12 Startups Rethinking the Business of Fashion And Reshaping the Fashion Industry for Good

Twelve New Startups Will Be Supported by the Fashion for Good-Plug and Play Accelerator Programme

The next generation of innovators has been announced. Supported by the Fashion for Good-Plug and Play Accelerator, the twelve selected start-ups will join the Accelerator Programme that aims to help innovative technologies and business models with the most significant potential to reshape the fashion industry for good. The program involves a twelve-week curriculum, including mentorship from corporate partners adidas, C&A, Galeries Lafayette, Kering, PVH Corp., Target and Zalando.

Startups

The batch of twelve startups was carefully selected out of hundreds of applicants from 3 continents and eight nationalities. They represent diverse supply chain areas with specific focus on new business models. During the next twelve weeks, the Accelerator’s partners and mentors will drive market validation of the innovators’ technologies, to prime them for implementation at scale.

Startups
The 12 New Startups Supported by the Fashion for Good-Plug and Play Accelerator Programme

The selected start-ups for the fourth edition of the Fashion for Good-Plug and Play Accelerator Programme include:

  1. &Wider has created a cloud platform which enables buyers and employers to hear about workers’ everyday lives and working conditions directly from the workers themselves. The cost-effective diagnostic tools offered by &Wider use mobile phones to track and encourage improvement in labour practices along the supply chain.
  2. Algalife creates dyes and fibres from algae microorganisms. Their textiles release anti-oxidants, vitamins and minerals that can nourish and protect our body and skin. These bio-based dyes and fibres also have a better environmental footprint than traditional manufacturing and dyeing processes.
  3. The Excess Materials Exchange (EME) is a digital marketplace where companies can exchange excess materials and products. EME matches materials with their highest value reuse option, enabling companies to turn their waste into wealth, combatting unnecessary landfill, incineration, and overproduction.
  4. GIBBON is an on-the-go rental marketplace which matches excess inventory from brands and retailers to travellers enabling luggage-less travel. This prevents travellers from having to buy temporary clothing for alternative climates, or seasonal sports activities.
  5. Green Whisper creates sustainable products for daily use out of agriculture residue. Green Whisper specialises in banana fibre products: banana paper and banana fibre textile. They give a valuable second life to agriculture residue, helping to avoid environmental impacts from raw material use.
  6. NOWNER has developed an online platform for brands which enables them to run their own renting platforms for customers, to create a circular system for the garment industry. From managing the online platform, deliveries and returns, to caring for and repairing garments, NOWNER aims to develop a network of pioneering brands committed to the circular economy within the textile industry.
  7. Reflaunt is a circular designed technology which bridges first-hand and second-hand markets, enabling high-end brands to give customers the option to re-sell, donate or recycle their wardrobes. This allows brands to take control of and benefit from second-hand systems.
  8. reGAIN app has created the first digital, multi-brand takeback program which rewards recycling. Consumers can box up their unwanted clothing and ship them directly to regain and earn discount coupons to use online or in store. This combats the textile waste epidemic by preventing tons of unwanted clothing from going to landfill.
  9. Save Your Wardrobe is an app where its users can build a digital wardrobe by instantly uploading their online purchases or existing items through computer vision. The app includes outfit recommendations, dry cleaning, alteration, selling and donating pointers, enabling its users to understand and manage their closets and use what they already own.
  10. Stuffstr lets users capture the value of used stuff, regardless of its condition. They partner with fashion retailers to buy back unwanted products and update consumers on the current resale value of their items. This makes it easy for users to capture that value at the touch of a button.
  11. TrusTrace helps brands define a clear plan for establishing product-level traceability. It provides a scalable digital platform for measuring, monitoring and communicating various activities in the supply chain, from the origin of the raw material to consumption and recycling, and can assess the sustainability footprint at each stage of the value chain.
  12. The Vienna Textile Lab turns bacteria into colour. They fabricate organic dyes from naturally occurring bacteria to provide a sustainable alternative to conventional synthetic colours. The process is resource-efficient and emits less carbon than traditional dyes.

Fashion for Good launched in 2017. It is a global initiative designed to transform the fashion industry for good. At the core of the company is their Fashion for Good-Plug and Play Accelerator programme that offers startup innovators the expertise and access to funding they need to grow. Anne-Ro Klevant Groen, communication manager at Fashion For Good, said, “Next to the Accelerator we also have a Scaling programme, that has been created to support innovations that have passed the proof-of-concept phase, and are ready to take advantage of the bespoke support and access to expertise, customers and capital”. The graduation of the startups will take place on November 29th at the Fashion for Good hub in Amsterdam, where they will showcase their innovations to an audience of industry leaders and investors.

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Founding Editor in Chief at FashNerd.com | editor@fashnerd.com | Website

Founding editor-in-chief of FashNerd.com, Muchaneta is currently one of the leading influencers writing about the merger of fashion with technology and wearable technology. She has also given talks at Premiere Vision, Munich Fabric Start and Pure London, to name a few. Besides working as a fashion innovation consultant for various fashion companies like LVMH Atelier, Muchaneta has also contributed to Vogue Business, is a senior contributor at The Interline and an associate lecturer at London College of Fashion, UAL.