Words by Smiley Team
Created with CGI design, H&M Foundation’s new virtual collection offers a preview of what fashion could look like in the future. It showcases ten designs, representing ten startups with grand ideas for how to make the industry more sustainable. But they can only bring the digital collection into reality and scale it up, with help from investors.
Each garment in the ‘Billion Dollar Collection’ is priced to reflect how much money the startups need to develop and expand their innovations. These range from environmentally friendly materials to sustainable new production methods and technologies.
The startups were picked from previous winners of the H&M Foundation’s Global Change Award, a competition to fund ideas that will reshape the fashion industry to fit planetary limits.
“We have worked with innovators for many years now and their biggest hurdle to realizing their ideas is funding and support to build scalable technology solutions,” said Diana Amini, global manager of the H&M Foundation.
“They also need collaboration partners like fashion brands and suppliers. With this campaign we want to create awareness of the impact sustainable innovation can achieve if given the opportunity to grow. Together, we can create a shift in the fashion industry where sustainability and innovation are implemented as a default practice. The time is now,” she added.
The positive impact of the ten startups could be huge for the industry. Just one of these companies alone could achieve an annual net reduction of 720,000 metric tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions by 2030.
Among the innovations on show is Green Nettle Textile, which uses nettle fibres to produce a sustainable alternative to linen. Based in Kenya, the initiative helps provide farmers with a livelihood and long-term income.
The collection also features VEGEA, a startup that transforms winemaking leftovers into vegan leather. This replaces the need for synthetic leather alternatives produced from petrochemicals that negatively impact the environment.
Another of these impressive projects, Fairbrics, extracts greenhouse gas emissions from the atmosphere and transforms them into pellets and yarn to make polyester. Such fabrics are usually made from petroleum and emit a huge amount of CO2, so this would be the first synthetic fibre with a net-positive impact on the climate crisis.
“The Billion Dollar Collection presents a unique opportunity to help the fashion industry reinvent itself through sustainable innovations that can fuel future growth and bring positive change,” said Jill Standish, senior managing director and global retail industry group lead at Accenture, who helped with the CGI character design and.
“It’s crucial to support sustainable innovation if fashion is going to make the shift to a more sustainable industry. The Billion Dollar Collection highlights this untapped opportunity,” added Karl-Johan Persson, board member of H&M Foundation and chairman of H&M Group.
To browse the collection and find out more visit billiondollarcollection.com.
For more information about the H&M Foundation visit hmfoundation.com.
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