French upcycling pioneer Losanje has been named the winner of the prestigious 2025 ANDAM Fashion Innovation Award for its groundbreaking work in transforming deadstock and unwanted textiles into new, high-quality fabrics and products through advanced circular technology. Supported by a €100,000 grant and exclusive mentorship, Losanje is poised to scale its sustainable solutions and revolutionize the fashion industry’s approach to waste. This recognition not only underscores the growing importance of circularity in fashion but also highlights how innovation and technology can drive meaningful environmental change in one of the world’s most resource-intensive industries.
Pioneering circular innovation in fashion
The ANDAM Fashion Innovation Award, launched in 2017, has become a beacon for entrepreneurs and startups pushing the boundaries of fashion through technology. Open to both French and international entrants, the award targets innovators working in fields such as biotechnology, new materials, production techniques, distribution methods, and the circular economy. These are the areas critical to reinventing how fashion products are created, used, and reused in an era increasingly defined by sustainability challenges.
This year’s winner, Losanje, impressed the jury with its cutting-edge robotic upcycling technology, which enables the transformation of various textile waste streams—including discarded clothing, bed linens, tarpaulins, and curtains—into ready-to-use fabric components. This industrialized and flexible approach allows fashion brands and manufacturers to integrate circular textiles seamlessly into their supply chains without compromising on quality, design, or scalability.
Guillaume Houzé, president of ANDAM, emphasized the significance of Losanje’s work: “ANDAM exists to support all those who create or enable the emergence of new practices in fashion. Losanje convinced us with their automatic garment upcycling solutions—technology that truly gives textiles a second life. It is our association’s honor to make this hidden side of fashion visible.”
A game changer for upcycling and sustainability
Simon Peyronnaud, co-founder of Losanje, expressed his enthusiasm for the recognition:
“This nomination is a true game-changer for upcycling. Being acknowledged by such a prestigious jury highlights the enormous potential of our revalorisation method and its capacity to establish itself in the fashion and luxury sectors. We believe 2025 will be the year of upcycling.”
Upcycling has long been touted as a promising path to reducing fashion’s environmental footprint, but scaling it industrially has been a significant challenge. Losanje’s innovative robotic system automates the sorting, dismantling, and reprocessing of textile waste, drastically increasing efficiency and consistency compared to traditional handwork methods. This allows for a reliable supply of circular fabrics and components that meet the stringent quality demands of fashion brands, including luxury houses.
The fashion industry generates over 92 million tons of waste annually, much of which is incinerated or sent to landfill. Losanje’s approach tackles this issue head-on by creating an economically viable alternative to virgin textiles and fast fashion’s throwaway culture. Their technology also supports growing consumer demand for sustainability and traceability, as brands look to reduce their carbon footprints and transparently demonstrate environmental responsibility.
The €100,000 grant awarded by ANDAM will fuel Losanje’s ongoing research and development efforts, enabling the company to refine its technology and expand production capacity. Beyond funding, Losanje gains access to ANDAM’s network of fashion innovators and mentorship from Yann Gozlan, founder and president of Creative Valley, further bolstering the company’s capacity to influence the fashion ecosystem on a global scale.
ANDAM’s new special innovation prize highlights AI textile technology
In addition to awarding Losanje, ANDAM introduced its first-ever Innovation Special Prize to French startup Apollo Plus for its AI-powered textile quality control system, Goldeneye Smart Vision. This technology leverages self-supervised artificial intelligence to generate detailed digital twins of fabrics, enabling brands to monitor and ensure quality at every stage of production with unprecedented precision.
Thomas Isnard, co-founder of Goldeneye Smart Vision, spoke on the importance of the award: “Receiving this Special Prize from ANDAM is a powerful signal for our company: it validates the relevance of our technology and strengthens our connection with key players in the French fashion and textile industry.”
This development illustrates a broader industry trend where digital innovation and sustainability are converging to transform traditional production models. AI and automation are increasingly being deployed not only to enhance efficiency and reduce defects but also to minimize waste and optimize resource use—helping fashion meet the urgent demands of environmental responsibility.
Transforming fashion’s future
Losanje’s recognition by ANDAM represents a significant milestone in fashion’s ongoing transformation toward circularity and sustainability. By mechanizing the upcycling process and making it scalable, the company is proving that sustainable practices can align with industrial production and luxury quality standards. This challenges the long-held belief that circular fashion is niche or artisanal, instead presenting it as a practical, profitable solution for the future.
As the fashion industry faces mounting regulatory and consumer pressure to reduce its ecological footprint, innovations like Losanje’s robotic upcycling technology offer a clear path forward. Their work not only reduces textile waste but also helps reshape how fashion brands think about design, sourcing, and lifecycle management—shifting from a linear “take-make-dispose” model to a regenerative, closed-loop system.
With the financial and strategic support from ANDAM, alongside pioneering AI textile quality tools like Goldeneye Smart Vision, 2025 promises to be a pivotal year for fashion innovation. As the industry embraces technology and sustainability hand-in-hand, these advancements will be critical in creating a fashion ecosystem that is both creative and responsible, ensuring a healthier future for the planet and its people.
