The four-year innovative partnership between the non-profit H&M Foundation and The Hong Kong Research Institute of Textiles and Apparel (HKRITA) finds groundbreaking solutions to recycle blend textiles into new fabrics and yarns – without any quality loss – through a hydrothermal process using heat and pressure. The technology will be scaled up and made available to the global fashion industry. The finding is a major breakthrough in the journey towards a closed loop for textiles.
With support from the H&M Foundation the Cradle to Cradle Products Innovation Institute’s Fashion Positive Initiative has launched the Innovators Hub, a resource center for the growing circular fashion movement.
H&M Foundation and UNICEF have launched a new partnership to support young children, in particular those with disabilities. The initiative is worth 30 million Swedish krona (USD 3.7 million) and one aim is to reach more than 9,000 young children with disabilities and their family members with specialized early childhood development services over the next three years.
The humanitarian crisis in Cox’s Bazar is one of the region’s largest man-made humanitarian crises in decades. Needs are also enormous within Rakhine State in Myanmar. To help saves lives and reduce suffering among those affected by the conflict, both in Myanmar and Bangladesh, the H&M Foundation is donating 200,000 USD to the Red Cross relief effort.
In 2016, over 60,000 children came to Europe without their parents or caretakers and in 2015, at least 10,000 unaccompanied migrant children disappeared within hours of being registered. The H&M Foundation has donated 11.3 million SEK over a three-year period to Missing Children Europe, the European federation for missing and sexually exploited children. The donation will be used to strengthen protection systems for children in migration.
Pia Rebello Britto, UNICEF Chief of Early Childhood Development, reflects on the achievements of the first phase of the Global Program for Education, aiming to reach children with the nurturing care and early learning opportunities they need to fully develop in the earliest years of life.
What if we could make a shift from “take-make-waste” to a fashion world where there is no more waste? What materials would we use? What would the process and business models look like?
The annual Global Change Award, initiated by the non-profit H&M Foundation, aims to protect our planet and living conditions by accelerating the shift from a linear to a circular fashion industry. The five winners share a €1 million grant, along with a one-year innovation accelerator program providing tailor-made support and invaluable access to the fashion industry. Last year, more than 2,800 applications from 130 countries were submitted. Today, the third round opens for applications at globalchangeaward.com.
In addition to the human tragedy that follows in the wake of South Asia’s worst flooding in years, Save the Children warns that children’s education and long-term well-being is also put at risk. H&M foundation donates important support to Save the Children’s work in India and Bangladesh where 1.3 million children are currently out of school.
For refugees arriving in a new country, finding a job is everything. Without a job, the process of building a new life is extremely difficult. However, the process of seeking asylum can take years, a time where most refugees can’t do anything but wait. They can’t work, study or start building new lives in their new country. Together with Kiron Open Higher Education, the H&M Foundation worked to increase access to higher education opportunities for refugees in Germany.
