Updated on Sep 23, 2026

Kering Launches Generation Award in India With Reliance Brands to Back Circular Fashion Startups

Fashion News Smit Rangras6 Mins reading time

Kering has launched its Kering Generation Award in India in partnership with Reliance Brands, bringing the sustainability-focused startup programme to India for the first time. The Indian edition will focus on startups developing circular solutions that can directly contribute to resource protection, extending Kering’s search for fashion innovation into one of the industry’s largest manufacturing and consumer markets.

What Happened?

Kering and Reliance Brands have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to collaborate on the Indian edition of the award. The partnership was formalised at Kering’s headquarters in Paris by Marie-Claire Daveu, Kering’s Chief Sustainability and Institutional Affairs Officer, and Jaspreet Chandok, Group Vice-President at Reliance Brands.

The programme will specifically identify startups working on circular initiatives with a direct impact on resource protection. Kering’s Generation Award announcement says the Indian edition will work with the R|Elan™ Circular Design Challenge, in partnership with the United Nations in India, as its exclusive nominating partner.

The award ceremony is scheduled to take place at the Embassy of France in Delhi on October 13, 2026, during Fashion Week. The event will also form part of the Franco-Indian Year of Innovation.

Kering has been running the Generation Award programme since 2018 across markets including China, Japan and MENA. The programme is designed to identify startups and technologies that can reduce the environmental and social impact of fashion across its value chain, from raw materials through to the end of a product’s life.

Key Highlights

Companies: Kering and Reliance Brands
Initiative: Kering Generation Award
Indian edition: First India edition
Focus: Circular fashion and resource protection
Exclusive nominating partner: R|Elan™ Circular Design Challenge
Event date: October 13, 2026
Venue: Embassy of France, Delhi
Wider occasion: Franco-Indian Year of Innovation

Why This Matters for Fashion & D2C

The launch is significant because it positions circularity as an innovation and business opportunity, rather than treating sustainability solely as a material or sourcing issue.

For fashion startups, circular business models can affect several parts of the value chain, including materials, manufacturing, product longevity, reuse and end-of-life management. This creates opportunities for businesses developing new materials and technologies as well as those rethinking how fashion products are produced, sold and used.

India is particularly relevant to this conversation because its established textile and apparel ecosystem gives emerging innovators access to manufacturing knowledge, supply chains and a large potential market. At the same time, startups often have greater flexibility to experiment with new materials, technologies and business models than established companies.

The partnership between Kering and Reliance Brands therefore creates an interesting bridge between global luxury expertise and India’s fashion ecosystem. Kering brings its sustainability and innovation network, while Reliance Brands contributes local market knowledge and experience building fashion and lifestyle businesses.

The role of the R|Elan™ Circular Design Challenge is equally important. It creates a platform for identifying and supporting designers and innovators working with circular design and recycled or upcycled materials.

For D2C fashion businesses, this points to a broader shift in how sustainability can create competitive advantage. For Indian D2C brands, the opportunity can be more concrete: circularity may show up in recycled or upcycled product development, repair or resale models, waste-reducing manufacturing, or more traceable material sourcing. These approaches can influence product design, sourcing and the customer proposition at the same time. In NineE’s view, brands that build these considerations into their operations early may be better prepared as resource efficiency becomes a more visible business consideration for consumers, investors and larger fashion companies.

The commercial dimension is also important. Sustainability-focused innovation ultimately needs to work beyond the prototype stage. By connecting startups with established fashion players, programmes such as the Generation Award can potentially help promising ideas move from experimentation towards commercial applications. Independent fashion publication WWD has also reported on the India expansion, highlighting the programme’s focus on circular initiatives with a direct impact on resource protection.

What the Award Means for Indian Fashion Startups

For Indian fashion startups, the award shows how large fashion groups are increasingly looking outside their own organisations for solutions to industry-wide challenges. Partnerships of this kind can give established businesses access to ideas that may be difficult to develop through conventional corporate structures, while startups can gain visibility, industry connections and potential routes towards scaling.

For Indian D2C brands, the broader lesson is that sustainability-led innovation can become part of the business model when it addresses practical issues such as materials, waste, product longevity or end-of-life management. The strongest opportunities may come from businesses that combine measurable environmental value with commercially viable products and processes.

About Kering Generation Award

Kering launched its Generation Award in 2018 as part of its sustainability strategy to identify and support startups developing solutions for the fashion industry. The programme has expanded across several markets and regional ecosystems, while Kering’s wider Generation Awards portfolio has also developed sector-specific initiatives, including a jewellery-focused edition launched in 2024.

Sources Used