According to the World Bank, fashion is responsible for 10% of annual global carbon emissions. The industry also produces a lot of waste, with 87% of fiber inputs incinerated or disposed of in a landfill and 20% of global wastewater worldwide is generated from fabric dyeing and treatment. Innovators and entrepreneurs are addressing these issues and finding solutions on their fashion journey.
To move fashion forward as part of this era of sustainability, pioneering brands are making sustainability commitments and meeting challenges head-on. Tommy Hilfiger and its vision to ‘Waste Nothing and Welcome All’ reflects the urgent need for fashion and the global economy to enhance their business models and make them more sustainable. It is also one brand leading the way in the Fashion Frontier Challenge.
Since 2019, INSEAD Business School, a member institution of the United Nations Academic Impact (UNAI), has partnered with this iconic brand to ensure the winners are equipped to deliver maximum social impact. Koalaa, one of this year’s winners of the Challenge, seeks to foster inclusivity in fashion by producing modular, soft-sleeve prosthetics that enable wearers to perform hundreds of activities.
From daily use to specialty sports, the company tailors each prosthetic to specific needs through a user-led approach. They listen to their customers to deliver a comfortable, affordable product that empowers wearers through increased confidence. Moner Bondhu, the other winner this year, also seeks to empower people. The company focuses on garment workers in Bangladesh.
The latter is done with a platform that provides mental health and well-being services. Bangladesh is home to more than four million ready-made garment workers, with -as per an issue brief published by the International Labour Organization- 60% women, mostly young and earning low wages. Moner Bondhu connects these women with trained therapists, social workers, and counselors ready to assist.
In this fourth year of the Fashion Frontier Challenge, more than 250 social entrepreneurs worldwide submitted solutions. A multi-step, year-long process narrowed this down to five finalists. All finalists received support from mentors, experts, and a pitching coach to present their business solutions at an event in February 2023. Executive education by INSEAD was offered to the winners of the Challenge.
INSEAD is a global business school that champions business as a force for good. Ethics and responsibility in business education have always been fundamental to the school’s mission. In 2018, INSEAD established the Hoffmann Global Institute for Business and Society to encourage coordinated action and embed sustainability into learning, research, engagement, and operations.
One year later, INSEAD joined as a partner of the Fashion Frontier Challenge. To maximize the academic impact of the Challenge, the school organizes a series of business boot camps, arranges mentors for the winners, and places the winners into the INSEAD Hans H. Wahl Impact Entrepreneurship Programme. Connecting with peers and leading business thinkers across the INSEAD network expands these social entrepreneurs’ toolkits and connections.
In the program, participants learn leadership strategies and business skills that attract investors and grow impact. It builds knowledge and connects winners with a global network of entrepreneurs and innovators working towards positive social impact. This academic understanding of impact entrepreneurship allows Challenge winners to scale their solutions while building a brighter future for fashion.
To see the power of business solutions in action, Apon is a crucial example. This 2020 Challenge winner also promotes health and well-being for low-income textile workers in Bangladesh. Founder Saif Rashid opened grocery shops in textile factories and negotiated a 10% discount on over 1,400 essential food and household necessities. Workers receive life insurance, health coverage, medical services, and more.
Now, Apon serves over 100,000 workers in 27 textile factories across Bangladesh, with a business model that benefits the community and the fashion supply chain, which Saif attributes to the academic support he received: “I got insights into impact measurement and system change models. Case studies and a well-designed learning journey enriched my knowledge and gave me valuable tools to drive sustainable impact.”
The future of fashion is sustainable – environmentally sound and socially inclusive. Over the last four years, brands like Tommy Hilfiger have recognized and supported business solutions to fashion challenges. From connecting smallholder farmers in Africa with global markets to developing artificial intelligence platforms for e-commerce, Fashion Frontier Challenge winners are making a real difference.
These ventures are empowering people with disabilities, enabling economic independence for refugees, improving health care options, and more. They are the fresh ideas changing how we think and build and create. These innovative and impactful solutions hold the powerful potential to speed up progress. And the role of academia in these endeavors is now more relevant than ever.
