Biothread is building a platform to accelerate the adoption of regenerative cotton at scale, linking farmers and fashion brands through microbial innovation, agronomic support and traceable sourcing. Biothread partners with brands to co-develop low-impact supply chains, ensuring cotton moves from farm to fabric with measurable environmental and social outcomes.

Cirkular.co is a curated aggregator for second-hand fashion, helping consumers discover the best pre-loved pieces from across the web in one place. By streamlining the fragmented second-hand market, they make it easier, faster, and smarter to shop sustainably. Cirkular connects you to listings from trusted marketplaces, charity shops, and resale platforms – all through one curated, user-friendly interface.

Clothing Connected is a software platform transforming fashion supply chains by providing full visibility across materials, suppliers and production tiers. The platform streamlines supplier audits, tracks compliance and sustainability metrics, and integrates with existing systems to improve operational efficiency. By centralising supply chain data, Clothing Connected helps brands stay transparent, meet regulatory requirements and achieve sustainability goals.

garment by is an AI-native supply chain platform built for fashion SMEs. They help designers and brands launch collections and restock with agility by connecting them to a vetted global network of suppliers and automating complex workflows with AI. From tech pack review to production matching, smart batching and restocking, their platform cuts lead times, reduces waste and unlocks cash flow. By giving SMEs control and scalability once reserved for large enterprises, garment by is reshaping how fashion is produced — faster, smarter, and more sustainable.

House of Kind is a London-based womenswear brand founded in 2024 with a mission to unite women through fashion. Blending sculpted tailoring, feminine design and high-quality fabrics, the brand champions safety, solidarity and sisterhood. Through inclusive sizing and charitable partnerships, House of Kind proves fashion can drive meaningful change.

Intotum is a multi award-winning adaptive fashion brand designed with and for the disabled community. It creates comfortable, functional, and fashionable ready-to-wear garments, reducing the need to alter or customise clothing. Including Intots, its kids’ line, Intotum produces sensory-friendly clothing for wheelchair users, ostomates, and others, empowering independence and confidence in its community.

Isabelle Pennington Edmead is a UK-based womenswear label founded in 2023, blending Caribbean heritage with British craftsmanship. Known for bold, hand-painted prints and timeless silhouettes, the brand operates a made-to-order model to minimise waste and ensure inclusivity. All garments are produced in the UK, with a focus on sustainability, transparency and craftsmanship, including carbon-offsetting and Fabacus digital passports for traceability.

Khanum’s is a British Bangladeshi fashion brand founded by Rokeya Khanum, specialising in timeless occasionwear and contemporary design. Known for its signature details – pearl trims, draping, heart-shaped necklines and co-ords – the brand blends cultural storytelling with modern elegance. Khanum’s has built a loyal community of women who seek investment pieces that celebrate individuality, confidence and luxury style.

LOUÉ Studio is a luxury handbag and accessories brand blending craftsmanship with innovative, plant-based materials. Designed for the discerning customer who refuses to compromise on style, LOUÉ’s vision is to grow into a complete accessories house and create a future free from animal use.

Moma Hilo is a responsible womenswear brand crafting timeless, sculptural pieces in London. Born from a desire to reconnect us with the clothes we wear, we champion slow fashion in a world of overproduction and disposable trends.Every garment is made-to-order using carefully sourced deadstock fabrics and produced locally in London by female-led, small-scale manufacturers.

Naturoplastix Dynamix transforms urban green waste into fast-decomposing bioplastic composites, providing a sustainable alternative to conventional plastics. The company combines scientific innovation with eco-conscious practices to advance circular economy solutions and reduce environmental impact.

Founded by Richard Burke in 2016, Nanofique Limited provides wastewater treatment for textile dyeing units for recycle and reuse. Developed over 10 years, the company has a patented biocatalyst of nano-structured material that degrades the dyes as part of the treatment process.

Oríkì Textiles, founded by London-based fashion and textile designer Aminat Akande, is a textile design consultancy that leverages Artificial Intelligence (AI) to reimagine African textiles and uses digital printing techniques to innovate textile production processes.

