Fashion Frontier Challenge

A global program to find and support new ideas that are making the fashion landscape more inclusive.

We have set out to do everything in our power to create fashion that is more inclusive. Stitch by stitch, person by person, innovation by innovation. We’re determined to push boundaries – and we know that some of the best ideas won’t always be our own.

First launched in 2018, the Tommy Hilfiger Fashion Frontier Challenge is an annual program to discover and accelerate the work of the world’s most inclusive and impactful fashion startups. Through mentoring and financial support, we want to help the best ideas break through.

The challenge supports Tommy Hilfiger’s commitments towards inclusion, diversity; acknowledging the gap in equity and equal opportunities.

Our industry will only move forward with new, fresh ideas that challenge how we think, build and create.

Mr Tommy Hilfiger

The program’s fourth edition saw hundreds of international applicants narrowed down to five finalists over a multi-step, year-long process. With support from dedicated Tommy Hilfiger mentors, external subject matter experts and an experienced pitch coach, finalists presented their businesses at the global Tommy Hilfiger Fashion Frontier Challenge final event on February 9, 2023.

A jury panel – including Mr. Tommy Hilfiger – selected two winners who received a prize fund of €200,000. The winners also received a year-long mentorship with Tommy Hilfiger and INSEAD experts, in addition to a space in the INSEAD Hans Wahl Impact Entrepreneurship Program, designed to cultivate innovative leaders by bringing together people, cultures and ideas. An additional €15,000 was awarded to the finalist who was voted “Audience Favorite”.

Meet the fourth edition winners:

• Koalaa was awarded €100,000 for its innovative, soft prosthetics designed to support those with limb difference and offer a community of peer-to-peer support. Koalaa was also voted ‘Audience Favorite’ by Tommy Hilfiger associates and friends of the brand, winning a further €15,000 prize.
• Moner Bondhu was awarded €100,000 for creating a platform that offers accessible and affordable mental health and well-being support for garment factory workers in Bangladesh.

Past winners include:

• Selina Wamucii: a mobile platform connecting smallholder farmers in Africa to global distributors.
• doctHERs: which digitally connects Pakistan’s female doctors with the factory workers who need them.
• Auf Augenhoehe: a fashion label developing styles for people affected by dwarfism.
• Apon Wellbeing: a Bangladesh scale-up that improves the life of factory workers through affordable health insurance.
• A Beautiful Mess: a Dutch makers space that assists refugees to realize social and economic independence.
• UZURI K&Y: a Rwandan shoe brand that recycles car tires in sub-Sahara Africa whilst equipping young people with skills and economic independence.
• Lalaland: an artificial intelligence (AI) platform based in the Netherlands that generates diverse AI models for fashion e-commerce brands.
• Clothes to Good: a social enterprise based in South Africa with the mission to empower people with disabilities and alleviate poverty through textile recycling.