innovation news and archive

H&M Foundation announces Global Change Award 2026 finalists

The H&M Foundation has announced its top 20 finalists for the 2026 Global Change Award (GCA). Selected from 450 ideas submitted from 81 countries across six continents, the innovations from the 20 early-stage finalists are set to be reviewed by the GCA Expert Panel together with the H&M Foundation team. From the 20 finalists, the panel and team...

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N4XT Experiences partners with SAP to drive new digital & retail infrastructure for NYFW

N4XT Experiences, one of the organisations behind New York Fashion Week (NYFW), has signed a new multi-season partnership with SAP to enhance the digital, retail, and experiential infrastructure of NYFW and N4XT’s recently launched NYFW Collections platform. Under the agreement, SAP will serve as N4XT’s official technology and co-innovation...

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What hampers fashion innovation scaling?

Despite the fashion industry’s current boom in innovations that tackle its biggest problems like textile waste, reliance on fossil fuels, harmful dyes and more, the pace of scaling is trailing behind. In a new report, the denim supply chain platform and think tank Transformers Foundation has identified three main barriers as well as three...

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AI in fashion: H&M’s chief creative officer Jörgen Andersson on the Digital Twin journey

Artificial intelligence (AI) is rapidly reshaping the fashion industry. While some companies wait and see, others are taking bold steps forward. At H&M, one of the world’s largest fashion retailers, Chief Creative Officer Jörgen Andersson is exploring how AI can support creativity, most notably through the creation of digital twins. In this...

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Spanish textile industry partners with MagnoLab for innovation and sustainability

The Spanish textile industry is set to expand its focus on innovation and sustainability through a new collaboration agreement with MagnoLab, a leading Italian initiative involving specialized textile companies. As announced on June 10, 2025, by the Textile Industry Confederation (Texfor), along with the Fundació per la Industria del Gremi de...

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Background|Interview

Changemakers in fashion (part 1): Thami Schweichler, founder United Repair Centre

There are countless sustainability initiatives, but who in the fashion industry is truly driving the transition—whether or not their efforts are visible to the broader public? We interview changemakers, consultants, sustainable fashion experts, and activists. What can we learn from their work? In episode 1: Thami Schweichler of United Repair...

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Parley launches new label and incubator to accelerate eco-innovation and design

Parley for the Oceans, the global environmental organisation and impact network, has announced a long-term partnership with the Paris-based Dover Street Market Paris Brand Development (DSMP-BD) to launch a new label and investment incubator to accelerate eco, natural and biofabricated innovations. The new partnership will see Parley launching a...

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The future of fashion: is less more?

A confession. My original research question was, “What if the fashion industry simply made less clothes?” (Over)production, reducing speed and seasons could be the answer to almost everything?!, was my thought process. As in: for sustainability in the clothing sector and more broadly: in the pursuit of a circular economy (see text frame below)....

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Fashion |Opinion

Why the Prada space suit matters

The fashion industry, long criticised for its cyclical and often repetitive nature, may have found a truly innovative frontier in the realm of space exploration. This groundbreaking development comes at a time when fashion marketing and design have begun to feel increasingly homogeneous, with brands struggling to differentiate themselves in a...

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Schools

'Sustainability Lab': UDIT launches research and development project with Spanish fashion giant Tendam

Determined to support the transformation of fashion from the ground up, Spanish fashion group Tendam has announced the creation of its new Sustainability Lab, a research and development laboratory focused on sustainability, which in collaboration with UDIT University in Madrid and consultancy IDavinci aims to ‘redefine the future of fashion’...

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Fashion

Selected designers named for 2nd annual CFDA | Genesis House AAPI Design + Innovation Grant

The Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA), together with Genesis, have announced the names of the three designers set to compete in the [second annual CFDA | Genesis House AAPI Design + Innovation Grant].(https://fashionunited.com/education/news/cfda-partners-with-genesis-for-second-annual-aapi-design-innovation-grant/2024061260352) The...

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From design, supply, distribution, marketing to retail: How AI is being used in the fashion industry

Attention fashion brands and retailers: how you can use Artificial Intelligence to make your business more intelligent and/or efficient “Artificial intelligence (AI) can make the fashion industry smarter,” said Matthew Drinkwater, head of the Fashion Innovation Agency at the London College of Fashion and specialist in new technologies and their...