Innovation & Technology Circular Economy Materials & Packaging

Meet the Latest 12 Startups Set to Change Fashion as We Know it

Innovations in garment fitting, recycling, intelligent machinery and a virtual garment marketplace are among the 12 new innovations joining the latest Fashion for Good-Plug and Play Accelerator Programme.

Published 5 years ago | About a 4 minute read

Image: Frankie Collective reworks vintage garments and overstock that would otherwise go to landfill into high-demand streetwear styles. | Frankie Collective

Over the next 12 weeks, this latest cohort will participate in a robust curriculum, including mentoring and industry expertise from Fashion for Good and its Corporate Partners to catalyse the innovations into the mainstream fashion ecosystem.

As ecommerce continues to grow, digital fitting solutions are increasingly important in addressing the sustainability challenges of ill-fitting clothing, which result in increased returns and stock issues. Similarly important are reusable packaging and innovations in the recycling of polybags — the most common packaging for clothing mailers. Also, circular business models such as clothing-rental solutions are gaining traction with both consumers and brands. And the creation of a digital clothing collection offers a glance into a digital future of fashion that wastes nothing but data.

Two years since its founding, the Fashion for Good-Plug and Play Accelerator Programme continues to support promising startups developing innovations set to disrupt and drive the transformation of the fashion value chain toward a more circular and regenerative system. In this sixth batch, new focus areas — including fitting solutions, reusable packaging, recycling, reworking and intelligent machinery — take center stage, complimenting the innovations from previous cohorts, which comprised new materials, dyeing and finishing, circular business models and traceability, to name a few. The innovators will receive mentoring, guidance on impact assessments, funding support and market validation from Programme partners to spur the implementation of their innovations at scale.

The sixth cohort of innovators are:

Cadel Deinking – Cadel Deinking removes printed ink and labels from plastics and, through mechanical recycling, can produce high-quality, high recycled-content pellets. The de-inking technology produces pellets of similar quality to that of new plastics and can be used in the same applications as new material.

Cocoon Biotech – Cocoon Biotech has developed a bio-technology platform designed to produce a bio-compatible silk protein. Its platform dissolves raw cocoon silk, post-consumer silk waste and supply chain waste into a liquid protein solution, from which fiber, liquids and gel materials can be produced.

The Fabricant – The Fabricant is a digital fashion house leading the fashion industry towards a new sector of digital-only clothing — wasting nothing but data and exploiting nothing but imagination. The Fabricant specialises fashion design and animation in photo-real 3D, which can be used in digital fashion editorials, digital clothing and occasional collections.

Frankie Collective – Frankie Collective is dedicated to reworking excess products into high-demand streetwear styles. Vintage garments and overstock that would otherwise end up in landfill are salvaged and reworked into contemporary items.

PreSize – PreSize is a 3D body-scanning technology that uses any smartphone’s camera input to find the best fit to the users’ individual body. Unlike other smartphone fit solutions, PreSize is completely web-based, and uses a video of the consumer to estimate key points of the body, ensuring a higher level of accuracy in measurements.

RE-NT – Based in Germany, RE-NT offers a circular, white-label rental service and online platform. Consumers can rent the latest fashion, and brands can still engage with their audience without having to deal with operations and logistics.

Resortecs – Resortecs produces a dissolvable stitching thread for easy repair and recycling of garments. Used in attaching trimmings, such as zippers, buttons and fasteners, the threads are aimed at garment repair, recycling and reusing materials from unsold stock and dissolve when exposed to heat.

Returnity – Returnity creates custom-designed, reusable and recyclable shipping packaging for individuals and businesses, providing a sustainable packaging solution for a better customer experience and engagement.

Smartex – Smartex uses a combination of IoT sensors and AI/machine learning software for the real-time inspection and detection of defects in fabric production. The technology helps textile manufactures improve production yields, reducing defective production down to 0.1 percent.

Sozie – Sozie’s approach to sizing is to use real-life consumers to produce fit and style feedback for garments that match the potential buyer's size and body type. “Sozies” are given 24 hours to find garments in retail stores and report back with photos, style comments and experience in fit. In time, a library is produced and shoppers can instantly browse content from consumers that match their body type.

Spintex – Spintex, a spin-out from the University of Oxford, manufactures pure and strong silk fibers — spun from a water-based solution of dissolved silk fibers, sourced from, amongst others, post-consumer waste streams. The technology platform can create bespoke, next-generation fibers and materials for everything from textiles to medical devices and regenerative medicine.

Unspun – Unspun is an on-demand apparel company that uses 3D scanning and fit algorithms to generate digital consumer sizing. Using the 3D information, the company 3D-weaves a pair of customized jeans that fit perfectly. The technique eliminates back-end inventory, reduces wasteful processes and ultimately increases the lifespan and wearability of your garments.