Our 2026 photography competition, in partnership with Atmos
About
Exploring the regenerative potential of fashion through visual stories
The 2026 Textile Exchange Photography Competition, in partnership with Atmos, invites photographers and filmmakers to capture powerful, real-world stories of regeneration across the fashion, textile, and apparel industry.
From cotton farmers supporting the return of local biodiversity to recyclers transforming textile waste into something brand new, examples of alternative systems are unfolding across the globe. But to transform these local insights into learning at scale, we’re looking for stories that show how regeneration through fashion is not only possible—but already happening.
BRIEF
About the competition
Under the theme Fashion Regenerated, this year’s competition sets out to document the potential of clothing and textiles to bring about beneficial ecological, social, and animal welfare outcomes.
We’re looking for photographers and filmmakers whose work documents different approaches to growing raw materials and producing textiles that enable local communities and landscapes to thrive.
At a time when interest in the regenerative potential of fashion is rapidly growing, this initiative aims to build and amplify the visual evidence illustrating what beneficial change looks like across different contexts, countries, cultures, and materials.
THEME
What “Fashion Regenerated” means
Regeneration is about improving the systems behind our clothes, so they give back more than they take. It is not a new concept—regenerative practices are rooted in centuries of Indigenous and local farming traditions. The theme Fashion Regenerated is about recognizing and evidencing those leading the way, uplifting the stories that are often quietly continuing around the world. Fashion Regenerated looks like:
Thriving nature
Healthier soils, cleaner water, and thriving nature through regenerative practices such as reducing synthetic inputs, planting cover crops, grazing management, and making space for wildlife.
Reuse and recycling
Materials and fibers being reused, repurposed, or recycled, and kept in circulation rather than thrown away.
Putting people first
Improving outcomes for the people and communities who produce raw materials, especially those facing significant economic barriers to adopt more sustainable ways of producing materials and fibers.
Respecting animals
Pasture-based systems where animals exercise choices about their lives, including their food, environment, and natural behaviors.
SUBMISSIONS
What we’re looking for
We are seeking photographers and filmmakers aged 18 and over, of any nationality, who have a story that is grounded in a real place and community and captures regeneration as it unfolds.
Your submission should include:
- A new or existing photo story of up to 25 images, a short film, or a combination of both. We also allow mixed media treatments based on original photographs. However, the use of generative AI is not permitted. We are not looking for concept pitches, but work that is already rooted in the world.
- A biography and a project statement focused on how the work connects to the theme and evidence of regeneration in specific communities, places, or initiatives on the ground.
- Applicants must have the legal right to work in their country of residence and be available to travel for the winning commission at some point between autumn 2026 and summer 2027 (specific timing to be mutually agreed).
All submissions must have the appropriate model releases and third-party clearances to be eligible for prizes. Textile Exchange will request releases to hold on file (including audio releases for moving image soundtrack) ahead of publication of winners, in accordance with our Terms & Conditions.
How it works
What the winners recieve and how they're selected
Overall winner
The overall winner of the competition will win:
- A paid collaborative commission to the value of $10,000 with Textile Exchange to develop a new body of work documenting the evidence of regeneration, working closely with us to identify the right story and access.
- Publication of the winning work by Atmos and Textile Exchange.
- An exhibition of the work at the 2026 Textile Exchange Conference, attended by an audience of more than 1,300 changemakers.
Runners up
Two runners up will:
- See their work published on Textile Exchange’s channels.
- Be included in the 2026 Textile Exchange Conference exhibition.
- Receive a cash prize of $2,000.
How the winners are selected
The submissions will be judged by a panel of experts in different areas across fashion, textiles, visual storytelling, and climate action. This year’s jurors include:
- Andrea Cheong, Author, Creator, and Commentator
- Arianna Lago, Photographer
- Briar Rose, Lead Producer and Director of Storytelling, Farmers Footprint
- Claire Bergkamp, CEO, Textile Exchange
- Kin Coedel, Photographer
- Marina Testino, Director of Strategic Partnerships, Earth Partner
- Tessa Forest, Art Director, Atmos
For the first time, shortlisted entries will also be shared through a public vote, accounting for 30% of the final judging score. Follow us on Instagram to see the shortlist and place your vote.
TIMELINE
What to expect and when
CONTACT
Get in touch
If you have any questions about the competition, please contact us at communications@textileexchange.org.
Past winners
Meet some of our previous winners
2025 Winner
Pierre Girardin
Based in Marseille, France, Pierre Girardin is particularly drawn to the craftsmanship, ancestral knowledge, and evolving traditions that represent the deep relationship between communities and their environments. His winning entry follows the wool ecosystem in Morocco, from its nomadic producers to the talented craftspeople transforming the fiber. He starts with shepherds and livestock breeders in the Siroua region, documenting how climate change has led to water shortages and a lack of grazing land. His lens captures both the challenges of survival and the resilience of local cooperatives working to revive wool in traditional crafts.rnrnThis takes him to a small village in Morocco’s Anti-Atlas region, inhabited mostly by women. It is known for weaving woolen veils and painting them using henna as a natural dye. While these women have historically been rendered invisible by craft merchants, Girardin shines a light on the weavers and the mastery they have over their craft.
