The French start-up Alternative Innovation won the innovation prize in the seventh edition of the Andam fashion competition in 2024. The business has developed a new leather alternative called Alterskin. The first award ceremony took place in 2017. Special mentions were given to two additional finalists: Autone, a software-as-a-service platform based in London that provides stock optimization solutions, and Synovance, a French start-up that specializes in bio-manufactured colors from natural resources.
The members of the professional judging panel and the business community of Andam, which is France’s National Association for the Development of the Fashion Arts, will be especially accessible to the three finalists. A cash prize of €100,000 will be given to Alternative Innovation. The three companies “perfectly embody the aspiration to offer ecological alternatives and/or effective impact measurement tools at each level of the value chain, all the better for being based in France,” according to Nathalie Dufour, general director of Andam, founded in 1989.
“We are excited to contribute to the further evolution of the fashion design industry. Ever since we introduced the innovation prize, we have received an increasing number of pertinent applications, particularly concerning novel materials concerning appearance, performance, and finishings that have the potential to significantly benefit the industry.
Pauline Weinmann is the leader of Alternative Innovation, which was established in the Champagne-Ardenne area in 2020. Weinmann came to Paris after completing her business studies in Lyon, where she worked in fashion, real estate, and retail. She co-founded the non-animal-origin leather-effect product line Poétique Paris in 2017, however the company has since closed.
Weinmann eventually realized that a fully sourced, recyclable, and customizable leather alternative was needed. She “was soon confronted with the environmental and ethical issues linked to coated textiles as alternatives to leather, and decided to explore further,”
