Bangladeshi technology startup threadBridge has received the H&M Foundation's Global Change Award 2026 for its AI-powered smart glasses, designed to help fabric inspectors detect defects in real time before fabric is cut.
Co-founded by Md Ridwan Hossain and Mohammad Maaz, the startup received the award at Stockholm City Hall on 22 October. Hossain accepted the award, often called the "Nobel Prize of Fashion", on behalf of the team, with Maaz alongside him, according to the press release. The venue hosts the Nobel Prize banquet each December.
threadBridge was the only Bangladeshi company among this year's 10 winners, alongside innovators from India, the United States, Sweden, the United Kingdom, France and Tanzania.
The recognition highlights Bangladesh's growing role in developing technology for the global textile industry. Long known as a major clothing manufacturing hub, the country is also gaining recognition for locally designed and built solutions that improve how those clothes are made.
"Accepting this award in Stockholm, I was thinking of the workers on our factory floors," said Hossain. "This recognition belongs to them, and to every young engineer in Bangladesh who wants to solve problems at home."
threadBridge's smart glasses help inspectors identify fabric defects before cutting, allowing manufacturers to address quality issues earlier and reduce avoidable waste. According to the company, around 90% of fabric in many factories reaches the cutting stage without inspection. Defects discovered later can waste material, energy, and money.
Alongside the glasses, threadBridge has developed a high-speed fabric inspection module that can be fitted to inspection machines factories already use. The company is piloting the module with garment manufacturers in Bangladesh.
Both technologies are designed to support inspectors, not replace them, by combining machine-speed inspection with human-led quality control.
The company also uses its computer vision technology in heavy industry. Its SteelGuard system inspects steel pipes across 15 production machines at a factory in Gazipur. The company estimates that the pilot avoided around 37 tonnes of carbon emissions by reducing waste and rework.
Local personnel manage each deployment; threadBridge recruits and trains them on factory floors, linking technology adoption with practical skills development.
"I am from Bangladesh," said Hossain. "The textile industry is the backbone of our economy. It employs millions of people. On those factory floors, I didn't see an abstract business problem. I saw our industry being held back by a process that nobody had bothered to modernise."
When the winners were announced in June, Karl-Johan Persson, a board member of the H&M Foundation, said: "The solutions we need already exist; what's missing is speed and scale."
As a winner, threadBridge receives a €200,000 grant and joins the foundation's year-long Changemaker Programme, which supports early-stage innovations as they develop and scale.
threadBridge graduated from Build Bangladesh's Needle Innovation Challenge, which supports founders developing the next generation of garment and textile innovations.
Its journey illustrates Bangladesh's potential to contribute to global manufacturing through locally developed technology. By designing AI solutions, testing them in operating factories, and preparing them for wider adoption, threadBridge aims to bring Bangladeshi engineering expertise to international markets.