Paris, France – 2 July, 2024 – The Avantex Fashion Pitch jury has awarded the 2024 prize to Materra. This young British company, founded in 2019, designs solutions to support the cultivation of cotton adapted to climate change on a fair trade model. At the other end of the chain, it encourages fashion companies to source from the producers it supports, offering brands (Mango, Ecoalf, Positive Materials...) a service designed on a Cotton-As-A-Service model, guaranteeing a totally transparent supply chain with full traceability.
"Our teams at Messe Frankfurt, like the members of the jury, were very impressed by the quality of the models presented at this 7th edition of the Avantex Fashion Pitch. In singling out Materra's project, the jury chose to support an ambitious response to an urgent problem facing the fashion industry. It's a decision we can only applaud," said Frédéric Bougeard, President of Messe Frankfurt France.
The final of the 7th Avantex Fashion Pitch competition, organised by Messe Frankfurt France, rewards the most innovative, sustainable and relevant projects for the future of fashion. Each of the eleven finalists - Darwie, Drippy, Finds, GoldenEye Smart Vision, Imki, Materra, Podium, Style Shifter, Swyco, Synovance and Trace For Good - was given five minutes to convince the jury, which was made up of Claudia Cesiro, start-up mentor and founder of The Ace Project agency, Élodie Lemaire Nowinski, historian, specialist in innovation and sustainable development in fashion and researcher at the Glasgow School of Art, Jayne Simone Estève-Curé, expert fashion and luxury consultant and Yoobin Jung, ventures associate sustainability at Plug and Play Tech Center.
Materra will benefit from a stand worth €2,800 at Avantex Paris 2025 courtesy of Messe Frankfurt France, plus €2,000 from Texpertise Network, the textile network of the Messe Frankfurt group, and 1 year's incubation at Foundry courtesy of IFA Paris, official partner of the competition.
