Kering and Reliance Brands launch Kering Generation Award in India to find circular fashion startups

# What happened

# Who is involved Kering is a global luxury group that owns houses such as Gucci, Saint Laurent, Bottega Veneta, Balenciaga and others. Reliance Brands Limited (RBL) is a Reliance Retail Ventures subsidiary that develops and scales global fashion and lifestyle brands in India. Marie-Claire Daveu, Kering's Chief Sustainability & Institutional Affairs Officer, and Jaspreet Chandok, Group Vice-President at Reliance Brands, signed the agreement in Paris.

# What the Award will do in India

• Focus on circular initiatives with direct impact on resource protection.
• Seek startups across fashion, beauty and adjacent innovation that offer commercially viable, environmentally responsible approaches.
• Work with R:Elan Circular Design Challenge (in partnership with the United Nations in India) as the exclusive nominating partner, creating a formal pipeline of candidates.

# Timeline and event details The award ceremony is set for October 13, 2026 at the Embassy of France in New Delhi, scheduled to coincide with Delhi Fashion Week and the Franco-Indian Year of Innovation.

# Why the partners are launching it now Kering says the move is a strategic expansion of a program that began in 2018 under its sustainability signature "Crafting Tomorrow's Luxury". The Award has previously run in China, Japan and the MENA region to surface startups and technologies that reduce environmental and social impacts across fashion processes. Reliance Brands frames the collaboration as a way to combine its experience in building fashion ecosystems with Kering's sustainability work to give Indian innovators a global platform.

# What this means for startups and the industry in India Startups that develop circular design, material innovation, recycling, reuse schemes, or business models that reduce resource demand may be eligible or nominated via R:Elan's Circular Design Challenge. The partnership ties local nomination and scaling pathways to Kering's international visibility and networks, which can accelerate market exposure and potential industry adoption for winning solutions.

# Background on the Kering Generation Award Kering launched the Award after partnering with Plug and Play and Fashion for Good in earlier sustainability work. Since its 2018 debut in China, the Award has expanded to additional markets to recognize startups with environmental and social impact across materials, processes and business models.

# Immediate next steps for interested parties Organizers will accept nominations through the R:Elan Circular Design Challenge process. The scheduled public milestone is the October 13 award ceremony in Delhi, which will surface the shortlisted and winning startups.

# Bottom line India debut formalizes a collaboration between a major luxury group and a large local retailer to find and promote circular fashion startups. It creates an entry point for Indian innovators to connect to global luxury industry networks and positions circular resource protection as the primary selection criterion for this edition.