23 May 2019

AMSTERDAM- Fashion for Good’s Accelerator Programme hosted a special edition of the “Meet the Innovators” event, together with Helsinki Fashion Week. Last night’s edition featured the founder of Helsinki Fashion Week, Evelyn Mora. She was joined by Finnish ambassador to the Netherlands Päivi Kaukoranta and innovators from Fashion for Good-Plug and Play’s Accelerator Programme: Indidye, MonoChain and Pure Waste Textiles.

Keynote speaker Evelyn Mora, founder of Helsinki Fashion Week and spokesperson for sustainable and circular fashion industry, joined to share in the origins of Helsinki Fashion Week, one of the world’s first global Fashion Weeks focusing on circularity within fashion, and to give an inside look into this year’s Helsinki Fashion Week.

Finnish Ambassador to the Netherlands, Päivi Kaukoranta, concluded the evening’s events with a succinct talk, highlighting Finland’s history and focus on sustainability and the Finnish innovations that are helping to change the fashion industry.

A selection of innovators taking part in the latest Fashion for Good Accelerator Programme presented what they are currently working on to make fashion a force for good. The evening’s presentations revolved around denim related fabric and dye solutions, recycling innovations and blockchain solutions with a focus on resell.

The innovators are a part of a twelve-week curriculum, which includes mentorship and business development opportunities with the corporate partners. The innovators from this batch have a focus on innovative data management, new materials, dyeing technology, and end of use solutions. The goal of the accelerator is to drive market validation and prime these technologies for implementation at scale.

The Meet the Innovators event is an evening of inspiration around disruptive innovation, provided networking opportunities with the next generation of sustainable fashion solutions and takes place multiple times throughout the year. To keep an eye on upcoming events, visit www.fashionforgood.com/calendar.

BATCH 5 INNOVATORS

Checkerspot – www.checkerspot.com

Charles Dimmler – Co-founder and CEO – Checkerspot, Inc.

Checkerspot is a technology platform that enables the design – at a molecular level – of new materials. Checkerspot’s technology unlocks the potential found in nature and expands the palette of high-performing materials available to product designers. The resulting products are better for our planet and better for generations to come.

FastFeetGrinded – www.fastfeetgrinded.eu

David Uijttewaal – Co-Founder

FastFeetGrinded seeks to make footwear circular by collecting and recycling used shoes into new shoes. Together with retailers, they collect used shoes that are then sorted and deconstructed into their component parts. These material streams are manufactured into new products like playground flooring but also feed back into the footwear manufacturing supply chain.

Indidye – www.indidye.com

Martin Thorkildsen – Managing Director

Indidye has developed a new, low environmental footprint, dyeing method for their natural plant-based dyes. This new process uses sound waves to bind natural dyes to cellulosic fibres. Indidye’s technology uses less water, creates no wastewater, is biodegradable, and requires less energy than a conventional dyeing process. Indidye also produces a dye stuff and is developing a cellulosic fibre – both of which are 100% biodegradable.

Indigo Mills Designs – www.indigomilldesigns.com

Ralph Tharpe – Founder

Indigo Mills Designs is revolutionizing the Indigo dyeing process by making it more sustainable, more economical and faster. This patented state-of-the-art foam dyeing process produces zero water discharge and minimal dye waste all while producing deep indigo colours that the fashion industry loves.

MonoChain – mono-chain.com

Geri Cupi – CEO and Founder

MonoChain has developed an easy to integrate blockchain platform to bring primary and resale markets together to enable a circular economy and simultaneously combating fake products. MonoChain facilitates the reuse of fashion items and empowers brands to generate new revenue streams by connecting them to the resale market.

Pure Waste Textiles – purewastetextiles.com

Hannes Bengs – Founder

Pure Waste Textiles produces ecologically sustainable and premium quality recycled fabrics and yarns. They take offcuts and spinning waste from factories in India and mechanically recycle them into yarns. Their products are entirely made of recycled textile waste, sometimes combined with recycled polyester or viscose and offers the consumer the same quality and comfort as those made out of virgin materials.

About Helsinki Fashion

Helsinki Fashion Week takes place from the 19th – 22nd of July 2019 in a self-sustaining environment at the heart of Helsinki city, setting an example of what a self-sustaining city would look like and how it functions. The ecosystem built in the city demonstrates solutions to challenges regarding the everyday pillars of clothing, food, energy, water, and waste. Besides showcasing 20 selected sustainable designers and brands across the world to international buyers and media, Helsinki Fashion Week also brings together challengers, change-makers, innovators, investors, media and young talents to the BIO-Playground, an interactive and playful physical platform for introducing new exciting materials, solutions and development projects that leverages advanced technologies, big data, biotechnology and inspiring better and more sustainable solutions to existing challenges.

helsinkifashionweeklive.com

About Evelyn Mora

Evelyn Mora is a Finnish entrepreneur, Founder of Helsinki Fashion Week and a spokesperson for sustainable and circular fashion industry. She gained industry recognition through her extraordinary results and game-changing visions noted “Multi-Talented” by Vogue Italia and “Game changer” by Glamour South Africa.

After starting-off consulting international companies and organisations on sustainability, she now actively lectures at various top-industry events and Universities including Institute of Design IED Milano, Kyoto University of Design Japan, WGSN, St.Petersburg University of Technology, FashionSustain Berlin and many more. Evelyn is currently working with VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland, Leica, Tesla, Dain Studios and many more corporations on Helsinki Fashion Week and the realisation of the Eco Village concept she created. She was recently selected as Top 20 female entrepreneurs leading the Nordic fashion industry by Launchmetrics.

evelynmora.com