strauss & Co. (LS & Co.) is granting more than $380,000 to the second class of the brand’s fellowship program known as Collaboratory. The funding will be used for developing new approaches and innovations in the apparel supply chain that will address issues related to climate change. The projects of the Collaboratory include rescuing excess fabrics to create beautiful clothes designed by award-winning sustainable designers, creating a data platform for garment factories and textile waste recyclers for end-to-end trading and tracing, and reinventing the way goods are sent and received.

The Collaboratory is a fellowship program for social entrepreneurs who see design and sustainability as inextricably linked, and are working to create a more sustainable apparel industry. The program tackles different social and environmental sustainability challenges that are critically important to the future of the apparel industry and the planet. The first Collaboratory class focused on water. This class focused on climate change.

This class of Collaboratory fellows attended a weekend workshop at the company’s Eureka Innovation Lab, where they had the unique opportunity to work through ideas and challenges with its leaders, mentors, and sustainability and apparel industry experts, as they developed concrete, tangible plans for reducing their organisation’s, and the industry’s, climate impact.

Following the Collaboratory workshop weekend, they submitted project proposals focused on innovative and impactful solutions tied to climate change, with the opportunity to receive funding from LS&Co to implement their solutions. The ideas selected represent bold, cutting-edge ideas from leaders who represent the future of the apparel industry.