Launched in 2017, the ANDAM Innovation Prize, now celebrating its seventh year, is dedicated to fostering technological breakthroughs that significantly reshape and enhance the fashion sector. This prestigious award is accessible to entrepreneurs and startups globally, provided they are prepared to expand their venture within France, focusing on areas such as bio-tech, new materials, production techniques, distribution methods, and the circular economy.
This year’s laureate, Alternative Innovation, has been granted 100,000 euros to further advance its innovative Alterskin technology. This pioneering material, a plant-based bioresin with shape-memory properties, eschews plastics and boasts infinite regenerative capacity. Its potential applications are broad, ranging from coatings and coated textiles to soft bio-sourced materials and sprays.
Nathalie Dufour, the founder and general manager of ANDAM, expressed her enthusiasm about the award: “This year again, both the diversity and the quality of the applications received demonstrate the collective awareness of the need for profound change in the fashion industry and the importance of supporting these innovative projects.”
She further noted, “I am very honoured over the years to have gathered an experts’ committee around this prize, whose excellent knowledge and field of experience make it possible to reveal an ecosystem of international start-ups offering crucial solutions to support the shift of our industry. From new fibres and materials, through pigments and new manufacturing processes to distribution and customer experience, the entire industry is concerned, studied according to an ever more assertive desire to produce better by reducing waste, energy impact, carbon emissions and water consumption.”
The competition was fierce, with Alternative Innovation prevailing over two other finalists: Autone, a London-based startup providing a SaaS platform for inventory management aimed at enhancing growth and sustainability for brands and retailers, and Synovance, a French startup focused on developing sustainable, biobased pigments, primarily indigo, to improve the sustainability of the dyeing industry.
Dufour concluded, “The three technologies: Alternative Innovation, Synovance and Autone, rewarded by our committee perfectly reflect this determination to offer ecological alternatives and/or effective impact measurement tools at each level of the value chain, and what’s more, established on the French territory, which we are delighted about.”
Last year, the Innovation Prize was awarded to Sqim, an Italian materials company that specializes in biofabricated materials derived from pure mycelium, the root structure of mushrooms.