Ambercycle returns to Global Change Award stage 10 years after first win
Ambercycle’s co-founder and CEO Shay Sethi delivered the keynote at this year’s Global Change Award Ceremony in Stockholm, marking a decade since the company first received the award.
Back in 2015, Ambercycle was among the inaugural winners of the H&M Foundation’s sustainability-focused competition. Since then, the Los Angeles-based company has scaled its textile-to-textile regeneration technology from early prototypes to commercial production. Its regenerated polyester material, cycora®, is now part of several fashion collections aiming to reduce reliance on virgin resources.
Sethi’s return to the stage wasn’t just symbolic. His speech reflected on the company’s journey from concept to commercial viability, emphasizing the role of long-term commitment and community support in building circular systems for fashion. “We’ve built new systems, new materials, and most importantly, new pathways for how fashion can exist in harmony with the planet,” he shared.
Ambercycle’s invitation to open the ceremony signals the growing recognition of circularity in textiles —not just as a technical solution, but as a shift in how the industry defines value and waste. The company’s presence also served as encouragement for the latest cohort of awardees, who are just beginning their own journeys.
The Global Change Award, launched by the H&M Foundation, continues to spotlight early-stage ideas with potential to reduce the environmental impact of fashion. For Ambercycle, the event was a full-circle moment—and a reminder that persistence, not just promise, shapes progress.