Pilio was spun out of the University of Oxford in 2011 to develop environmental impact software for creative industries and the heritage sector. Pilio partners with fashion brands to create measurable environmental and social outcomes in supply chains. Alongside this, they have developed Nafi, a natural fibre baby brand, that uses natural coloured cotton from farmers in South Asia and UK wool.

QOVE is a UK-based peer-to-peer rental and resale marketplace reimagining the way modest fashion is discovered, shared and experienced. Built for women who value style with intention where they can rent, lend and resell using tech to power a smarter, more circular wardrobe and earn along the way.

Recondition is a fashion e-commerce brand which caters to everyone and is determined to break stigmas around adaptive clothing. By designing with a user-centred process, Recondition aims to design clothes created with style, comfort and accessibility in mind. Recondition is style first accessible fashion designed for the everyday, allowing more access to real personal style.

Replica Biomaterials harnesses cutting-edge biotechnology to produce high-quality, sustainable leather alternatives for the luxury fashion industry. The company’s mission is to innovate responsibly, creating products that are both luxurious and environmentally friendly.

Founded by designer Sans in London, SansPeng is a fashion brand committed to upcycling and circular design. Using deadstock fabrics and discarded garments, they craft one-of-a-kind pieces through free tailoring techniques. SansPeng embraces imperfection and individuality, offering a relaxed, effortless aesthetic that challenges fast fashion’s uniformity. Every garment tells a story — of renewal, craftsmanship, and conscious creativity.

Slow Projects is a creative studio that challenges traditional notions of sustainability in sports, both visually and practically. The studio inspires and celebrates repair, rework, and circularity in sports apparel. It works with major companies to demonstrate the clear market opportunities available to them and to inspire broader change beyond its immediate community.

Sophie Darling is an independent fashion and textile studio, dedicated to creating bold, print-led garments. The label is known for its signature hand-printed silks, crafted in small batches with local makers. Combining contemporary design with traditional screen-printing techniques, Sophie Darling offers limited-edition collections alongside workshops that open up the creative process. With a focus on sustainability and artistry, the brand celebrates individuality, slow fashion and community through every piece it produces.

StyleGaze AI is a London-based FashionTech company that uses AI to transform how fashion brands understand consumer behavior and market trends. Their platform analyses social media activity, purchase intent and verified sales data to provide real-time, actionable insights, enabling brands to make smarter design, marketing, and buying decisions. They help fashion companies move from traditional forecasting and guesswork to data-driven strategies that drive growth and relevance in a fast-moving market.

Tailr is a deep-tech fashion production platform that digitises fabric behaviour and integrates AI-driven insights to ensure garments are consistent, efficient and sustainable. Built for brands and manufacturers, Tailr connects fabric mills with production teams, reducing waste, sampling and costs while improving speed-to-market. Its modular product suite powers everything from automated tech packs to advanced fabric feasibility checks, positioning Tailr as the digital backbone of modern fashion supply chains.

The Array is a contemporary luxury womenswear brand consciously designed and crafted in London The label reimagines tailoring through a feminine lens, creating a series of future classics for the modern romanticist. Their core collections focus on timeless dresses and shirts with a modern twist, blending contemporary tailoring with old-world craftsmanship – offering refined silhouettes that celebrate elegance, self-expression and quiet confidence.

TheCart is a personalised fashion app, acting as a universal shopping cart. The app allows users to save items from wherever they see them online to one central space for users to compare, review and purchase. From here an AI curated explore page is created dedicated to individual style preferences and current interests. On top of this, users will receive bi-weekly personalised recommendations and discounts from the UK’s top independent brands.

The Killer Muse is a fashion discovery platform powered by digital wardrobes. They help users style, shop and organise clothing with intention, making fashion more accessible, affordable and sustainable. Their mission is to be the everyday fashion best friend, empowering individuals to express themselves through style while building a more conscious and engaging relationship with fashion.

