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Meet your LCF Enterprise Challenge 2025 Finalist: Sebastian Salvat and Sophie Templer

2 cream coloured, mid-sized dogs, sitting on a wooden deck in a garden, with a pile of their fur in front of them shaped into a heart.
  • Written byM. Ashton
  • Published date 06 June 2025
2 cream coloured, mid-sized dogs, sitting on a wooden deck in a garden, with a pile of their fur in front of them shaped into a heart.
Sebastian Selvat and Sophie Templar, Founders of 'Chiora', LCF Enterprise Challenge 2025

The annual London College of Fashion (LCF) Enterprise Challenge, now in its 9th year, is fast approaching! Our business ideas competition is designed to support entrepreneurial students, helping them become the next generation of innovators.

This year, the competition saw an impressive number of applications, all showcasing talented innovative ventures from our LCF students and recent graduates. Our panel of expert short-listing judges, from Mango, Eyes on Talent and Dazed Media, narrowed the submissions down to 5 finalists, who will all compete for a share of £10,000!

The diversity of ideas in the pitch submissions, from social enterprises tackling pressing societal challenges to commercial ventures bringing new solutions to the market, truly shows the breadth of knowledge and talent within the LCF community. Finalists will go on to pitch their ideas to our panel of esteemed judges on Thursday, 19 June at LCF's East Bank campus, demonstrating their vision, business potential, and impact:

The 5 business ideas represent a diverse mix of social and commercial creative enterprises, each with the potential to make a significant impact. With just a few weeks until the annual LCF Enterprise Challenge 2025, let's meet this year's finalists making waves in the industry.

Sebastian Selvat headshot
Sebastian Selvat and Sophie Templar, Founders of 'Chiora', LCF Enterprise Challenge 2025
Sophie Templar profile photo
Sebastian Selvat and Sophie Templar, Founders of 'Chiora', LCF Enterprise Challenge 2025

Chiora | Sebastian Salvat and Sophie Templer | BA (Hons) Fashion Marketing and Content Creation

Chiora transforms an abundantly overlooked by-product, naturally shed dog wool, into luxury-grade ethical yarns and insulating fills for the fashion and textile industries.

What value proposition does your business offer to your targeted audience?

With thermal insulation up to 80% warmer than wool, a naturally soft hand-feel comparable to cashmere and a traceable, low-impact processing method that requires no chemicals and minimal water. Dog wool delivers both incredible properties and exceptional sustainability. It offers a cruelty-free, low-impact alternative to traditional fibres that doesn’t rely on land-intensive livestock farming or toxic chemicals as it repurposes waste that would either end up in landfills or incinerated.

By sourcing, grading and spinning this innovative fibre into premium blends, Chiora offers conscious brands a material that is exceptional in quality, ethical in origin and perfectly aligned with the future of modern indulgence. We enable our partnering companies to lead an industry-wide movement towards resource-intensive raw materials creating luxury that is circular, ethical and engineered for the future.

Through label-own products and a scalable B2B supply chain, Chiora is building a category-defining fibre brand that seamlessly blends timeless elegance with groundbreaking innovation, purpose and impact. Our story is one of ethical luxury reimagined, where exquisite materials meet responsible sourcing, proving that true luxury doesn’t need to harm the planet.

a pile of cream coloured dog fur, shaped into a heart, on top of grass
Sebastian Selvat and Sophie Templar, Founders of Chiora, LCF Enterprise Challenge 2025

Why is your business idea needed?

The fashion and textile industries are at a crossroads, facing rising pressure to move away from extractive, high-impact materials like cashmere, wool, synthetics and cotton. Yet, current alternatives often fall short: they either lack performance, rely on industrial farming or are resource-intensive to produce. Chiora exists to solve this gap.

By repurposing a highly underutilized, naturally shed fibre from dogs, a true waste by-product, we offer a cruelty-free, low-impact and high-quality alternative that meets the demands of today’s ethical, innovative and eco-conscious market. Sustainability is no longer optional. Chiora’s new fibre is a capable solution to rising demands for transparency, responsibility and innovation.

Why are you excited to be a part of the LCF Enterprise Challenge 2025?

We’re so excited to have this opportunity that will give us a platform to show where all our research and hard work has led us. We’re truly grateful for the opportunity to be part of the Enterprise Challenge 2025, joining a community of visionary innovators shaping the future.

This competition allows us to showcase unique, sustainable solutions that not only address today’s challenges but also help build a more ethical and responsible world for tomorrow.

London College of Fashion

Contact

Telephone

+44 (0)20 7514 7400

Address

105 Carpenter's Road
London

E20 2AR
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