| And the Finalists are… |
| This week, the European Commission announced the Finalists for the 2020 European Social Innovation Competition around the topic of Reimagine Fashion: Changing behaviours for sustainable fashion. One of 12 members of judging panel was Anita Hrast, MSc., manager of IRDO – Institute for the Development of Social Responsibility from Slovenia. |
| Ten projects from 9 countries are now competing for three prizes: Airwear by Fairbrics (France) A technology that converts the CO2 emitted during fabric manufacturing into new synthetic fabrics. Kleiderly | Converting Clothing (Germany) A start-up that turns recycled clothes into durable material used to make a range of products, from furniture to suitcases. MycoTEX (Netherlands) An innovation to make custom-made clothes using a sustainable fabric made from mycelium, a substance found in mushroom roots. Post Carbon Fashion: Photosynthetic Coating (United Kingdom) Zero-waste and regenerative dyeing and coating services for textile applications through microbiological processes. resortecs® (Belgium) Dissolvable stitching thread and heat-dismountable rivets that help make the reuse and recycling textile products easier. ROND – CO2 reduced soles from discarded fabric (Denmark) Sweat and shock absorbent insoles made from fibers upcycled from discarded textiles. SENSTILE – DIGITIZING TEXTILES (Spain) A search engine that identifies, matches, and compares textiles digitally and at scale. Snake (Croatia) A digital commerce platform which applies augmented reality and enables development of digital fashion by changing the way fashion is consumed. The first Lyocell hemp fibre: Hempcell™ (Germany) A start-up that promotes premium European Hemp Lyocell fibres as a viable and sustainable textile alternative. WhyWeCraft: Cultural Sustainability in Fashion (Romania) Artisan-designer collaborations focused on reviving heritage European textile crafts. |
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| The Judging Panel met via video conference last week to select the 10 Finalists |
| The Finalists were selected by an expert jury panel from a group of 30 Semi-Finalists who, in turn, had been chosen from a total of 766 applicants from across Europe. All Semi-Finalists participated in the European Social Innovation Competition Digital Academy over the summer; an intensive training and coaching programme designed to develop their initiatives remotely. |
| What happens next? |
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| The three winners of this year’s competition will be announced at a virtual Awards Ceremony being organised around the frame of the digital European Social Economy Exchange Event on November 26th, which leads up to the European Social Economy Summit in 2021. Each winner will receive 50,000€ in prize money to further develop their idea. All Semi-Finalists will be added to the Competition’s growing Alumni Community and, next year, will be invited to enter the Impact Prize, which recognises the innovation that has had the most social impact across the past 12 months with a 50,000€ prize fund. |
| Listen again |
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| Have you heard our European Social Innovation Competition podcast? Our limited series features goes behind the scenes to find out more about our Semi-Finalists and also gives added insights into the Competition from a European Commission perspective. All seven episodes are available on Soundcloud, Acast and iTunes now. |