The Purse Parlour is a luxury handbag restoration company advancing circular fashion through technology, craftsmanship, and education.They specialise in high-end handbag restoration and bespoke aftercare services across Europe. Their mission is to extend the life of leather goods and make repairs more intuitive, accessible and scalable. Beyond restoration, they promote leathercraft as a valuable, future-facing skill. Through their online training programs, they equip artisans and entrepreneurs to build sustainable businesses in the growing luxury aftercare space.

Founded in East London in 2022, Vaughan Anson was established to explore the resilience of local economic networks and ethical business practices in a globalised market. Since its inception, the brand has successfully localised every aspect of its operations—including sourcing, manufacturing, and design—all based in England, with many processes rooted in East London, where the company was founded.

VYN was created from the belief that luxury should last. After years designing for global fashion houses, they set out to build footwear with longevity, meaning and heart. VYN sneakers feature renewable and replaceable components, evolving with their wearer. More than shoes, they embody conscious ownership—a movement to “wear in, not out” and leave behind a legacy, not waste.

YIBRI is a London-based womenswear brand creating modern wardrobe essentials with quiet, enduring elegance. Founded by Yvonne Lin in 2023, it blends refined tailoring, tactile fabrics and timeless silhouettes. Named after ‘Vibri’, the Esperanto word for “vibration,” YIBRI designs pieces that transcend seasons and trends while prioritising quality and thoughtful design.

Launching this October, Evo Fashion is a free, four-month programme delivered by Fashion District and Evo Learning supporting early-stage fashion brands and fashion tech founders in building resilient, future-facing businesses. Find out more at evolearning.co/fashion.

Stay up to date with the Evo Fashion 2025 cohort – sign up to our newsletter for the latest news, and follow us to keep up-to-date with our latest events and opportunities: 

On Tuesday, the spotlight shone brightly at The Trampery Old Street, where The Backroom Pitch marked the finale of the Evo Fashion programme. An evening steeped in innovation and ingenuity, the event brought together 24 start-ups, each with a vision to transform the fashion industry. From trailblazing sustainability solutions to bold new technologies, the event was a celebration of purpose-driven entrepreneurship, showcasing the power of creativity and dedication in tackling the fashion industry’s most pressing issues. 

As the final Evo Fashion event of the year, The Backroom Pitch not only concluded the programme but also represented the beginning of an exciting new chapter in our founders’ entrepreneurial journeys. For each start-up, it was an opportunity to gain invaluable insight into their business’s potential – insight that will shape the future of their ventures. The event also provided an opportunity to connect with investors, business advisers, and industry experts, all eager to engage with the next wave of breakthrough ideas.

Delivered in partnership with Evo Learning – a training subsidiary of The Trampery, as part of London & Partners’ Grow London Early Stage Programme funded by the UK Shared Prosperity Fund – Evo Fashion delivered an experiential programme for start-ups and early-stage businesses that took an holistic approach to business strategy, helping them drive economic growth while also integrating sustainability into every aspect of their businesses.

Designed to fit in with work commitments and delivered by experts, the programme consisted of a two-day intensive launchpad and four full-day masterclasses which focused on different aspects of learning, including environmental and social governance, opportunities for innovation, sustainable growth and investment, finance and business planning, and founder wellbeing, leadership and impactful teams. Peppered in amongst the sessions and masterclasses, there was tailored 1-2-1 mentoring, three peer-to-peer learning workshops, and the opportunity to showcase and pitch to investors, business advisors, and industry experts at this week’s Backroom Pitch.

Taking place across two spaces within The Trampery, the event saw founders pitch to carefully selected panels.

In the first room, start-ups pitched to experienced investors with knowledge on how to spot high-potential ventures. The focus was on investment readiness, with panellists offering constructive feedback that helped founders view their businesses through a financial lens. This was a key opportunity to pitch to seasoned investors and gain insights into how to attract funding and scale successfully.

Meanwhile, in the second room, a panel of five business advisers and industry experts offered a different kind of expertise. Here, the emphasis was on refining business models, improving pitch presentations, and assessing innovation strategies. The advisers provided actionable feedback that allowed each founder to refine their presentation skills, focusing on the strengths of their business and potential areas for improvement. This gave the start-ups the clarity they needed to take their ventures to the next stage.

