In depth

Fashion for Good: Reimagining how fashion is designed, made, used and re-used

Based in the heart of Amsterdam, Fashion for Good is both an innovation platform and a convenor for change. It gives start-up innovators the expertise and support to find the funding to grow and helps those that have passed proof of concept to scale. Crucially, Fashion for Good links innovators to the market. Our brand and retailer partners open their supply chains, which means circular innovations can be tested, accelerated and scaled. Fashion for Good also houses the Circular Apparel Community co-working space and an exhibition to engage the public.

What we’ve achieved in 12 months since opening:

Six brand partners

Adidas, C&A, Galeries Lafayette, Kering, Target, Zalando – have become corporate partners of Fashion for Good. They help to select the start-up innovators and provide the crucial link to the market that can take a project from pilot to scale.

39

innovations

We supported 39 innovations across raw materials, cut-make-trim, wet processing and end-of use (34 through Fashion for Good Plug and Play Accelerator Programme, five through Fashion for Good Scaling Programme).

15,405

Visitors welcomed

150

Community events

Co-working space

Residents MADE BY, ZDHC, the Sustainable Apparel Coalition, the Organic Cotton Accelerator and 15 innovators share the co-working space.

The Fashion for Good Experience opened with a Launchpad Exhibition in March 2017 to raise awareness about why we need good fashion. In autumn 2018, the experience will transform into an immersive, interactive exhibition that will inspire the public on what good fashion can look like.

450

We mapped the innovation landscape, compiling an overview of over 450 start-ups, the emerging view of innovation hotspots and gaps, as well as leading technologies. To support the rest of the industry to come along, we included the innovation map in the 2018 Pulse of the Fashion Industry report.

What we've learnt

To take innovation to scale, we need pre-competitive collaboration. 

Innovators need strong partnerships with brands and retailers in order to develop their technologies, open doors to investors and connect to end customers. And the more pre-competitive collaboration there is, the faster the innovators can scale their technologies and grow their businesses.


White label solutions are missing from the innovation landscape.

There are lots of business-to-consumer circular solutions on the market, but few business-to-business solutions. White label solutions for re-commerce, selling previously owned goods, would help large brands to implement circular models directly into their existing businesses.

Map of Fashion for Good innovators along the supply chain