H&M Foundation Names Top 20 Finalists for Global Change Award 2026

1. AgroLyocell

AgroLyocell is listed among the H&M Foundation’s Top 20 finalists — one of the projects the foundation flagged as part of its push for new fibres and material chains. The Foundation groups finalists under Sustainable Materials and Processes, Responsible Production, Mindful Consumption and Wildcards, so AgroLyocell sits squarely in the materials conversation that aims to shift feedstocks away from virgin fossil inputs.

2. AIPER

AIPER appears on the H&M Foundation shortlist as a Top 20 finalist drawn from more than 450 submissions across 81 countries. Its inclusion signals the GCA’s appetite for early-stage projects that bring technical depth to industry problems; finalists are being reviewed now by the GCA Expert Panel before ten winners are chosen in June.

3. ALU

ALU is one of the names in the GCA Top 20 string the Foundation published. While only two finalists—MycoRenew and Curbon—had detailed descriptions in the release, ALU’s presence in the shortlist places it in a cohort that the Foundation says is focused on system-level, industrially relevant solutions.

4. ArtSilk

ArtSilk makes the Top 20 list and reads like the kind of venture the Global Change Award targets: new material thinking with textile-scale ambitions. The prize on offer — winners will receive €200,000 each plus mentorship and a global network — is the kind of runway a materials play like ArtSilk needs to prove commercial viability.

5. Arxy Fashion OS

Arxy Fashion OS appears in the Foundation’s text as a compound entry (Arxy Fashion OS), and its name hints at digitisation and design-layer interventions — the same areas Beatrice Oldenburg highlighted when she said the list shows “innovation in fashion is becoming more applied and more connected to industrial reality.” Expect Arxy Fashion OS to pitch a software or systems-level fix for how garments are designed or tracked.

6. Colour Earth

Colour Earth is listed among the Top 20 finalists and likely slots into the Sustainable Materials or Dye/Colour category that the Foundation flagged. Colour-focused innovation matters: the industry’s dye house footprint is huge, which is why H&M Foundation’s shortlist includes ventures tackling dyes, blends and process emissions.

7. Curbon

Curbon is one of only two finalists the H&M Foundation supplied a full description for: Joe Wahba, Alan Zhang and Jinjin Chen (US) are building an AI-powered decision tool that plugs environmental impact assessment into product design. Curbon models carbon, water and cost trade-offs from real bills of materials and supply-chain data — exactly the kind of digitised, production-ready solution Oldenburg called “applied” and “connected to industrial reality.”

8. Dawn Technologies

Dawn Technologies shows up in the Foundation’s Top 20 string and carries the tone of the shortlist’s Responsible Production entries. Dawn Technologies’ inclusion is a signal that the GCA is still prioritising process-level tech and energy reductions as priorities for decarbonising the value chain.

9. DiamondCool™

DiamondCool™ appears in the verbatim Top 20 list and reads like a brandable, IP-driven technology — the kind of focused innovation the GCA wants to scale. The Foundation’s prize structure (ten winners, €200,000 each plus mentorship) is designed to move these focused, technical solutions from lab or pilot to industrial adoption.

10. EntroMetrix

EntroMetrix is another finalist name pulled from the Foundation’s published list. The H&M Foundation frames the Top 20 as spanning digitisation and recycling of blended textiles; EntroMetrix’s name suggests a data- or measurement-driven approach, which fits the GCA’s emphasis on solutions that can be implemented across supply chains.

12. Fiberly

Fiberly is listed among the Top 20 finalists and sits in the materials lane the Global Change Award has favoured since inception. From 450+ submissions across six continents, entrants like Fiberly are the projects the GCA hopes to accelerate into industrial pilots with the €200,000 grants and mentorship on offer.

13. KelTex

KelTex appears on the shortlist and signals the Foundation’s interest in scalable material innovations. The Top 20 are now under Expert Panel review — the same panel and H&M Foundation team will recommend ten winners to the Board, meaning KelTex will face technical and commercial scrutiny before June’s winners announcement.

14. Living Carbon

Living Carbon is one of the named tokens in the Foundation’s Top 20 string; names like this reflect the shortlist’s focus on nature-based or bio-intervention approaches for textiles. The Foundation says finalists span “Sustainable Materials and Processes,” and Living Carbon would fall into that remit.

15. Capture Dye Systems

Capture Dye Systems appears in the Foundation’s list as adjacent tokens; whatever the exact corporate styling, dye and colour technologies are a clear priority for the GCA this year given the environmental burden of conventional dyeing. Social Alpha’s commentary on microbial dyes underlines why this category matters.

16. Menders Without Borders

Menders Without Borders is included in the Top 20 and carries the consumer-facing, mindful-consumption flavor of the shortlist. A name like that suggests repair, reuse and extending garment lifecycles — the behavioural and service models the Foundation also sees as levers for system change.

17. MicroHues (note: Social Alpha referenced Microbeworks Scientific)

MicroHues appears in the H&M Foundation excerpt, while Social Alpha’s LinkedIn post calls out Microbeworks Scientific as among the Top 20. Social Alpha wrote: “Microbeworks is building microbial, biodegradable dyes that can reduce the environmental burden of conventional dyeing.” The discrepancy in naming is flagged in the materials we reviewed, but the substance is clear: microbial, bio-based dye innovations are part of the Top 20 conversation.

18. MycoRenew

MycoRenew is one of the two finalists given a full description by the H&M Foundation: Tomasz Mierzwa and Katarzyna Turnau (Poland) are developing a fungi-based bioremediation system for mixed and contaminated textile waste. Instead of recycling fibres back into textiles, MycoRenew converts treated waste into construction materials such as eco-bricks — a creative Pivot from textile waste to building material that targets streams “difficult to process conventionally.”

19. RheaCycle™

RheaCycle™ shows up in the Foundation’s Top 20 string and evokes the circular-processing solutions the GCA wants to accelerate. With the Expert Panel now reviewing these projects, inventions like RheaCycle™ are being evaluated for both technical feasibility and system-level impact before ten winners are chosen in June.

20. Tera Mira ThreadBridge

The final entry pulled from the Foundation’s published string groups the remaining tokens into Tera Mira ThreadBridge. The press excerpt’s spacing was ambiguous in places — the H&M Foundation itself notes these are the Top 20 finalists — but regardless of exact tokenization, ThreadBridge and Tera Mira–style projects reflect the GCA’s mix of materials, process tech and systems thinking that the programme has backed since 2015.