Gillian Lipton, Sustainability Director at Alexander McQueen, Ella Gould, Head of Sustainability and Innovation at Selfridges, Chelsea Franklin of Pangaia, Matthew Drinkwater of London College of Fashion, UAL; and Adam Mansell, CEO of UKFT will select the winning start-up or SME to receive a £15,000 cash prize to grow their business model, as well as an opportunity to pitch to some of the industry’s leading brands and innovators. Applications are now open and the shortlisted proposals will be judged in July.
Helen Lax, Founder of Fashion District said: “We welcome all applicants who are passionate about technological innovations and sustainable solutions, such as materials innovation, digital innovation, manufacturing processes, supply-chain and logistics, traceability, circular economy and end-of-use… Just to name a few. There are many aspects our industry needs to improve, and I look forward to learning more from the start-ups on how we can do it.” Fashion District was founded in 2018 with a goal to bring together fashion, technology, business and education in east London to meet, compete, collaborate and innovate. Fashion District works with a number of partners to facilitate support programmes helping to develop a strong, sustainable network within the UK fashion industry.Winners from the previous Innovation Challenges include Lone Design Club, Sparkbox, and Nanoloom.
