Mumbai, June 18: The Lakme Fashion Week (LFW) will this year introduce 'Circular Changemakers', a programme to empower sustainability enterprises. IMG Reliance developed and launched the Circular Design Challenge (CDC), an initiative by R Elan's ‘Fashion For Earth', LFW and UN Environment, last year. It was a sustainability award in a fashion which was launched with support from Intellecap's Circular Apparel Innovation Factory (CAIF), an industry-led platform with the mission to strengthen capabilities and build the ecosystem needed to transition to a circular textile and apparel industry in India.

Building on this partnership, CAIF is now working with the CDC to create a programme to showcase innovations and solutions for a circular economy across the textile and apparel value chain. It's Circular Changemakers' programme welcomes applications till June 30 from start-ups across the country, offering scalable, post-prototype and revenue-generating solutions. Their contribution to the textile and apparel industry must be less harmful and provide renewable inputs.

From the pool of applications, six start-ups will be chosen to participate in a bootcamp by industry experts. The three-module bootcamp focuses on providing visibility to change-makers in the sustainable and circular fashion space, exposing them to important aspects of Capital Raising, Business and Financial Modelling and Investor Pitch Preparation.

Following the bootcamp, enterprises will pitch their value proposition and business model to a panel of investors on August 22, the Sustainable Fashion Day at LFW's Winter/Festive 2019 edition. The pitch event will be followed by a networking session with key industry stakeholders such as brands, manufacturers and others.

Jaspreet Chandok, Vice President and Head of Fashion, IMG Reliance, said in a statement: "This programme will focus on strategic investments for value chain start-ups, while CDC remains as a jury-based cash award for entrepreneurs in fashion. There is an untapped opportunity to provide circular fashion enterprises with scaling support in the form of strategic collaborations and investments."

Vikas Bali, CEO, Intellecap, said this is a "critical stepping-stone to close gaps in the current ecosystem and create visibility for change-making circular fashion start-ups".

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jun 18, 2019 05:05 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).