Rules and regulations of european circular fashion award

ARTICLE 1: CONTEXT

Circular fashion

The last few years have seen the emergence of numerous initiatives by companies and associations to propose clothing consumption that is more in line with current consumer concerns (Made In, Zero waste, low environmental impact...), but also in line with national and European regulatory objectives (Circular Economy Package).

The circular economy is at the heart of these new practices. It allows for the emergence of a new organization of the fashion industry, focused on new value chains, social, societal and environmental responsibility, and innovation in raw materials and transformation processes.

TYPOLOGY OF "CIRCULAR MODE" INITIATIVES

BETTER PRODUCTION THROUGH ECO-DESIGN

Think of the product and/or service throughout its life cycle in order to minimise its impact during the production phase (zero waste, reduced energy consumption, etc.), use phase (reparability, durability), maintenance phase (washing, etc.) or end-of-life phase (recyclability), for a new product or a product already on the market.
Promote the incorporation of used, recycled or new less polluting materials by reducing the number of different materials used and other disruptors to facilitate recycling.
Promote the development of short supply chains using local materials and know-how
Develop less polluting finishing methods (shorter steps, plant dyes, etc.)
Minimise surplus – stocks/manufacture on demand
Minimise microplastic release
Adopt a business model that challenges the consumer's buying act by promoting sober consumption of the products and/or services offered

CONSUME BETTER FOR LONGER LIFETIME

Encourage more sober consumption
Encourage Used, Reuse, Repair, Reuse, Redesign/Rebuild practices
short distribution channels and sober distribution practices
Develop new services to minimise the quantity of clothing purchased: rental, functional economy, collaborative and sharing economy (bartering, donations, etc.).
Involve consumers in the production process (co-production, etc.) and inform them better about the traceability, impact, maintenance, etc. of their product.

MANAGE PRODUCT END-OF-LIFE BETTER

Develop efficient systems for collecting (e.g. deposit boxes...), preparing for recycling and recycling products in a closed loop (in the same production process) or in an open loop (new outlets).
Communication and awareness of sorting gestures
Recycle materials considered as waste (including those from sectors other than textiles: agri-food, ocean plastic, etc.)

The Circular Fashion Awards

In 2020 and 2022, Lille Metropole, the birthplace of textiles in France, organised the National Circular Fashion Awards in partnership with ADEME (the French Environment and Energy Management Agency) and the Hauts-de-France Region. The first two editions were a great success.

The European Circular Fashion Awards reflect this commitment to speed up the textile industry's transition towards more sustainable and responsible practices.

As a cross-border region, Lille Metropole has a long history of cooperation with the Netherlands and Belgium. It therefore goes without saying that this third edition will also be open to projects from Belgium and the Netherlands, thereby illustrating the European dimension of textiles.

ARTICLE 2: THE ORGANIZER

The organiser of the Call for Applications is Lille Metropole (MEL) in close partnership with ADEME.

ARTICLE 3: PURPOSE OF CALL FOR APPLICATIONS

The call for applications is open to projects with products and/or services that innovate in applying the circular economy principles to the Linen, Textiles and Footwear, Professional Textiles, Textile Accessories and Luggage sectors (only those incorporating textiles). It will aim to reward innovation and business models for circular fashion/sustainable fashion.

The outcome of this call for applications will be the organisation of a ceremony to present the European Circular Fashion Awards.

ARTICLE 4: TARGETS OF CALL FOR APPLICATIONS

Companies: VSEs, SMEs, Large Enterprises, founders, self-entrepreneurs, etc. that can prove that their legal entity has already been established.
Incubated projects that can prove they have an incubation certificate
Economic associations subject to VAT

Regardless of the legal form of the project owner, projects must aim to market a product and/or service in B2B or B2C.

The call for applications does not cover fundamental research projects or associations not subject to VAT.

ARTICLE 5: GEOGRAPHIC SCOPE

Applicants must be able to prove that their registered office is located in one of the following three countries:

In mainland France (including Corsica and DROM COM)
Belgium
The Netherlands

ARTICLE 6: AWARD CATEGORIES

The award categories defined for small businesses (turnover of less than €2 million):

Hope: projects under development that have not yet been marketed, but which are aimed at marketing a product and/or service in the short term
Booster: projects on the market for less than a year;
Honor: projects that have been on the market for more than 1 year and no more than 3 years, and benefit from feedback;

A single category of large businesses (turnover of more than €2 million) that includes projects under development and aimed at short-term commercialization as well as products and services already on the market.

