H&M Foundation names Global Change Award winners

H&M Foundation, the non-profit funded by the Persson family, which founded fashion retailer H&M, has named 10 early-stage innovations that will “reshape the fashion industry” from clean tech recycling in China to community-powered circularity in Ghana as winners of the Global Change Award (GCA) 2025.

The annual awards aim to spotlight “groundbreaking ideas aimed at decarbonising the fashion industry,” focused on supporting early-stage fashion innovation to accelerate the industry’s journey toward net-zero.

The 2025 award winners come from across the globe, including four from the UK, Germany, India, China, Ghana, Sweden and Bangladesh, covering innovations focused on responsible production, sustainable materials and processes, mindful consumption and ‘wildcards,’ for those “unexpected, cross-cutting or catalytic ideas”.

Each winning innovation in this year’s contest is geared towards halving the industry’s greenhouse gas emissions every decade and reach net-zero by 2050, “in a way that’s just for both people and planet,” and includes ideas such as smart recycling and heat pumps designed to replace outdated gas and oil steam boilers to radically inclusive circular systems.

Annie Lindmark, programme director at H&M Foundation, said in a statement: “GCA is about more than specific innovations. It’s about reimagining the entire fashion system. One innovation alone won’t fix fashion – we need to shake the foundations and innovate how we innovate.

“That’s why we back bold thinkers at the very start of their journeys. These changemakers aren’t just solving problems, they’re challenging outdated systems and showing us what a new future could look like. It’s time to stop tweaking and start transforming.”

Each winner will receive a 200,000 euro grant and take part in the year-long “hands-on” GCA Changemaker Programme offering a mix of “innovation support, systems thinking and personal growth”.

The 10 Global Change Award 2025 winners

Within the Responsible Production category, two start-ups from the UK have been recognised, including Thermal Cyclones, a “revolutionary industrial heat pumps can replace traditional boilers and reduce energy consumption by over 75 percent,” and Pulpatronics, which offers metal-free, chipless RFID paper tags that are “recyclable, cost-effective, and made with carbon-based ink” geared towards the future of sustainable traceability.

The category also awarded funding to China’s DecoRpet, a low-temperature decolourisation process that “slashes energy use while delivering high-quality recycled PET for new textile production”.

In Sustainable Materials and Processes, the UK’s Brilliant Dyes was recognised for its work harnessing the power of cyanobacteria, creating biodegradable dyes with a low-energy extraction method. They are joined by German start-up CircularFabrics and its NyLoop technology, which recovers high-quality nylon from blended textile waste, closing the loop on one of fashion’s most used materials, and A Blunt Story from India that makes Uncrude, a plastic-free sole made from bio-based and recycled materials as “a clean break from fossil-based footwear”.

The category also features the Decarbonization Lab from Bangladesh, a dedicated research and development space pioneering low-emission with a focus on textile treatments and dyeing techniques, “to modernise outdated industry practices” and Sweden’s Renasens, a waterless, chemical-free technology, which turns blended textile waste into raw materials with no depolymerisation and no pollution.

In Mindful Consumption, the UK’s Loom was honoured for its “intuitive tech platform that connects users with designers to upcycle unworn clothes into one-of-a-kind pieces”.

While in the ‘wildcards’ category, the Revival Circularity Lab from Ghana receives funding for its creative hub in Accra’s Kantamanto Market that turns textile waste into value, “empowering artisans and building local circularity”.

Karl-Johan Persson, founder and board member of the H&M Foundation, added: “To truly decarbonise fashion, we need to reimagine every part of the value chain – from how fibres are made to how garments are reused.

“These changemakers remind us that transformation starts with imagination and action. Their ideas demonstrate concrete ways to challenge the status quo and move the industry towards a net-zero future.”

Since 2015, the GCA has supported 56 innovations with a combined grant of 10 million euros, all focused on the evolving needs of the industry’s greatest challenge – decarbonisation.