Hessnatur Logo
Our contribution to the textile industry of tomorrow.

We have been pioneering sustainability in the textile industry for over 45 years. Every day we prove anew that there is another way: fair, ecological and fashionable!

We are therefore all the more pleased that our own sustainability award, the Innovations for Tomorrow Award by hessnatur, will take place for the second time this year and will be dedicated to a particularly important topic: Female Founders*.

The winners
The winners.

It was an exciting and very close final. All five impact start-ups were great! But our jury has made its decision and the three winners have been chosen. We are delighted with them:

The three start-ups will receive prize money and individual coaching from DigitalValley®. They will also have the opportunity to implement their innovative ideas together with us

Thank you - We are already looking forward to next year.

We would like to thank everyone who has supported our project and made it possible.

  • THANK YOU to our great partners: GREENTECH FESTIVAL and DigitalValley®

  • our wonderful jury

  • Our great moderator Larissa Holzki

  • the numerous start-ups that applied

  • all hessnatur employees. It wouldn't have been possible without you!

All the finalists in detail

The finalists
The finalists.

Five impact start-ups have fully convinced our jury. They will travel with us to Berlin to pitch their innovative ideas on the big stage of the Greentech Festival on June 16, 2023.


Also nominated were:

Sema Gedik with Auf Augenhöhe.

Auf Augenhoehe is a social impact driven fashion label that developed the first clothing size system for people of small stature and has been committed to an inclusive fashion world for 10 years. Through business consulting, diverse campaigns and partnerships, they strive to break down barriers and promote the visibility of people with disabilities in the fashion industry to create an accessible and inclusive fashion world for all.

Paloma Schackert with Ethical Apparel Africa.

Ethical Apparel Africa works with women-owned factories in West Africa to help them make the leap to export and prioritize the well-being of their workers. The aim is to create 10,000 sustainable jobs by 2030, over 70% of which are for women.

Katja Filippenko with FASHION FOR BIO-DIVERSITY.

FASHION FOR BIO-DIVERSITY is the first SpaceTech for the fashion industry that certifies organic raw materials using real-time AI data.

Sonja Westphal with Sustify.

Sustify is a web-based interactive learning app for production facilities, especially for emerging and developing countries. It helps to improve legal compliance "beyond auditing" in global supply chains. The aim is to sensitize workers in a playful way so that they know, understand and comply with social standards, e.g. in the area of human rights and occupational health and safety.

Dr. Katrin Schuhen with Water 3.0

Water 3.0 develops and scales technologies for water without microplastics and micropollutants. With a focus on data-driven technology development, education and innovation transfer, Wasser 3.0 is where green tech innovation meets social business.

Our purpose
Our purpose.

We also started out as a start-up. To this day, we create clothing from natural materials. We are constantly developing new standards for sustainability and inspiring the entire fashion industry. We take responsibility - not only for nature and our planet, but also for the people who make our fashion. In doing so, we set new standards and prove ourselves anew every day: Fashion can and must be sustainable.

Your ideas for more tomorrow
Your ideas for more tomorrow.

Did you know? Only one in five start-ups is founded by women*. With our Innovations for Tomorrow Award by hessnatur, we want to support young companies and start-ups founded by women that provide sustainable, innovative and visionary solutions for the challenges facing the textile industry today and tomorrow.

Because we are convinced that together we can achieve even more. With our award, we honor your ideas. FOR MORE TOMORROW.

Who should apply?
Who should apply?

Are you a (co-)founder and stand for more tomorrow? Do you want to make a difference? Contribute your big ideas for a better future? Do you stand for more fairness and responsibility in the fashion industry, for more sensitivity in dealing with resources, for more transparency, data and green technology, for more circular economy, for more biodiversity, for new impact measurements & methods and more positive impact? Then you've come to the right place!

Are you in the ideation or market entry phase? That's great. We support you in all phases of your business development.

Our selection criteria:

  • Innovation potential

  • Economic viability

  • Market potential

  • Your impact on topics such as circular economy, water, environment, biodiversity, human rights, working conditions, land use, climate, etc.

What you can expect
What you can expect.

  • With our award, you can document your leading position in the areas of sustainability and female founders and position yourself as a pioneer

  • The big stage of the Greentech Festival - the largest event for green and innovative technologies worldwide. Here, five pre-selected start-ups present themselves and their ideas to our jury and the public.

  • Our three winners will receive individual coaching from DigitalValley®, the digital innovation ecosystem for Europe

  • Prize money for the three winners.

  • Access to an excellent network of experts.

  • The chance to implement your innovative ideas together with hessnatur and our partners.

GREENTECH FESTIVAL

DIGITALVALLEY®

Our jurors
Our jurors.

Our jurors are the brightest minds from the fields of sustainability, social business, venture capital, fashion, tech SMEs, trade press and content creation. Look forward to the exchange and benefit from their in-depth knowledge!