Each pitch expressed creativity and innovation, with start-ups tackling sustainability challenges across an array of different areas, including:

After each pitch, panel members offered tailored feedback, asked thoughtful questions, and shared their expert advice. For the founders, it was a rare chance to showcase their businesses and receive feedback on their pitch, deck, innovation, business model, and more. Throughout the evening, guests enjoyed drinks and nibbles provided by INIS. 

The highlight of the event was the opportunity for our startups to interact with an incredible panel of investors and advisers. The experts brought a wealth of experience and insight, helping each founder identify key areas for growth and development. A huge thank you to everyone who took part.

Marking the final event on the Evo Fashion calendar for 2024, this year has seen Fashion District and Evo Learning support 39 start-ups committed to making the fashion industry more sustainable, ethical, innovative, circular, and regenerative. We look forward to watching their next steps, offering support wherever we can, and we wish all Evo Fashion graduates continued success on their entrepreneurial journeys. 

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We’re delighted to announce that Fashion District is supporting The PDS Innovation Awards! Celebrating the ongoing partnership between Common Objective (CO) and PDS Limited, the awards offer early-stage businesses the opportunity to pitch in front of PDS investors.

PDS Limited is a leader in enabling the next generation of sustainable and scalable fashion tech start-ups. PDS Venture Tech, the venture arm of PDS Limited, has already invested in a raft of businesses – from Materra to Good on You, Unspun, and many more. Could you be their next investment? The PDS Innovation Awards is your opportunity to pitch to the PDS investment team, plus benefit from promotion to the 50k+ Common Objective fashion industry base.

For the purpose of the awards, the judging panel considers sustainability to encompass positive impact for people, as well as addressing environmental concerns.

By completing the application form below and creating a CO business profile, you enter the competition to win a chance to pitch in front of the PDS investment team. In this process, the CO team will pre-screen a shortlist of the most innovative and exciting start-ups. Out of these, PDS will select a few that will be invited to pitch. Judging these pitches, PDS will select a winner to be considered for investment or other support from PDS.

All shortlisted applicants will benefit from promotion across the CO platform. All applicants benefit from creating a free business profile on CO, and joining the global industry community dedicated to sustainability best practice. 

For your business to be eligible for the awards, you must:

Judges will be looking for the following:

Innovation led business models

Scalability 

To finish your application, please complete the following 2 steps:

Applications can only be considered if both steps have been completed by the deadline: 30th June 2022.

APPLY NOW: https://www.commonobjective.co/article/about-the-pds-innovation-awards 

Keep your eyes peeled on our social channels for more events and opportunities for you and your business!

Applications for The Backroom Pitch are now closed.

Fashion District is hosting The Backroom Pitch in Stratford on Tuesday 19 July, 18:00 – 20:30, where selected businesses will pitch to a panel of VCs and investors, all interested in new sustainable solutions that tackle the critical issues of the fashion industry.

Joining us on the day will be Diarra Smith and investors from Ascension Ventures, Backed VC, Bethnal Green Ventures, Conduit Connect, Fuel Ventures, Nesta, Speedinvest, PDS Ventures, Alma Angels and many more!

The diverse line-up of investors will be looking for businesses that are focused on any part of the fashion value chain including (but not limited to):

If your solution aims to innovate the fashion industry, to help it become more circular, more sustainable, more ethical, we would love to hear from you.

In between pitching, the selected businesses will be able to network with other founders, fashion professionals and entrepreneurs. This is an opportunity that you don’t want to miss!

Application Process + Eligibility

To be in with the chance of pitching at The Backroom Pitch, please complete the application form below by Sunday 10 July, midnight.

Applications will be selected based on the following criteria:

We are committed to diversity and inclusion and strongly encourage applications from founders that are women, black, POC, and other underrepresented communities.

If you have any queries, please get in touch with us at team@fashion-district.co.uk

All applicants will receive the outcome of their application by 12 July.

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Fashion District’s first ever investment event series is coming to you on April 7. Taking place at The Lab E20, these events will give you the chance to connect with fashion professionals and investors, partake in workshops, and find out about new businesses and innovations launching in the fashion space.