2025 Runner up
Cecília Bueno
Hailing from Brazil, Bueno is a photographer and filmmaker whose work connects gesture, land, and time into visual narratives. Her winning photo series documents communities of agroecological farmers in the Borborema Plateau in the semi-arid highlands of Paraíba, Brazil. The project follows the full cycle of organic cotton, from the sowing of ancestral seeds to the harvest, when the fields fill with what they call “white gold.” Agroecological farmers aim to restore balance to ecosystems while honoring traditional knowledge, through ancestral practices such as spinning, weaving and harvesting. By centering the narrative on those who grow cotton and their deep ties to the land, Bueno set out to shift the gaze from the final product in the fashion chain to the human, ecological, and emotional paths that precede it.
2024 winner
Alejandra Orosco
Orosco shares the story of the women seeking to bring back natural indigo to the town of Chinchero, Peru. Based in Cusco, Peru, her work explores identity, colonization, and untold stories, encouraging viewers to appreciate distant realities while finding common ground with their own. Her winning project, Sueño en Azul (A Dream in Blue), documents the possible impact of climate change and colonization on Andean textile culture, focusing on the indigo blue plant. Used in the traditional textiles of the pre-Inca town of Chinchero, indigo has since disappeared from the country. Orosco’s work follows the journey of a group of Indigenous women working to revive its cultivation amid economic and environmental pressures, seeking to reconnect with their heritage by growing the plant on their land once again.
2024 Runner Up
Priyadarshini Ravichandran
2024 competition runner-up Priyadarshini Ravichandran’s entry highlighted the disappearance of Indigenous (desi) cotton varieties in the village of Wardha, India. Born in Tamil Nadu, India, Ravichandran is a documentary photographer and artist whose work focuses on women, their lives, and the land. Her project “Wardha” documents the Indian village of the same name that holds historical significance as Mahatma Gandhi’s adopted home. Here, Gandhi envisioned a decentralized future, promoting hand-spun Indigenous (desi) cotton to uplift farmers and households. However, today Wardha reflects the harsh realities of industrialization and corporate farming, with chemical-intensive cotton monoculture leading to health issues and escalating farmer debt. Through her lens, Ravichandran uncovers the remnants of Gandhi’s vision, exploring the enduring connection between the people and their land.
See some of the commissions from competition winners so far
Each year, the competition winner and runner up is commissioned to document a story about material production for Textile Exchange. We seek out projects with sustainability at their core, showing the beauty that arises when people and ecosystems are put first. The resulting commissions are all about deepening our collective understanding and imagining a future where this way of making materials becomes the norm.
Alejandra Orosco
After winning the 2024 competition, Alejandra Orosco’s commission saw her travel high into the Peruvian highlands to meet Evelyn Diaz, a Responsible Alpaca Standard-certified farmer and advocate. Evelyn carries forward her family’s 40-year legacy at Fundo El Nevado in Puno. She was the first woman in her village to pursue a professional career in veterinary medicine and now works to improve animal welfare, implement innovative ideas for herd management, and empower female alpaca farmers.
Kin Coedel
Originally from Hong Kong and raised in Canada, Kin Chan Coedel’s work is all about co-creating images that reflect authentic stories and prioritizing genuine exchanges with local communities. As the winner of the 2023 competition, Coedel was commissioned to visit a fourth-generation merino wool farm in Tasmania, Australia. The photographs, captured during the shearing season, offer a glimpse into the life of farmer Julian von Bibra, whose family has cared for the land for generations. Through his lens, Coedel explores a rising movement among wool growers committed to preserving what is left of the local area’s natural heritage — from safeguarding native grasslands to monitoring endangered species — as they work towards a resilient collective future.
Growing Cotton in Harmony with Nature in Türkiye by Anass Ouaziz
Anass Ouaziz was born in Marrakech and raised in Beni Mellal. He has long found the sublime in the mundane even before he became a photographer back in 2015. Ouaziz considers photography to be an exercise in observation, and that stories emerge by simply paying attention. For him what comes out from these seemingly insignificant moments is a celebration of the beauty of the everyday. The extraordinary in the ordinary.
As our 2022 winner, Ouaziz joined Textile Exchange to visit the Büyük Menderes River Basin in Türkiye. He documented how cotton farming is impacting the area’s rich biodiversity and how regenerative practices can integrate local farmers into an agricultural system that gives back to nature instead.
The Lineage of Linen on France’s Fields by Cecilie Nicoline Rasmussen
Cecilie Nicoline Rasmussen is currently living and working in Copenhagen. Danish by nationality, she grew up in Oman, where she relied on observing body language and tiny details of her surroundings to interact in a different cultural discourse. Through this and looking at family albums of people back home, is how she became fascinated with the possibilities of what photography as a medium has to offer.
As our 2022 runner-up, Rasmussen travelled to northern france to document the flax pulling process at Terre de Lin, a cooperative specialized in the culture and the conversion of textile flax from seed to fiber.
Exploring the Ecosystem behind Nomadic Wool Production in Inner Mongolia by Yichen Zhou
Yichen Zhou is an artist working with photography, video, performance, and installations. Her performance-based work explores her identity as part of a new generation of Chinese artists and points to the challenges of living in a world where she finds multiple cultures and values in conflict.
As our 2022 runner-up, Zhou visited three Mongolian sheepherder families in Mandula Town, Inner Mongolia to explore the ecosystem behind nomadic wool production, documenting how these traditions are changing over time.
SUBMIT
Share your story
If you are a photographer or filmmaker creating, telling, and sharing stories about the people and places behind our clothes, we want to see your work.
Submit your photo story, short film, or a combination of both—along with a statement explaining how your work captures regeneration and its outcomes on the ground.