Levi Strauss & Co. pledges grants to future apparel leaders

Levi's announced over 380 thousand dollars in grants to the second class of LS&Co. Collaboratory fellows, with the goal of creating a more sustainable apparel industry.

The brand started its fellowship program, LS&Co. Collaboratory, to focus on a different sustainability challenge facing the apparel industry with each class. Its second class of entrepreneurs is centered on climate change.

The 11 fellows from all over the world are each working on their own projects that will create a more sustainable future for the industry. The grants from Levi's will fund their projects, which include rescuing and recycling excess fabrics, a data platform that enables end-to-end trading and tracing and a shipment solution to reinvent the way goods are sent and received.

“We all know how urgently our industry, and our planet, need real solutions to the challenges presented by climate change, so we are proud to support ideas and projects that can help get us closer to where we need to be," said Paul Dillinger, vice president of global product innovation at LS&Co, in a statement.

The Collaboratory fellows recently attended a weekend workshop at LS&Co.’s Eureka Innovation Lab, where employee mentors from Levi's and sustainability experts helped them to develop concrete and tangible plans for their respective projects.

“Taking part in the Levi's Collaboratory gave my passion for a more sustainable fashion industry the perfect supportive and amplifying sounding board, which allowed ideas to grow from concept into real change,” said Christina Dean, Collaboratory fellow and founder of the Hong Kong-based Redress and the R Collective.