The digital trading company QVC Germany has launched the NEXT>IN SUSTAINABILITY start-up competition. The starting signal for the competition was given during the Sustainability Week, which took place in Düsseldorf from November 28 to December 10, 2020. Until February 3, 2021, founders with sustainable products in the areas of fashion, food and beauty can apply here. With NEXT>IN SUSTAINABILITY, QVC is pursuing the goal of promoting sustainable consumer goods and thus increasing awareness of sustainable everyday life.  

These are the conditions of participation

• Startups with a sustainable product in the food, fashion and beauty sectors can apply.
• In addition, the startup must pursue a clear sustainability strategy that ensures that production and supply chain meet high social and ecological standards.
• The start-up should have been founded in Germany no more than five years ago and have one of its most important target markets there. The product must already be ready for the market, but not necessarily yet available on the market.
• What else you need to know about the application process can be found here.

A top-class jury decides

After the participation deadline on 03.02.2021 a shortlist will be published in February. The winners will be announced at the end of March. A jury of experts from the fields of entrepreneurship, sustainability, fashion and sales will evaluate the applications. For each category, it will award the most promising startup. The jury consists of:

• The founder Mali M. Baum, who herself has successfully built up six companies and, among other things, launched the influential tech network WLOUNGE.
• Gunther Beger, Head of the Global Health, Economy, Trade and Rural Development Division at the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ)
• Vice President Merchandise QVC Germany Carsten Jürgens, who is responsible for sustainability in the product range.
• The startup and sustainability expert Björn Kaminski, who heads the Green Startups & Sustainability section of the German Startups Association.
• The BMZ textile ambassador Barbara Meier.
• The fashion designer Dawid Tomaszewski.

QVC offers platform and professional coaching

The competition offers startups the chance to successfully bring their sustainable products to market. The winners will have access to QVC’s extensive experience in product development, marketing and sales. In particular, the products will be distributed through various channels by QVC, reaching around 1.7 million customers in Germany and Austria. In addition, the winners will receive various training offers from QVC.

With the NEXT>IN SUSTAINABILITY competition, QVC is expanding its cooperation with startups. Since 2017, QVC has been supporting founders as part of the QVC NEXT initiative. More than 40 startups have already benefited from this commitment. “With their new ideas and products, startups are an important driver for sustainable consumption,” explains Mathias Bork, CEO QVC Germany. “With our platform and our experience, we play our part in making startups successful with sustainable products. We have been supporting female entrepreneurs for some time now with our QVC NEXT initiative. Now, for the first time, we are focusing on sustainable consumer goods”.  

We think this is a great and supporting initiative! Good luck with your application!