The French start-up Ever Dye has won the ANDAM Innovation Prize 2022. The company has developed an environmentally friendly textile dyeing process in combination with an organically grown pigment that is compatible with existing dye works infrastructure. Compared to conventional methods, the dyeing process with Ever Dye is faster and requires significantly less energy. In addition, petrochemicals can be eliminated from the process. In 2022, the prize is endowed with a sum of 70,000 euros for the first time, in previous years it was 50,000 euros.
The other three finalists of the ANDAM Innovation Award:
The winner was selected on April 20 in Paris by a committee of experts made up of professionals from the fashion and technology sectors. Three other companies made it to the final round:
Eva Engines is a digital platform that simplifies the fashion design process. Using generative AI technology, brands and designers can go from a sketch to a realistic 2D product image in 60 seconds, saving time, cost and fabric waste.
Fairbrics aims to combat climate change by developing circular manufacturing processes that use renewable resources instead of petroleum-based products. Their first product, Airwear, is a technology that converts cheap and harmful industrial CO2 into polyester yarns for fashion brands looking to reduce their carbon footprint.
Fairly Made empowers fashion brands to integrate French and European regulations to improve their social and environmental impact. Thanks to a specific methodology available on a SaaS platform, brands can monitor the impact of each product based on five indicators: traceability, social, durability, environmental and recyclability.
In contrast to the “ANDAM Award” for young fashion designers, which has been awarded since 1989 by the French Ministry of Culture and the DEFI (Committee for the Promotion and Development of the French Fashion Industry) and is endowed with a total of over 600,000 euros in prize money, the ANDAM Innovation Prize was only created in 2017 called. It aims to support and encourage technological innovations that are helping to transform and reinvent today’s fashion industry. It is awarded to a French or international company or start-up that develops its project in France and offers innovative and technological solutions in the fields of fashion design, production and distribution in order to promote the development of responsible and transparent fashion, taking into account economic, ecological and and support social aspects.
Nathalie Dufour, founder and managing director of ANDAM, intends to further expand the award in the coming years.