We’re collaborating with experts in communication, investment and innovation to help upgrade your pitching skills and guide you on the next steps in your business journey. Find out how to make moves towards your career aspirations and secure the funding you deserve! 

Sign up to any of our free events below: 

Keen to brush up on your pitching skills? Communication strategist Amy Tez has got you covered. Join her workshop to learn how to influence your audience through the power of storytelling, command a room – both online and offline – and unite your peers behind a shared goal.

During this interactive workshop, you’ll be given a safe space to share your unique strengths and gaps, whilst gaining tailored advice on how to raise your game and escalate impact.

Unlike standard business training, Amy’s process is rooted in solid actor and storytelling techniques, as well as in performance psychology to get you communicating with far greater clarity and power.

Fashion startups can book a 15-minute slot with investment and innovation experts to receive personalised advice on the next steps in their business journey. This is the perfect opportunity to gain insider tips and guidance from industry pros, find out how to get the funding you need to succeed.

Don’t miss out! Book your free 1:1 slot now with one of the following experts:

Jonathan Chippindale
Chairman of the London Fashion Fund and CEO of Holition, the renowned creative innovation studio, Jonathan is helping to shape the future of the industry. As well as acting as a Digital Advisor to the British Fashion Council and Innovation Advisor to Tate, Jonathan is a founding member of the London College of Fashion Digital Think Tank and advisor to the University of Cambridge Digital Compass Group.

Shanaya Curtis
Currently the Senior Equity Fundraising Manager at Crowdcube – one of Britain’s most popular crowdfunding platforms – Shanaya is primarily focused on sourcing and building relationships with Europe’s leading private companies. Her role entails advising start-ups and scale-ups on sources of investment and their ability to crowdfund.

Abi Mohamed
Abi is the Libra Programme Lead at Tech Nation, the leading growth platform for UK tech scaleups. With years of experience facilitating and helping UK tech companies scale, both at home and abroad, Abi leads on The Libra Programme – the newest growth programme for early-stage underrepresented founders scaling in the UK. Having previously worked as software engineer, Abi is also the co-founder of Community Growth Venture, an angel investor group based in the UK. 

Mandy Nyarko
Mandy is the co-founder of Startup Discovery School, an innovation consultancy that develops programmes for public and private organisations in the U.K that are focused on building sustainability startups. Aside from being an Angel Investor and Venture Partner at Ada Ventures, a 50M VC fund focusing on investing in overlooked founders, Mandy also serves as an advisor on the SME action board to the UK Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy.

Alexander Shapiro
Alexander works as an Investment Manager at The Conduit Connect, an investing company that scales innovative technologies and businesses that are solving challenging issues. Having obtained an MSc in Development Economics from the London School of Economics, Alexander has years of experience advising clients in the public sector on strategies to nurture impact focused businesses. 

Hannah Williamson
As an Investment Manager at Edge VC, Hannah focuses on deal flow generation and execution, particularly focusing on retail tech and content businesses. Previously, Hannah worked at the online retailer ASOS within the operational side of the business. Hannah holds a first-class honours degree in Fashion and Textile Management from Nottingham Trent University.

For our Pitcha Kucha investment evening, we are spotlighting 8 fashion startups and offering them the chance to pitch their hearts out to a panel of investors and industry experts. Join us for a fun, laidback evening where you can watch the most exciting emerging fashion businesses practice their pitching and receive quick-fire, friendly feedback.

The chosen fashion startups are each tackling key challenges in the fashion value chain with a variety of solutions spanning retail tech, manufacturing tech, materials innovation and experiential / digital technologies. This is the perfect chance to learn about emerging businesses and innovations that are entering the fashion space, whilst connecting with innovators, investors, designers, makers and entrepreneurs.

We’ll have a DJ on hand to bring The Lab E20 alive so, come along, grab a drink, and get to know like-minded individuals at the forefront of the industry – you do not want to miss this!

UPDATE: Please note that expressions of interest are now closed for this event.