In addition to the awards, the project with the most votes will win a "Special Public Favourite Award". "Territorial favourite awards" may be offered by the Award partners or by members of the Jury.

These favourites shall be awarded to one of the finalists (all categories)

In a nutshell:

Catégorie Petite Entreprise (CA< 2 millions d’euros)	Category Large Company (CA> 2 million euros)
Hope Trophy
Booster Trophy
Honorary Trophy
Grand Prize of the Public

A total of five awards shall therefore be presented.

ARTICLE 7: HOW TO APPLY

Submission of application files

Files shall be submitted online on the platform www.modecirculaire.com. Any incomplete and/or unsubmitted file will be rejected. Need help to submit your application? A FAQ is available online at www.modecirculaire.com.
Cannot find your answer in the FAQ?
Email us at candidature@modecirculaire.com.

Selection of admissible projects

At the end of the Call for Applications, a first step will be to check whether the proposal is admissible or not.

Admissibility criteria:

The applicant is present in France, Belgium or the Netherlands
The applicant is a project owner who can prove they have legally established a company (Sas, Sarl, self-employed company, founder, etc.), an association subject to VAT or other incubation certificate. (Non-taxable associations cannot apply)
The applicant has followed the application submission procedure; i.e.: online submission on the platform
The application must be submitted online by Friday ~~July 12~~ July 19 (EXTENSION) at 5:00 p.m.
The project addresses one or more of the themes related to Circular Fashion (see article 1) and aims to market a product and/or service in B2B or B2C.

All admissible and inadmissible projects shall be confirmed by the technical committee.

Selection of finalists

All eligible projects shall be presented to the Jury. The Jury shall be composed of the technical committee and qualified experts. It shall select the finalists. It shall meet on 10 September 2024.

Projects shall be assessed based on the assessment criteria mentioned in Article 9.
Depending on the number and quality of applications, the Jury can select up to 15 finalist projects.
An email shall be sent to unsuccessful and to successful candidates.

Public voting

A public voting phase combined with a communication campaign and exhibition of finalists shall be held from October to November.
In this regard, a digital platform shall be created for the general public to pick the finalists. The ballot shall take place between October and November. It will last one month.

Prior to this, the finalists must make themselves available through for the production of communication materials, i.e. videos, documents, an exhibition, etc.

An exhibition shall be created to showcase the finalist projects. The dates shall be notified to the finalists.

The public ballot shall count for 1/3 of the final decision for all the awards. The "Grand Prix du Public" award shall only consider the public ballot.

Final Jury and Awards Night

A second jury shall be formed, which shall be different from the first. This second jury shall decide on the finalist projects and pick the winners by category.

In the interest of confidentiality, this Jury shall meet on the Awards Day. Each member of the Jury shall have a file containing a brief and a form for each project (sent in advance no later than 10 days earlier). Each finalist shall be heard by the Jury (pitch 3 mins). The final decision shall consider the Jury’s score counting for 2/3 and the public ballot for 1/3. The "Grand Prix du public" award shall only consider the public ballot.

The Awards Night shall be followed by a cocktail and networking dinner with Northern European and national circular fashion players.

The finalists of the Call for Applications undertake to be present – or represented – during the awards ceremony.

ARTICLE 8: SCHEDULE

Saturday June 1 : Call for Applications launched
Friday ~~July 12~~ July 19 (EXTENSION) at 5:00 p.m.Closing of the Call for Entries
Tuesday, September 10 : Jury 1
Monday, October 21 : Public ballot opened
Early December: Jury 2 and Trophy Awards Night*

*Applicants undertake to make themselves available for the production of communication materials and to attend the Jury 2 and Awards ceremony.

