It was believed that the trend of fast-fashion had been embraced very well by the leading brands, but they failed to initiate the direction of a sustainable product. The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago, and the next best time is today. The Chinese idiom perfectly fits the current situation we are living in. Recently, H&M announced five winners of its Global Change Awards, and a step is taken 2015 to acknowledge and support the start-ups taking up sustainable innovations in the fashion domain.
How Are the Winners Driving Sustainable Fashion
The winners were selected from 5,893 entries across 175 different countries by an expert panel. The winners will now be given one million euros from the experts who scrutinized them. The winners will also take part in an annual Innovation Accelerator Programme, run in cooperation with Accenture and KTH Royal Institute of Technology. These steps will help them to develop their technologies further and connect with leading fashion brands.
Let’s walk through the profiles of winners of the competition:
- Galy
The first prize was won by Galy, a US-based firm that uses biotechnology to create lab-grown cotton called Incredible Cotton. The company was granted 300,000 euros. This agriculture tech firm is using biotechnology to grow cotton in a lab. Thus, eliminating the need for the millions of acres of land and tons of water and chemicals used in conventional cotton production. Galy’s cotton grows 10x faster, using only 20 percent of the resources.
- Werewool
Werewool, another U.S. based company that received 250,000 euros for it’s out of box thinking for Feature Fibres. The fibers are made from protein DNA with natural colors, stretch, and other features. The firm is committed to the United Nation’s SDGs and hence developed a platform that reduces the fashion industry’s impact on natural resources. It is successful in doing so as it eliminates the ecotoxicity of dyes, reduces the raw material impact of fiber production. Thus, ending the life implications of synthetic fibers. By creating fibers with natural color, we are preventing the pollution associated with conventional textile dyes that cause dead zones in rivers, streams, and other freshwater resources.
- TextileGenesis
TextileGenesis, an India based company, was another awardee which received 150,000 euros. It tracks sustainable fibers through transparent and reliable blockchain technology. After winning the award, Amit Gautam, CEO & Founder, was quoted saying, “Winning GCA is an important milestone in our start-up journey. It will ‘fast-forward’ our commercial and technology roadmap. We expect to mature from an ’emerging start-up’ to a ‘global change-maker’ with the GCA accelerator program.” Using blockchain technology in sustainable textiles will only promote transparency and no more ugly surprises. Only the trustworthy information, regardless of how many times the material is used and recycled, will be given to the brands.
TextileGenesiss uses blockchain technology, which helps in verifying that a specific sustainable fiber was used only by the retailer and no doctoring of the material in between. Each material batch is certified with a twin fiber coil, a digital token that can be linked to a fingerprint. The linking will create a unique digital identity for the material which is produced sustainably. Its records last forever hence can cross verified at a point in time.
- SeaChange Technologies
Another company that won was U.S. company SeaChange Technologies which received 150,000 euros. It uses Zero Sludge technology, which separates and cleans wastewater to eliminate toxic sludge in landfills. They offer a breakthrough solution to address the logistical cost and environmental impact of wastewater treatment and its toxic sludge disposal. Their compact wastewater system is integrated with existing manufacturing operations, which allows improved services. Thus, allowing improved services without any changes to apparel design, materials, or supply chain.
- Fairbrics
French company Fairbrics was awarded 150,000 euros for Airwear, a technology that converts the greenhouse gas into sustainable polyester. The company guarantees that they create the only carbon negatively synthetic fibers.
Karl-Johan Persson, the board member of the H&M Foundation and former H&M CEO, came forward in support of holding such competitions. He said, “H&M Foundation supports the fight against the coronavirus, and at the same time, we continue to support entrepreneurs and innovators for long-term sustainability. Every year I am amazed by the ideas submitted to the Global Change Award.“
It is not that only start-ups are thinking about pushing the sustainable fashion movement forward. Many leading brands have been supportive of the notion and launched some of its product that puts in a better position to vocalize it.
Here is the list of brands that have been taking initiatives for quite some time now:
- Puma
The well-known German multinational company Puma became a partner with First Mile to launch a co-created sportswear collection. It would be made from recycled plastic. Their tie-up goes beyond recycling as they pitch “social impact and human connection” from their products. The co-powered line allows consumers to perform any workout without any hindrances. The collection also features shoes and apparel, such as T-shirts, shirts, jackets, and leggings. These all have been made from scratch.
- Wrangler
Wrangler an American denim brand, launched a sustainable cotton program in Europe. The move has taken to sustainable fashion as it collaborates with farmers. This program builds upon an existing initiative that the Kontoor Brands-owned company had previously launched in the United States.
- Anya Hindmarch
Anya Hindmarch, an English fashion accessories designer, has once again foregone a catwalk show and did a little experiment by launching the ‘I Am A Plastic Bag’ collection. The bags are already available at her London stores with plastic bottles, as a mark of protest. The handbag collection is made from a new fabric which is manufactured from recycled plastic bottles and coated with recycled plastic windshields.
Why is it wise to install Online Apparel Design Software?
The word “sustainable,” “eco-friendly,” and “Conscious” have always been popular among the leading
fashion brands. They have been offering their capsule collections and made a strong presence among retailers. Yes, indeed, these labels have always standard, therefore, companies, like Zara and Mango, do go out of their way to put out special collections they label eco-friendly. Similarly, the online apparel design software offers the modern customization solutions to the brands that will enable your customers to wear what they want and thus reducing the wastage.
Before the inception of the customization trend, the companies had to keep up with the latest trends. This would lead to a massive amount of wastage of the cloth. With the availability of the digital market, the customers can try on their style of clothes and do as many permutations and combinations as possible with different styles, fabrics, colors, and many more.
Also, the 3D embedding clothes will help customers to check what they have and created and then buy. The 3D visualization enables them to see, touch, and feel the cloth of their choice and thus enhancing the audience base. Apart from this, the brands will manufacture these products as per the customization provided by the end-user. The brands need to flip the process from tailoring the cloth and selling it to selling the idea first and then producing it.
Conclusion-
These statements and facts bring us down to one thing that sustainable fashion is the need of the hour. And brands need some logistics to adhere to these changes, but they needn’t worry about this. iDesigniBuy offers customization solutions for bags, apparel, shoes, caps, mugs, uniforms, hoodies, and many more. It is a leading fashion tech firm whose strategies modify a broad scope of merchandise. Our specialists have immense industry experience and in-depth domain knowledge, hence assisting the customer from idea inception in terms of projecting execution.
