PRESS RELEASE
15 June 2021

Europe wide open call launches for SME businesses in the fashion industry as partof the Small but Perfectly Formed accelerator project.
Small but Perfectly Formed is a cross Europe collaborative project that will accelerate fashion
SME’s to transition to work within circular and sustainable business models. The project aims toselect 28 SME led projects from around Europe working within circular and sustainable fashion, tosupport an 18 month project. The project will include a business development programme whichwill host an 8-month business accelerator and a 5-month R&D phase, culminating in a showcasingphase that will take place between July 2022 – April 2023. There is a funding allocation of €10,275
per partnership.
Our open call seeks to find projects working on a business idea for a product or service that will
make the fashion industry more circular or sustainable from within. Applications should be fromprojects seeking to move beyond the concept or creative stage, that are ready to build towards asolution-based business. We anticipate projects coming from five broad groups:● Sustainable and circular fashion start-ups wishing to scale-up and/or replicate● Established sustainable and circular SMEs who wish to develop their businesses and work
internationally● Established fashion SMEs who wish to transition to a circular and sustainable model● SMEs and initiatives who provide circular and sustainable solutions to the fashion sector
e.g. recycling, circular systems design● Collaborations between fashion sector and non-fashion sector SMEs, businesses andinitiatives to generate and test new collaboration models
Small but Perfectly Formed recognises that small businesses can pave the way for systemicchange in the fashion industry. Small businesses are the foundations upon which wider solutions
across the industry can be introduced in a scalable and replicable manner that allows for longterm, sustainable change. They offer exciting, innovative solutions that can be replicated.
Luisa Rodrigues, Program Manager at Impact Hub Lisbon said ‘SMEs need tangible support but
also a supportive environment to create or transition to circular and sustainable models andbusiness practices’. Over an 18-month period the Small but Perfectly Formed accelerator
programme will offer SMEs the business support required to focus on people, purpose and planet,rather than profit.

What the programme will offer the selected SME’s:●8-month accelerator programme which will include 5 online modules, taking place in groupwebinar format, and 3 offline city bootcamps in Lisbon, Berlin and Athens enabling a deeper
dive into topics and approaches.

●
●

●
●
●
●
●

Expert level business mentoring with industry leaders in Fashion, Social Enterprise,Technology and Circular Economy, as well as peer mentoring.
A 5-month self-led R&D phase including but not limited to: developing proofs of concept
and prototypes of new products and services, creating and testing new business models,establishing collaborative methods to test sustainable/recycled materials and lab testing.
Financial support of €10,275 in the form of €6,000 R&D grant, €2250 travel grant forattending city bootcamps and €2025 showcasing grant.
Introduction to showcasing platform through Fashion Open Studio(www.fashionopenstudio.com) in collaboration with Neoynt.
Invites to networking and matchmaking events.
Access to resources generated by the project including acceleration toolkits, webinars,
reports and insight.
Membership of the Small but Perfectly Formed network hosted on Common Objective.

We believe sustainability and circularity in the fashion industry is achievable through collaboration,education and sharing knowledge, therefore Small but Perfectly Formed is partnering withCommon Objective – a global tech solution for the sustainable fashion industry - to create a
network of circular and sustainable fashion SMEs, business support organisations and experts.
The network will be launched through two matchmaking events organised by the World Fair Trade
Organisation on 24 June and 29 June. Erinch Sahan, CEO of World Fair Trade Organisation said
“When like-minded organisations work together, they can change the world. This is why we areworking to build a network of change-makers and social enterprises who will transform fashion".
The SME partnership projects selected for the accelerator will contribute through collaborative andinteractive modules to an open-source SME accelerator toolkit. This toolkit will be utilised by thewider network of small businesses to transform their businesses to more circular, more sustainable
enterprises.
The project was founded on the basis that without changing the system, we cannot expect
changes made - at any level - to be truly sustainable. Small but Perfectly Formed will ‘acceleratethe accelerators’ by working alongside business support organisations such as fashion weeks,fashion councils, industry bodies and financing/investment schemes to embed circularity, socialand environmental sustainability into their business support and showcasing initiatives.
Small but Perfectly Formed will ‘accelerate the policymakers’ by mapping the policy landscape that
affects sustainable and circular fashion SMEs, ensuring a lasting impact is made across theindustry from start to finish. Over the course of the project, we will develop a network for SMEs
making this transition as well as organisations that support them to exchange knowledge, learnings
and best practice to effect wider systemic change in the fashion SME sector.
Orsola De Castro, Founder and Global Creative Director at Fashion Revolution said ‘Increasing thevisibility of small businesses and practitioners will radically change the fashion and clothing
panorama. Right now we are invaded by the sameness of the high street, be it high end or cheap,
when in fact the alternatives to those models are where we will find real choice, real innovation,and the fashion future we are all looking for.’
Apply for the SME accelerator programme on www.small-but-perfect.com/open-call/Join the Small but Perfectly Formed network on www.small-but-perfect.com/join-thenetwork/-ENDSNotes to Editors