  • Andrea Homann (Co-CEO hessnatur)

  • Diana zur Löwen (Content Creator, Founder Melationship & Rawr Ventures and Business Angel)

  • Ina Budde (Co-Founder & CEO circular.fashion)

  • Katharina Wolff (Editor & Publisher Strive)

  • Kristin Heckmann-Kipouros (Chief Sustainability Impact Officer hessnatur)

  • Nina Pütz (CEO Ratepay)

  • Saskia Bruysten (Co-Founder & Executive Co-Chair at Yunus Social Business)

  • Tina Dreimann (Founder better ventures)

The moderator will be Larissa Holzkitechnology reporter and expert on the most important trends and developments in the European startup scene.

Saskia Bruysten

"We all know that fashion can and must be sustainable. And together we can achieve this. But that also means that we need more female founders. Female founders are also an extremely important topic for me and I am delighted that this is exactly where IFTA by hessnatur comes in."

Ina Budde

"As a female founder, I am passionate about promoting innovations and business models that can really bring about sustainable change. Therefore, I believe it is important to lead an organization with the right values, which I have observed are very often lived by female founders in a great way - we need more of them!"

Tina Dreimann

"The innovative start-ups of today are creating our economy of tomorrow! Together, we are leading Europe into the future - into a world where profitability and sustainability go hand in hand. Thank you hessnatur for being a role model and accelerator."

Kristin Heckmann-Kipouros

"Our award is a matter close to my heart. We recognize green and social start-ups that create solutions from ideas. People who lead the way. This year with the important focus on female founders, because we need more female founders who dare to try new things and take bold paths."

Andrea Homann

"As one of the leading fair fashion suppliers, we have been committed to sustainability for over 45 years - that is our DNA. With our award, we want to support start-ups that are taking change further into the future with their innovations."

Diana zur Löwen

"I think it's important to support young founders who want to improve the fashion world sustainably and in the long term. hessnatur is a pioneer in this segment for me and I look forward to discovering new talents with them."

Nina Pütz

"The IFTA by hessnatur manages to bring together companies with sustainable visions and proves that we can achieve more together."

Katharina Wolff

"An award that focuses on sustainability is of course worth supporting. And when it comes to the Female Founders Edition of the award, STRIVE is a must!"

Timeline and award ceremony
Timeline and award ceremony.

  • The application phase runs until 07. May 2023.

  • After that, the review will be carried out by hessnatur, DigitalValley® and our jury.

  • The five finalists will be announced in May 2023 contacted and announced by us.

  • On 16. June 2023 the big stage of the Greentech Festival in Berlin awaits you! The five finalists will pitch their ideas here and our judges will select the three winners of the Innovations for Tomorrow Award by hessnatur - Female Founders Edition.

Conditions
Conditions.

The services will be made available to the award winners free of charge.

The award is presented at the sole discretion of hessnatur. There is no legal entitlement to receive the award at any time. If no applications meet hessnatur's criteria, no prize will be awarded.

Note on the confidentiality of the information submitted: hessnatur will treat the information with care for its own evaluation purposes and implement all technical and organizational measures to protect the information. No formal non-disclosure agreement (NDA) can be granted upon submission. Therefore, please only provide information that does not require such a confidentiality agreement.

German law applies.

* For better readability, the generic feminine is used here. The personal designations used refer to all FLINTA (women, lesbians, inter, non-binary, trans and agender).

Review - Innovations for tomorrow Award 2022.
The winners.

It was an exciting and very close final. All five impact start-ups were great! But our jury has made its decision and the three winners have been chosen. We are delighted with them:

The three start-ups will receive prize money and a start-up grant from the Impact Factory. They also have the chance to implement their innovative ideas together with us.

Review Ift Award 2022
Thank you - We are already looking forward to next year.

We would like to thank everyone who supported our project and made it possible.

  • THANK YOU to our three fantastic partners: GREENTECH FESTIVAL, Impact Factory, DigitalValley®

  • our wonderful jury

  • our great moderator Nina Eichinger

  • the numerous start-ups that applied

  • all hessnatur employees. It wouldn't have been possible without you!

All the finalists in detail

The finalists.

Five impact start-ups completely convinced our jury. They will travel with us to Berlin to pitch their innovative ideas on the big stage of the Greentech Festival on June 24, 2022.


Also nominated were:

Beawear

BEAWEAR is a fashion tech solution that eliminates the problem of the wrong fit and drastically reduces online returns, costs and waste. We make accurate clothing size recommendations and create digital twins with virtual try-on.

Eeden

EEDEN develops the most efficient chemical upcycling process for used textiles. We can turn old clothes into new, high-quality textiles. In this way, the limited resources of our planet are protected.

Lovr

LOVR is a 100% plant-based alternative to leather, made from the residues of hemp cultivation. We work with partners from the textile, furniture and automotive industries to ensure that LOVR is used as widely as possible.

Repair Rebels

Repair Rebels is a platform where technology meets traditional craftsmanship - we offer fashion lovers a simple solution to repair their clothes and shoes. Our goal is to highlight local solutions through a digital concept and thus digitize the still highly fragmented, analogue market for fashion repairs.

Retraced

retraced is a sustainability management platform that connects fashion and textile companies with all parties involved in their supply chains on a single digital platform, ensuring efficient data exchange and transparency right down to the raw material. This drives sustainable change in the fashion industry.