The textile industry remains a significant contributor to global greenhouse gas emissions, with the most intensive impacts occurring in material production and wet processing. Addressing these challenges requires not only new technologies, but systemic shifts across the value chain, from how materials are produced to how garments are used and reused.
H&M Foundation’s Global Change Award 2026 recognises 10 innovators tackling fashion’s highest-emission areas through bio-based fibres, textile recycling, AI-driven efficiency and low-impact dyeing.
Winners from India, the US, UK, Sweden, France, Tanzania and Bangladesh will each receive €200,000 and join a year-long programme supporting scalable climate solutions for a net-zero textile industry by 2050.
The winners of GCA 2026 reflect a growing shift towards early-stage innovation and systems change. Rather than focusing on individual technologies alone, the programme prioritises ideas that can influence entire value chains and unlock broader transformation.
Meet the winners of Global Change Award 2026:
- Agro-Lyocell by Canvaloop (India) – Turns agricultural waste into forest-free textile fibres, replacing wood-based inputs
- Alu (US) – Uses psychology and AI to make digital product passports drive circular behaviour
- ArtSilk (Sweden) – Creates spider silk-inspired fibres using microorganisms
- EntroMetrix (UK) – Develops its own AI models to optimise energy and material use in manufacturing
- Fiberly (France) – Turns textile waste into precision-engineered, cotton-like fibres
- KelTex (Tanzania) – Turns seaweed into biodegradable leather alternatives
- MicroBlue by Microbeworks (India) – Biodegradable dyes that work in existing dyeing systems
- RheaCycle by Rhea’s Factory (US) – Uses AI-designed enzymes to break down polyester waste into new fibre building blocks
- Tera Mira (UK) – Turns seaweed into stretch fibres, replacing elastane with a bio-based alternative
- threadBridge (Bangladesh) – Brings real-time defect detection to factory floors using smart glasses
“What stands out this year is not just the strength of the ideas, but the people behind them. These changemakers combine deep understanding of real-world challenges with the drive to address them. A common thread across many of the solutions is resource efficiency, from reducing waste to making better use of existing materials and resources. Ultimately, transforming the textile industry will depend on both breakthrough technologies and the people determined to bring them to life,” said Beatrice Oldenburg, Project Manager at H&M Foundation.
Each winner receives a €200,000 grant and joins the year-long GCA Changemaker Programme, provided by the H&M Foundation in collaboration with strategic partners Accenture and KTH Royal Institute of Technology. Combining systems thinking, expert support and industry connections, the programme is designed to help turn early-stage ideas into solutions that can be tested, refined, and brought into the real world. H&M Foundation takes no equity and no intellectual property; its focus is on enabling solutions that can be adopted across the industry.
The Global Change Award is part of the H&M Foundation’s broader mission to support the textile industry in halving its greenhouse gas emissions every decade, while promoting a just transition for both people and the planet.
“The solutions we need already exist, what’s missing is speed and scale. By supporting changemakers at an early stage, we can help unlock the kind of innovations that don’t just improve the textile industry, but transform it,” said Karl-Johan Persson, Board Member H&M Foundation.
As the industry faces increasing pressure to decarbonise, initiatives like the Global Change Award aim to accelerate the ideas that can turn ambition into action. Since 2015, H&M Foundation has supported 66 teams from 24 countries with a total of €12 million in grants through the Global Change Award, helping bring the next generation of climate solutions closer to scale.
About GCA
The Global Change Award accelerates innovation to support the textile industry in halving its greenhouse gas emissions every decade, reaching net-zero by 2050. By supporting changemakers on their unique journeys, we empower them to turn their brilliant ideas into impactful innovations.
Each year, ten winners share a 2 million EUR grant and get access to the yearlong Changemaker Programme, provided by the H&M Foundation in collaboration with our strategic partners Accenture and KTH Royal Institute of Technology. We aim to equip our winners with a holistic mindset – promoting solutions that will benefit both people and the planet.
The Global Change Award is run by H&M Foundation.
Note: The headline, insights, and image of this press release may have been refined by the Fibre2Fashion staff; the rest of the content remains unchanged.
Fibre2Fashion News Desk (MS)
