The non-profit H&M Foundation has announced its 20 finalists for the Global Change Award (GCA) 2026.
The 20 finalists’ innovations were selected from 450 ideas from 81 countries on six continents. They will now be examined by the GCA expert panel together with the H&M Foundation team.
From the 20 finalists, the committee and team will then recommend ten finalists to the board of the H&M Foundation. These will be announced to the public in June 2026. The ten winners will take part in the GCA Changemakers program. They will receive prize money of 200,000 euros as well as mentoring and access to a global network designed to help them take their ideas from concept to implementation.
The Global Change Award was created to accelerate innovation. These are intended to help the textile industry halve its greenhouse gas emissions every decade by 2050, while contributing to a socially inclusive and environmentally friendly future. The program focuses on early-stage innovators. It aims to promote ideas that can bring about systemic change across the entire textile value chain.
The selected finalists for this year’s competition reflect the scale and complexity of fashion’s climate challenge. Their innovations span the areas of raw materials, manufacturing and consumption. The selected projects include CO2-negative dyeing technologies that convert atmospheric CO2 into bio-based dyes. There are also stretchy fibers from algae, which are intended to replace fossil-based elastane. There are also AI-supported digital twins that manufacturers can use to identify inefficiencies and reduce energy consumption in real time.
Other finalists are researching machine learning systems to improve quality control in garment factories. At the same time, community-led initiatives are rebuilding local repair networks to extend the life of garments and support circular practices. Taken together, the 20 finalists show that decarbonizing fashion requires both technological innovation and cultural change. Emissions must be tackled at source, while the way clothing is produced, used and valued must be redesigned.
“This year’s top 20 list shows that innovations in fashion are becoming more application-oriented and more closely linked to industrial reality,” said Beatrice Oldenburg, project manager at the H&M Foundation, in a statement. “We see solutions for digitalization, mixed textile recycling, bio-based alternatives and energy reduction. All of these areas require both technical expertise and systems-level thinking. Early-stage ideas like these need support and the right funding to move from concept to practice. This is exactly what the Global Change Award aims to provide.”
The 20 finalists of the Global Change Award 2026 are:
The Global Change Award was launched in 2015 by the non-profit H&M Foundation. It is intended to support the fashion industry’s transition from a linear to a circular economy.
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