Full details of the open call and eligibility criteria can be found on www.small-but-perfect.com
About Small but Perfectly Formed
Small but Perfectly Formed is a project that will accelerate fashion SMEs to transition to circularand sustainable models. However, it recognises that small and medium size fashion enterprises
are working within a wider system and need more than acceleration; they need to be integrated
into a system that truly puts people and planet before profit.
The project was founded on the basis that without changing the system, we cannot expect
changes made, at any level, to be truly sustainable. Small but Perfectly Formed seeks to‘accelerate the accelerators’ by working alongside business support organisations such as fashion
weeks, fashion councils, industry bodies including manufacturing and textile associations,accelerators and incubators, hubs and studio spaces, fashion districts and financing/investment
schemes to embed circularity, social sustainability and environmental sustainability into theirbusiness support and showcasing initiatives.
Small but Perfectly Formed will ‘accelerate the policymakers’ by mapping the policy landscape thataffects sustainable and circular fashion SMEs, ensuring a lasting impact is made across theindustry from start to finish. Over its duration, the project will develop a network for SMEs making
this transition as well as organisations that support them such as business incubators andaccelerators to exchange knowledge, learnings and best practice to effect wider systemic change
in the fashion SME sector.
Small but Perfectly Formed is a 30 month (January 2021 - July 2023) collaborative project cofunded by the European Commission’s COSME programme. The consortium partners are: Athens
University of Economics and Business, World Fair Trade Organisation, Fair Trade Advocacy Office,Bocconi University, Impact Hub Lisbon, We Love You Communications and Fashion Revolution.
The supporting partners are: Common Objective, University of Portsmouth and Neoynt.
Matchmaking Events
To help interested organisations to find potential partners, Small But Perfectly Formed will host 2
online matchmaking events.
These will take place on 24th June 2021 (10-11:30 CET) and 29th June 2021 (15:30-17:00 CET)
and will provide information about our acceleration programme, and also offer an initial opportunity
to link with like-minded entrepreneurs, experts and support service providers.
(3 discussion themes: Purpose-led business models, Materials in transition and Circularity andRegeneration)
Definitions
For the purposes of the project we define the following terms as:
SME
The category of micro, small and medium-sized enterprises consists of enterprises which:employ fewer than 250 persons and have either an annual turnover not exceeding EUR 50
million or an annual balance sheet total not exceeding EUR 43 million.
Meeting the staff headcount criterion is mandatory in order to be considered an SME.
However, an enterprise may choose to meet either the turnover or the balance sheet totalceiling. It does not need to satisfy both requirements and may exceed one of them without
impact on its SME status.
Source: European Commission
Transnational Partnership
Partnerships formed between SMEs from more than 1 COSME eligible country.

EU member states: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark,Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania,Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain,Sweden.
COSME associated countries: Albania, Armenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Iceland,
Kosovo,Moldova, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia, Turkey, Ukraine and United Kingdom.
Projects
Business ideas for a product or service.
FashionWhen we refer to fashion we mean fashion applied in clothing, footwear and accessories.
Contact Details: For further information and interview requests, please contact the Fashion
Revolution communications team: press@fashionrevolution.orgImages: Download high resolution images for press at https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/
1NX_G-32gTpaDb0XBZ5iygouo9rHDCDd4?usp=sharing and credit where appropriate.
Social Media: @fash_rev #SmallButPerfect