From biodegradable glitter to fabrics made from seaweed or orange fibres – these are the next generation innovators that will be supported by the Fashion for Good-Plug and Play Accelerator. As of today, fifteen selected start-ups will follow a robust curriculum over the next 12 weeks, including mentorship from the Accelerator’s partners adidas, C&A, Galeries Lafayette, Kering, Target and Zalando, with the aim to transform the fashion industry for good.

The Fashion for Good-Plug and Play Accelerator initiative works to find and accelerate innovative technologies and business models that have the greatest potential to reshape the industry. The third batch of start-ups of the Accelerator Programme starts today in the Fashion for Good hub in Amsterdam.

Representing supply chain

The fifteen start-ups partaking in Batch 3 have been carefully selected out of hundreds of applicants and come from all over the world covering four continents and 10 nationalities. They represent varied supply chain areas from alternative raw materials to new business models.

For 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. In addition, the start-ups are screened for potential funding to support development of their businesses.

The selected start-ups for the third edition of the Accelerator Programme are: Algiknit, BioGlitz, circular.fashion, FLOCUS, Frumat, Good on You, Mango Materials, Nano Textile, Orange Fibre, PAPTIC, PlanetCare, Provenance, Reverse Resources, Scalable Garment Technologies and Style Lend.

Fashion for Good

Fashion for Good was launched in 2017 and is supported by C&A Foundation as a founding partner. The Accelerator Programme is part of Fashion for Good’s Innovation Platform, which also includes a Scaling Programme and the Good Fashion Fund.

The Fashion for Good-Plug and Play Accelerator is run in collaboration with Plug and Play and corporate partners adidas, C&A, Galeries Lafayette, Kering, Target and Zalando. Together, they are championing the replicable and scalable innovations that will accelerate the transition to a circular fashion industry.

Graduation of the start-ups will take place on 14 June at the Fashion for Good hub in Amsterdam, where they will showcase their innovations to an audience of industry leaders and investors.

Selected start-ups

• Algiknit produces textile fibres extruded from kelp, a variety of seaweed.
• BioGlitz produces biodegradable glitter, which is fully biodegradable, compostable and allows for the sustainable consumption
• circular.fashion has created a software that interconnects circular design, circular retail models and closed loop recycling technologies.
• Flocus produces natural yarns, fillings and fabrics made from kapok fibres.
• Frumat uses apples to create a leather-like material. Apple pectin is an industrial waste product which can be used to create sustainable materials that are totally compostable.
• Good on You is a mobile app that provides ethical ratings for about 1,000 fashion brands rated on their impact on people, the planet and animals.
• Mango Materials produces biodegradable bio-polyester that can be used as a sustainable alternative to the present polyester utilized in the fashion industry.
• Nano Textile offers a sustainable alternative to binder chemicals normally used to attach finishes onto a fabric.
• Orange Fiber manufactures natural fabrics from citrus by-products.
• Paptic manufactures bio-based alternative packaging materials that are made from sustainably sourced wood fibres.
• PlanetCare has developed a microfibre filter to be integrated in washing machines, that can capture microplastics before they are released in wastewater.
• Provenance bio-engineers a true leather equivalent by programming the self-assembly of collagen molecules the building blocks of leather.
• Reverse Resources is a platform that enables fashion brands and garment manufacturers to address pre-consumer waste for industrial upcycling.
• Scalable Garment Technologies Inc. (SGTI) has built a robotic knitting machine linked with 3D modelling software to make custom seamless knit garments.
• Style Lend is a fashion rental marketplace. By renting out garments consumers can extend the life cycle of clothing and delay it from going into landfills.

www.fashionforgood.com