Retailer H&M is to give five innovators the chance to share €1 million (£728,000) for developing solutions to close the loop on fashion.
The H&M Conscious Foundation, which was funded by the Stefan Persson family that founded the retailer, will reveal the winners in February 2016 at the Global Change Award ceremony.
Neither the Foundation or H&M will take any equity or intellectual property rights in the innovations.
The circular economy principles of the competition will mean the new approaches will need to be found to ensure that clothes are not just thrown away once used. It will require changes to the way garments are designed, produced, shipped, bought, used and recycled.
H&M chief executive and board member of the H&M Conscious Foundation Karl-Johan Persson said: “ Ground-breaking, game-changing ideas can come from anywhere, so the challenge is open to anyone.
“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.”
