From Winner to Judge: Josephine Philips Joins the eBay Circular Fashion Fund Panel
Last year, SOJO won the UK final of eBay's Circular Fashion Fund. This year, our founder Josephine Philips is on the other side of the table.
March 2026
Being invited back as a judge — after going through the programme as a founder — is the kind of full-circle moment that doesn't happen by accident. It's a reflection of where SOJO stands in the circular fashion conversation, and a sign of how quickly that conversation has moved.
What the eBay Circular Fashion Fund Actually Is
The eBay Circular Fashion Fund is one of the most significant funding programmes in sustainable fashion. Launched in 2022 in partnership with the British Fashion Council, it was built to back the startups turning circular ambitions into real, scalable businesses — not just good ideas on paper.
Now in its fourth year, the fund has grown considerably. What started in the UK has expanded to Germany, Australia, the US, and for the first time in 2026, the EU, Switzerland, and Canada. Eight selected businesses each receive $50,000 in equity-free funding, alongside six months of mentorship, industry access, and expert support. One global winner also gets the opportunity for an additional $300,000 investment from eBay Ventures — bringing the fund's total global commitment to $1.9 million by the end of 2026.
It's not just a cheque. As Alexis Hoopes, VP of Global Fashion at eBay, put it: "These businesses need capital and support to grow. We're helping more founders build the infrastructure to make circular fashion an integral part of the fashion industry."
Over 25 businesses have come through the programme since 2022. The alumni network alone is worth more than most funds.
What Winning Meant for SOJO
When SOJO won the UK final in 2025, it came at a significant moment. The £50,000 grant was meaningful — but what mattered more was the validation. Here was one of the world's largest marketplaces, with a 30-year track record in secondhand fashion, choosing repair as the model worth backing in the UK.
Josephine went through the full six-month programme — the mentorship, the cohort, the global final — and came out the other side with a clearer sense of where SOJO fits in the bigger picture. "It's been such a pleasure being part of the finalist cohort with all the mentorship and support," she said at the time.
That experience is exactly what she's bringing back to the 2026 judging panel.
Joining the Panel: What It Means
This year's judging panel sits alongside some of the most respected figures in global fashion — Australian Fashion Council Chair Marianne Perkovic, CFDA CEO Steven Kolb, and Fashion Council Germany CEO Scott Lipinski. Josephine joins as a Circular Fashion Fund alumna, alongside Sarika Bajaj, co-founder of Refiberd, who won the global prize in 2025.
With over 1,200 applications received from across Europe alone, the calibre of founders applying to this programme has never been higher. "The calibre of the 12 pitches we heard was so high," Josephine said after the judging sessions. "Very excited for the chosen finalists to be announced."
Being asked to help shape who gets that opportunity — to pass on what the programme gave her — is something that sits at the heart of how SOJO thinks about its role in the industry. It's not enough to build a great business. The goal is to help build a better industry.
Why This Matters for Circular Fashion
The trajectory of the eBay Circular Fashion Fund tells a broader story. Early cohorts backed consumer-facing platforms — rental apps, swap markets, secondhand marketplaces. Recent winners have been infrastructure plays: the technology and services that let established brands go circular without starting from scratch.
SOJO sits squarely in that shift. And with eBay's recent acquisition of Depop for $1.2bn, the platform's commitment to circular fashion isn't a side project — it's core strategy. The Circular Fashion Fund is one of the clearest expressions of that.
For founders working on reducing fashion's environmental footprint, there is no better moment to be building in this space. And for SOJO, there is no better place to be than helping decide who gets to build it next.