If you want to be in with the chance of pitching to our panel of investment and innovation experts at the Pitcha Kucha Investment Evening, we are currently still accepting expressions of interest to take part.

Check out our previous article to find out more, or simply fill in the EOI form by midnight on Monday 21st March to be in with a chance of pitching at the Pitcha Kucha Investment Evening.

The London Fashion Fund is currently open to expressions of interest from fashion and biotech start-ups to close their latest round of investment. EOI’s will be assessed across five different criteria:

FASHION RELATED
Must be working across one aspect of the fashion supply chain, from design to manufacture, supply chain, or retail.

EARLY STAGE GROWTH
Should be 2 – 3 years in operation, with at least one tenured member of staff, and ideally progessing from an incubator or accelerator

MARKET TRACTION
Must have a clear USP, be innovative and globally minded, demonstrating traction and growth

READY TO SCALE
Seeking investment in order to scale e.g. to grow you team, to enter new markets, to manufacture commercially

SOCIALLY RESPONSIBLE
Core business strategy including financial, social and sustainable values

If you meet these criteria, the London Fashion Fund would love to hear from you! To find out more and to send your expression of interest here.

The deadline for submitting expressions of interest is Friday 19th February 2021.

London Fashion Fund has already invested in 8 fashion and tech start-ups in this round of investment. Learn more about the awardees and how they are innovating in the fashion and tech space below.

BEEN London is a sustainable accessories brand that rescues materials from landfill and handcrafts them into beautiful, useful bags that are made to last. https://been.london/

Extends the life of clothing by repairing and upcycling at their own workshop, by experienced seamstresses & produces a range of natural, plastic-free luxury clothing care products. https://clothes-doctor.com/

Compare Ethics is the technology platform that verifies sustainable products, establishing trust and transparency between consumers and fashion businesses. https://compareethics.com/

Good Cotton doesn’t have to cost the Earth. HydroCotton is a technology company pioneering climate resilient cotton agriculture for the 21st Century. https://www.hydrocotton.tech/

Kapdaa works with Fashion Designers to turn their offcuts into quality branded products, saving 7400 meters of fabric each year from landfill. https://www.kapdaa.com/brand/

Own-Kind combines the luxury of personal styling with the convenience of online. Give or receive Styling advice and digitise your wardrobe, on the free App. https://www.own-kind.com/

Nuw is an app to share and swap clothes to extend the life-cycle of the clothes we buy in order to reduce our collective fashion carbon footprint. https://www.thenuwardrobe.com/

Founded on a fundamental belief that no bridesmaids dress should be worn only once, Rewritten produce innovative styles, that mix & match, in bold colours with flattering silhouettes that can be worn again and again. https://wearerewritten.com/

Are you running a successful business in the fashion, textiles and/or related technology sector and have an idea that you think could take your company and the industry sector to the next level?

The Business of Fashion, Textiles & Technology R&D SME Support Programme seeks to provide a targeted range of funding, mentoring, support and wide-ranging expertise to help small and medium size businesses turn bright ideas into viable and sustainable commercial propositions.

Approximately £2 million pound’s worth of research and development investment is available through the ambitious programme, which seeks to establish 15 programme partnerships.

Each shortlisted applicant for the partnerships will be provided with bespoke business development support to help them refine their ideas and turn them into viable R&D proposals. Then applicants will be invited to pitch their proposal for an award of funding and the opportunity to be mentored by leading industry and academic partners throughout the duration of the programme.

Each partnership will be considered for an approximate award value between £80,000 and £175,000, for projects lasting up to 30 months – depending on the specific need of the project.

This Funding Call is looking to support SMEs in the development of the next generation of products, services and experiences in the fashion, textiles and technology sectors – with sustainability at their core.

SMEs with innovative concepts, or companies already working at the early stages of testing a prototype product or service in the market place are eligible to apply. Your ideas may be at an early stage, and to be successful may benefit from support across a range of specialist fields, including: new materials design; novel technologies; new applications for existing technologies; innovative business and retail models.

The programme is currently open to expressions of interest, deadline to apply is May 28th 2019. Find more details of the programme and the form to apply below.

Applications are now closed.