ARTICLE 9: ASSESSMENT CRITERIA

By way of information, the assessment criteria are as follows:

Low environmental impacts over the entire life cycle or even creation of positive impacts: The project will offer a useful solution with minimal impact on all stages of the product and/or service life cycle and on the most impactful stages. The impacts may relate to consumption of energy, materials, etc.
The project aims at sustainability and extending the lifespan of products and services: Products and/or services must be sustainable over time, free of programmed obsolescence, facilitate longer life cycles and more efficient use of products, materials and energy, etc.
Business models with a powerful social and societal responsibility dimension: The business models of the products and/or services proposed must be geared towards short- and medium-term economic profitability. They must also be sensitive to corporate social responsibility (CSR) issues, such as respect for human rights, animal welfare, local issues (reindustrialisation, jobs, etc.), etc.
Encourage behavioural change among citizens/consumers:Projects and services must avoid over-consumption practices and encourage behavioural change (awareness, involvement or even sobriety)

Each of these four criteria would be rated out of 10, giving a score out of 40.

ARTICLE 10: PRIZES

For all finalists:

A short video of the project
Showcasing the initiative during exhibition of finalists
Showcasing the project in the finalists’ book
Photos of awards ceremony
Communication coverage and promotion on all our media: events, social networks, press conferences, exhibition, awards night, etc.
Networking with responsible fashion stakeholders during Awards Night

For the 5 winners:

	Catégorie Petite Entreprise (CA< 2 millions d’euros)	Large company category (sales > 2 million euros): Support from an expert consultancy
Hope Trophy	Financial prize + support
Booster Trophy	Financial prize + support
Honorary Trophy	Financial prize + support
Grand Prize of the Public

Support will be structured around the following proposals: help with fund-raising, launch of a crowdfunding campaign, incubation, support with business models, help with environmental impact assessments, etc. It will be awarded by the Final Jury on the basis of the progress made by the winning projects.

ARTICLE 11: TRANSPORT

The transport costs to attend the video meetings, the final jury and the award ceremony shall be borne by applicants. The presence of the finalists is mandatory on both occasions.

ARTICLE 12: IMAGE RIGHTS

By participating in the competition, candidates surrender the following rights to MEL, its service providers and its partners, for communication purposes related to the said competition:

- with regard to the images provided by participants (photographs of representatives, or any image illustrating their productions, their achievements, their business, their establishment, and any other subject likely to enhance their participation): the assignment covers all the rights conferred by the intellectual property code, as well as image rights. Participants further certify that they hold all applicable rights in this respect, including copyright.

- additionally, finalists will be filmed and photographed by Lille Metropole or its service providers before the award ceremony and during the event. The organisers are solely responsible for deciding whether or not to make these recordings, and for their use. Consequently, by taking part in the competition, Participants agree for their image to be recorded on this occasion and for the recordings to be used by the Organisers. They acknowledge having assigned their image rights required for this use from the time they registered. In this respect, participants acknowledge that they are not bound by any other exclusive agreements relating to their image or name.

ARTICLE 13: DATA PROTECTION AND FREEDOMS

The personal data collected during registration by MEL and its service providers, in their capacity as data controllers, is required for the following purposes: registration and participation in the competition, awarding of prizes and the communication of information in connection with the awards. ailure to provide the required information shall solely render the candidate ineligible to compete for the awards. Pursuant to the amended French Data Protection Act of 6 January 1978, all participants shall have the right to access, rectify or delete any personal information about them, by writing to the following address of the competition:

European Metropolis of Lille
2 boulevard des Cités Unies
CS 70 043
59 040 Lille Cedex

ARTICLE 14: ACCEPTANCE OF RULES AND REGULATIONS

By entering the competition, participants accept these rules and regulations in their entirety, which are contractually binding. Violations of these rules and regulations may result in the candidate being eliminated.

Any disputes relating to the interpretation or implementation of these rules and regulations, or any other matter that may arise but not settled by them, shall be resolved by the organisers in the spirit that prevailed when designing the operation. These decisions shall be unappealable.

ARTICLE 15: AMENDMENT TO TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF CALL FOR APPLICATIONS

Lille Metropole reserves the right, for any reason whatsoever, to amend, extend, shorten, suspend or cancel the competition, without incurring any liability for same. Participants shall not be entitled to claim any compensation. Any difficulties arising from the implementation or interpretation of these Rules and Regulations, or which are not provided for therein shall be resolved in the last resort by Lille Metropole. Consequently, any amendment shall not give rise to claims or compensation. Lille Metropole may cancel all or part of the call for applications if it appears that fraud has occurred in any form. In this case, Lille Metropole reserves the right not to allocate the prize(s) to fraudsters and/or to prosecute the perpetrators of such fraud before the competent courts.