Meet the minds: Expert Panel screening for GCA 2025 winners

The GCA Expert Panel has extensive knowledge within fashion, business, investments, entrepreneurship and innovation. They are part of selecting the winners and they all participate pro bono.

We’re looking for changemakers who can help decarbonise fashion. Our goal is to drive a transformation towards a socially inclusive and planet-positive future by fast-tracking innovations that benefit both people and the planet. But how do we get there? Who are these changemakers, and what kind of innovations do we need to revolutionise the textile industry? We turn to our Expert Panel to find out.

Meet Anant Ahuja, one of our experts this year. He leads ESG and Sustainability at Shahi Exports, India’s largest apparel manufacturer for export. Since 2012, Anant has been driving positive change through innovation and strategy, aligning the company’s growth with the development of people, communities, and the planet. Now, he’s bringing his expertise to the GCA table.

“Being part of this panel allows me to engage with groundbreaking innovations, connect with other expert panelists, and contribute to a growing community that’s committed to transforming fashion into a more sustainable and equitable industry.”

Anant hopes to bring the perspective of a manufacturer – one that operates over 50 production facilities and four textile mills, with deep firsthand knowledge of the realities and challenges of production.

With the majority of the fashion industry’s emissions coming from the supply chain, it’s crucial that innovations are visionary but also implementable at scale. I want to provide a grounded perspective on what it takes to drive real change in production and supply chains.

Anant Ahuja, Director ESG & Sustainability at Shahi Exports, CEO at Good Business Lab

“With the majority of the fashion industry’s emissions coming from the supply chain, it’s crucial that innovations are visionary but also implementable at scale. I want to provide a grounded perspective on what it takes to drive real change in production and supply chains. Beyond that, I aim to champion ideas I truly believe in and encourage innovators to keep pushing forward in these critical areas.”

“I have spent many years as a technical consultant and impact advisor to the apparel sector seeking solutions to reduce the industry’s carbon, water, and chemical use footprint. The GCA awards represent a leading effort to identify and promote solutions that the industry desperately needs to achieve its sustainability goals.”, Lindra Greer says. “It is an honor and privilege to help select the winners, with the hope that the financial and business support the most promising among them will receive will help them reach their potential.”, she continies.

The GCA awards represent a leading effort to identify and promote solutions that the industry desperately needs to achieve its sustainability goals.

Linda Greer, Environmental Scientist & Impact Advisor

No single person or company can transform the industry alone. It’s a collective effort. And the sooner we recognise that every piece of the puzzle matters, the faster we can move towards a truly sustainable future.

Miles Kubheka, CEO at Wakanda Food Accelerator

“I see change as being like a beehive. To produce honey, you need all sorts of bees – worker bees, queen bees, drones – all playing different but essential roles within the system. Changemakers are the same. Some are visionaries, imagining radical new ways to produce textiles. Some are technical experts, developing materials and processes to reduce emissions. Others are policy advocates, pushing for regulatory change and systemic shifts. Then there are the storytellers, educating the public and shifting consumer behaviour. No single person or company can transform the industry alone. It’s a collective effort. And the sooner we recognise that every piece of the puzzle matters, the faster we can move towards a truly sustainable future.” Miles Kubheka says.

These three brilliant minds, together with the rest of the Expert Panel, will help find the ten GCA winners that the textile industry urgently needs. The winners of Global Change Award 2025 will be announced on 20th May 2025.