Bangladesh has earned global recognition in sustainable fashion innovation as local startup ThreadBridge was named among the ten winners of the H&M Foundation’s Global Change Award (GCA) 2026, securing a €200,000 grant to scale its technology designed to reduce waste in garment manufacturing.
The H&M Foundation announced the winners of the 2026 edition of its flagship innovation programme this week, awarding a total of €2 million to entrepreneurs developing breakthrough solutions aimed at accelerating the textile industry’s transition toward a net-zero future. Each selected innovator will receive €200,000 in funding and participate in a year-long Changemaker Programme offering mentorship, industry connections and technical support.
Among this year’s recipients is Bangladesh-based ThreadBridge, founded by Md Ridwan Hossain. The startup has developed a smart-glasses-powered defect detection system that enables real-time identification of quality issues on factory production lines. The technology is designed to help manufacturers improve product quality, reduce material waste and minimise costly rework during the manufacturing process.
The recognition marks a significant milestone for Bangladesh, which has traditionally been known as one of the world’s largest apparel manufacturing hubs. Increasingly, however, the country is also emerging as a source of innovative solutions that address sustainability challenges facing the global fashion industry.
Bangladesh’s ready-made garment (RMG) sector accounts for more than 80 percent of the country’s export earnings and employs millions of workers. As international brands strengthen their environmental commitments and set ambitious climate targets, suppliers are under growing pressure to improve efficiency, lower emissions and reduce waste across their operations.
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Industry experts believe technologies like ThreadBridge’s can play an important role in achieving these goals. Defective garments often result in significant losses of raw materials, energy and labour. By identifying faults earlier in the production process, manufacturers can improve first-pass yield rates while reducing their environmental footprint.
According to the H&M Foundation, the textile industry remains a major contributor to global greenhouse gas emissions, particularly through material production and wet-processing activities such as dyeing and finishing. Supporting scalable innovations has therefore become essential if the industry is to meet its objective of achieving net-zero emissions by 2050.
Launched in 2015, the Global Change Award has become one of the fashion sector’s leading innovation platforms. Over the years, it has supported dozens of startups and entrepreneurs working on transformative solutions for a more circular and sustainable textile industry.
This year’s winning innovations span the entire textile value chain. India’s Agro-Lyocell, developed by Canvaloop, transforms agricultural waste into textile fibres without relying on forest resources. Sweden’s ArtSilk produces spider silk-inspired fibres using microorganisms, while Tanzania’s KelTex converts algae into biodegradable alternatives to leather.
France-based Fiberly uses green chemistry to transform post-consumer textile waste into high-performance fibres with cotton-like properties. In the United States, RheaCycle employs artificial intelligence-designed enzymes to break down polyester waste into building blocks for new virgin fibres.
Several winners are focused on improving manufacturing processes and reducing environmental impacts. India’s MicroBlues is developing biodegradable dyes compatible with existing industrial systems, while the UK’s Tera Mira uses algae to create bio-based stretch fibres intended to replace conventional elastane.
Factory efficiency also emerged as a key theme in the 2026 cohort. British company EntroMetrix is developing artificial intelligence-powered digital twins of factories to identify opportunities for reducing energy waste and improving operational performance.
At the consumer level, US startup Alu is promoting the adoption of digital product passports aimed at encouraging more sustainable purchasing habits and better garment care practices.
“Getting to know this year’s winners has been a real joy,” Beatrice Oldenburg, Project Manager at the H&M Foundation, said in a statement. “And I’m impressed not only by the strength of their ideas, but also by the people behind them, as these 10 teams tackle friction points across the entire textile value chain.”
For Bangladesh, ThreadBridge’s international recognition reflects the country’s growing capacity to contribute innovative, technology-driven solutions to the future of sustainable fashion. Beyond its status as a global manufacturing powerhouse, Bangladesh is increasingly positioning itself as a hub for ideas that can help reshape the textile industry’s environmental impact.
As the sector accelerates its transition toward circularity and climate resilience, innovations emerging from countries like Bangladesh may prove critical in building a more efficient, responsible and sustainable global apparel supply chain.
