Early-stage innovations wanted for Global Change Award 2026

The H&M Foundation’s flagship innovation challenge, the Global Change Award, is calling for nominations from 1 September to 6 October, seeking changemakers with early-stage solutions to decarbonise fashion and drive equity.

To tackle the textile industry’s climate impact, innovation has to accelerate. That’s why the non-profit H&M Foundation is searching for early-stage ideas to support the textile industry in halving its greenhouse gas emissions every decade until 2050, in line with the Carbon Law.

Since Global Change Award launched in 2015, 56 innovations worldwide - including the pioneering traceability platform TextileGenesis and novel molecular regeneration technology by Ambercycle, have received support and a combined grant of €10 million. Several past winners have gone on to scale with global brands and secure large investments, showing how philanthropic seed funding can unlock wider industry transformation.

Every year, new ideas emerge with the potential to transform how fashion is made, used and valued. In just twelve months, the innovation landscape can shift dramatically. As Annie Lindmark, Programme Director for Innovation at the H&M Foundation, puts it:

“This industry doesn’t have the luxury of waiting for perfect solutions. The biggest climate breakthroughs often start as fragile, early-stage ideas in unexpected places, and that’s exactly where we can make a difference as a philanthropic actor.”

What Global Change Award is looking for

Global Change Award is on the hunt for early-stage ideas across four areas:

• Responsible production – rethinking how fashion is made
• Mindful consumption – changing how we use and value fashion
• Sustainable materials and processes – reimagining fibres and methods
• Wildcards – unexpected, system-shifting ideas that defy categories but could spark real transformation

Equally important as the ideas are the people behind them.

“We look equally at the idea and the team behind it. What matters is their commitment, their capacity to follow through, and their initiative – that ability to translate intentions into action. We’re quite different from a typical start-up accelerator. We’re not looking only for entrepreneurs, we’re equally keen to find non-profits, researchers or community-based innovators who might not normally think of themselves as winners in an innovation challenge.” says Annie Lindmark.

Looking ahead, Annie is especially eager to see more submissions in the Wildcards category: system-shifting ideas that cut across silos and spark transformation in surprising ways.

“In 10 years, I hope the changemakers we select today will have helped build a textile industry that thrives within planetary boundaries and supports human wellbeing. An industry where decarbonisation is a given, equity is embedded, and innovation is inclusive. Above all, I hope they will have shifted the industry’s mindset, redefining progress and transforming how we think, collaborate and lead.”

How the nomination process works

For the second year, GCA is running a nomination-based process. A global network of nominators, from universities and NGOs to foundations, accelerators and alumni, help to uncover talent that might otherwise go unseen. Partners such as Ashoka, Textile Exchange and the Ellen MacArthur Foundation are some of the actors helping us find new innovators.

In addition, changemakers can apply directly through The Mills Fabrica, an official nominator and long-standing GCA partner, which is accepting proposals and will nominate the most promising candidates. Based in Hong Kong and London, The Mills Fabrica operates at the intersection of technology, sustainability, and textile, giving them a unique view on bold ideas that others might miss.

Find out how to apply through The Mills Fabrica here: The Mills Fabrica

Neither H&M Foundation nor the GCA partners, take any equity or intellectual property rights in the innovations. The idea is to find the changemakers and innovations that have the potential to drive meaningful change for the entire industry. The winners are free to collaborate with whomever they want.