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Countless startups have promised to revolutionise the fashion industry, but few have managed to break through, and even fewer have managed to achieve change at scale. So what does it take? And how do you spot the startups with the most potential?
These questions are the crux of the Trailblazer Award from non-profit Global Fashion Agenda (GFA) and PDS Ventures, the investment arm of sourcing and manufacturing platform PDS Group. Now in its second year, the award seeks to accelerate sustainability at scale. The winner receives a $200,000 investment, access to commercial and operational support from PDS Group’s Positive Materials subsidiary, and scaling opportunities with fellow members of the PDS Group portfolio, as well as mentoring from inaugural winner Bloom Labs.
Today, at the opening press conference for GFA’s flagship event, the Global Fashion Summit in Copenhagen, CEO Federica Marchionni unveils this year’s finalists. They were chosen from over 200 applicants, split across 44 countries. “It has been really energising to see the momentum building globally,” says Marchionni. “There are so many organisations out there who are trying to innovate. The key now is to help them scale.”
The secret sauce
Finding the startups with the most potential for sustainable change is no easy task. This year’s jury included senior executives from sustainability platform Fashion For Good, research centre MIT Climate Grand Challenges, brands Ralph Lauren and Zalando, and award co-creators GFA and PDS Ventures. They judged applicants against five criteria: relevance to key sustainability challenges, potential to create positive social or environmental impact, innovative or disruptive thinking, feasibility, and potential to scale.
At such an early stage, founders are the most important metric, says Ankur Agarwal, head of venture capital investments at PDS Ventures. “Are they a seasoned founder? Do they see things differently? Are they charismatic enough to raise investment and can they actually scale up a company?” Agarwal says.
The jury was also looking for founders who could handle the pressures of running a larger company further down the road, adds Pallak Seth, founder and executive vice chairman at PDS Group. “The skill required to go from zero to ‘X’ is one thing, but then you have to be able to put a proper management structure in place and have the bandwidth to manage teams, while keeping an eye on the numbers and giving the right leadership.”
Whether or not solutions work at scale depends heavily on how well the wider industry supports them. Despite attracting tens of millions of dollars in funding, more mature solutions like Renewcell and Stella McCartney-backed leather alternative Mylo have faltered, with brands failing to stump up sufficient orders and offtake agreements.
