The H&M Foundation has announced the 20 finalists for the Global Change Award 2026, selecting early-stage innovators from more than 450 submissions across 81 countries as the fashion industry intensifies efforts to address climate challenges.
The finalists have been chosen for ideas aimed at helping the textile sector significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions while supporting a just transition for workers, communities and the environment.
According to the H&M Foundation, the shortlisted innovations represent a wide range of solutions addressing different stages of the fashion value chain, including raw material development, manufacturing efficiency and circular consumption models.
The selected changemakers will now advance to the final stage of the competition, where an expert panel will review the projects and recommend ten winners to the H&M Foundation Board. The final winners are expected to be announced in June 2026.
The foundation said this year’s finalists reflect the complexity of decarbonising the global textile industry, which accounts for a significant share of global industrial emissions.
Among the innovations selected are carbon-negative dye technologies that convert atmospheric carbon dioxide into bio-based colourants, seaweed-derived stretch fibres designed to replace fossil fuel-based elastane and artificial intelligence-powered digital twin systems that help manufacturers detect inefficiencies and reduce energy consumption in real time.
Other projects focus on improving garment production processes through machine learning-enabled quality control systems, while several community-based initiatives aim to rebuild local repair ecosystems to extend garment lifespans and promote circular fashion.
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The United Kingdom, the United States and India lead the list with three finalists each.
From the United Kingdom, the selected projects include EntroMetri developed by Mohammed Ali, Iusiph Eiubovi and Steve Evans; Colour Earth created by Aurelie Fontan, Meredith Wood and Christopher Ferguson; and Tera Mira by Jeanne Begon-Lours and Lucy Dain-Williams.
The United States finalists include Curbon developed by Joe Wahba and Alan Zhang; ALU by Donatela Bellone; and RheaCycle created by Arzu Sandicki and Mert Topcu.
India’s finalists include Menders Without Border by Bhaavya Goenka, Filippo Ricci and Orsola De Castro; AgroLyocell (Canvaloop) developed by Shreyans Kokra and Dhruv Gupta; and MicroHues by Suchitha Raghunathan and Anjana Badrinarayanan.
Other finalists represent a wide geographic spread across emerging and developed markets.
Bangladesh is represented by ThreadBridge, an innovation developed by Md Ridwan Hossain. Brazil’s finalist is AIPER developed by Ailton Pereira.
Sweden is represented by ArtSilk created by Anna Rising and Benjamin Schmuck, while the Netherlands’ finalist is Dawn Technologies (Avantium) led by Peter Mangnus.
Australia’s selected innovation is DiamondCool developed by Shadi Houshyar. Italy is represented by EnzymeThreads created by Alfonso Gautieri and Emilio Parisini.
France’s finalist is Fiberly by Bénédicte Quinta, while Tanzania is represented by KelTex developed by Laetus Baberwa and Emeliana Said.
Uganda’s innovation Living Carbon Capture Dye Systems developed by Kavuma Henry has also been shortlisted.
Luxembourg’s finalist is Arxy Fashion OS created by Meng Ji, while Poland is represented by MycoRenew developed by Tomasz Mierzwa and Katarzyna Turnau.
The Global Change Award, launched by the H&M Foundation in 2015, is widely considered one of the fashion industry’s leading innovation challenges focused on accelerating the transition toward a more sustainable and circular textile sector.
The initiative supports early-stage innovators working on breakthrough technologies and new business models that can help transform the environmental impact of fashion production and consumption.
By identifying and supporting new solutions from around the world, the H&M Foundation aims to accelerate systemic change within the global textile industry and encourage collaboration between innovators, brands and supply chain stakeholders.
As the industry faces growing pressure to reduce emissions, improve resource efficiency and move toward circular production models, the foundation said innovations like those represented by the finalists will play a crucial role in shaping the future of sustainable fashion.
