H&M and the Global Change Award
By archaicpress@gmail.com / on July 7th, 2016 / in ARCHAIC PRESS, FashionLooking to fundamentally alter the one-way production and consumption models of the past, where one season’s must-haves are next season’s trash, H&M’s Conscious Foundation is supporting a new generation of innovators who can change the way in which garments are designed, produced, used and recycled. “Closing the Loop” as H&M refers to it, means that their products are being designed with more than one life in mind, so that either the raw materials or the garments themselves are becoming a part of a reusable life cycle.
“The question for fashion is no longer ‘What is the new black?’, but rather, ‘What innovative ideas can close the loop?’” Global Change Award Jury member and Professor at the University of the Arts London, Rebecca Earley says. “The Global Change Award is looking for ideas that will protect the Earth’s natural resources, and I am excited to be part of it.”
And to show their support for new innovations in the industry, they’re putting a €1 million grant up for grabs for anyone with a creative enough idea to help reduce fashion’s impact on the environment. H&M’s Conscious Foundation will help nurture the top five contestants, giving them the opportunity to actualize their ideas under a unique mentorship. And better yet, the top five will also be able to maintain full equity of their products and all intellectual property rights to their innovations.
“Ground-breaking, game-changing ideas can come from anywhere, so the challenge is open to anyone” CEO of H&M, Karl-Johan Persson says. “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.”
The winners will be selected by an accomplished and eclectic panel of judges including: CEO of Copenhagen Fashion Week Eva Kruse, Supermodel Amber Valletta, and Editor-In-Chief of Vogue Italia Franca Sozzani. Awards will be announced at the grand award ceremony in Stockholm, February 2016, and until then designers are encouraged to apply and the general public is encouraged to vote online because half of the total grant will be awarded to the idea with the most online support.Visit: www.globalchangeaward.com for more information, and maybe your idea will be the one to help change the face of fashion and the world!