Kim Poldner and team receive KIEM grant for project on biodegradable regenerative fashion

Endowed Professor Dr. Kim Poldner and her team have received a KIEM MV grant of € 39.216 from Applied Research SIA (regieorgaan SIA) for their project ‘BioRegen: Bio-degradable regenerative fashion’. The project is a collaboration with renowned sustainable fashion brand Joline Jolink and Lente Land farmer Gemeenschapsboerderij T’Gagel. This new project runs parallel to the team’s Regenerative Renaissance project, which is funded through the KIA-Circular Economy (KIA-CE) grant program and started in April 2025.

In the Regenerative Renaissance project, Kim Poldner and her team explore how the Dutch fashion industry can transition from sustainable (aiming for less harm) to net-positive regenerative business models (that actively create positive impact). As part of the project, business partner Joline Jolink began integrating regenerative agriculture into her fashion practice through cultivating flax for linen, experimenting with natural dyes, and hosting community engagement events on her newly acquired farm. These pilots demonstrated the potential of linking fashion production to land restoration but also revealed the need for deeper, market-tested research. 

In this parallel project, the research team will explore a new question that has emerged from the pilot studies in Regenerative Renaissance, which is: How can a regenerative, biodegradable capsule collection be validated as a scalable business model that creates social, ecological and financial value, while fostering consumer engagement within the Dutch fashion sector? Results of the BioRegen project will include a tested biodegradable capsule collection and an open-access white paper detailing the regenerative design methodology of the collection and its impact on different aspects of the business model. 

Demonstration of regenerative design and research tool

The bio-degradable capsule collection will not only serve as a tangible demonstration of regenerative design, but also as a research tool to test materials, business model viability, consumer engagement, and ecological impact. The process will combine design innovation, consumer engagement, and market feedback to design a biodegradable collection that generates multiple forms of value as a proof of concept that can be applied by other fashion SMEs.

The project is set to run from 1 March, 2026, to April 30, 2027, with four interconnected work packages: (1) design development, (2) consumer engagement (3) prototyping, and (4) launch testing.

About KIEM MV

KIEM MV focuses on exploratory research that strengthens innovative impact entrepreneurship. The grant program provides grants to research consortia that are focused on ways to scale up innovations through complex, inventive forms of collaboration. Impact entrepreneurs play a central role in this: those who market products and services aimed at making a social contribution, or those who use entrepreneurial activities to benefit a social cause.