The US alone generates an estimated 24 billion pounds of post-consumer textile waste (PCTW) — the equivalent of about 70 pounds of textiles per person, which ends up in landfills each year according to the Environmental Protection Agency. Major apparel brands such as H&M and The North Face are working to help minimize textile waste through take-back programs, campaigns and collections made from recycled fabrics, while enterprising startups and even the European Union are creating circular processes and economic models.

The solutions presented by the five winners of the first-ever , a €1 million challenge for early-stage innovation in the fashion industry adds to the list of ideas. Introduced in August by the non-profit H&M Conscious Foundation, the goal of the Award is to catalyze bold, pioneering ideas to help protect the planet by closing the loop for fashion.

The first five winning ideas range from creating new textiles out of citrus juice by-products and an online marketplace for recycling of textile leftovers to using microbes to recycle waste polyester. Now, the global public is asked to allocate the €1 million grant between the winners in an online vote this week.

Over 2,700 innovators from 112 countries shared their ideas to help close the loop for fashion. The winning innovations are important contributions in the journey towards a circular fashion industry. Now, the foundation has invited the public to use their voice and influence how much funding each idea should get, said H&M CEO Karl-Johan Persson, also a board member of the H&M Conscious Foundation.

Public votes for their favorite innovations will determine distribution of the €1,000,000 grant. The idea that gets the most votes receives €300,000, second most votes receives €250,000 and third, fourth and fifth most votes receive €150,000 each. Everyone can vote atglobalchangeaward.com, February 1-7. The voting result and the people behind the winning innovations will be revealed at a grand award ceremony in Stockholm, February 10, and on globalchangeaward.com on February 11.