H&M announces Global Change Award voting results

H&M has announced the prize allocation from its Global Change Award. It is the first year for the awards, which aim to recognize innovative ideas that will improve sustainability in fashion. 

The Global Change Award's expert jury have already chosen their five winners, who will now share a grant of €1 million to start work on their ideas.

The distrubution of the grant is chosen by the global public through an online vote, with the results revealed by H&M on Wednesday:

- €300,000: Making waste-cotton new -- conversion of waste-cotton into new textile. Innovation team lead: Michael Hummel, Finland. (31% of the votes)

- €250,000: The polyester digester -- using microbes to recycle waste polyester textile. Innovation team lead: Akshay Sethi, US. (22% of the votes)

- €150,000: An online market for textile leftovers -- a marketplace for industrial upcycling of spill in production. Innovation team lead: Ann Runnel, Estonia. (18% of the votes)

- €150,000: 100 percent citrus -- creating new textile out of citrus juice production by-products. Innovation team lead: Enrica Arena, Italy. (15% of the votes)

- €150,000: Growing textile fiber under water -- utilizing algae to make renewable textile. Innovator: Tjeerd Veenhoven, the Netherlands. (14% of the votes)

The awards were founded by the H&M Conscious Foundation, who will continue to support the program alongside Accenture and KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, Sweden. As well as a share of the money the winners will also receive the help and support needed to develop their ideas.