Pitch to the Pack 2025
Everything you need to know about the 2025 Pitch to the Pack competition — winners, judges, sponsors, and more!
Winners
Congratulations to the winners of the 2025 Pitch to the Pack competition. A total of 12 awards were presented, including 5 awards determined by judges’ scores and 4 selected through audience voting. The Andrews Launch Accelerator and First Flight Venture Center Coworking Membership awards were granted to the highest ranking eligible teams, while Audience Choice Awards recognized ventures outside of the Top 5 finalists.
2025 Judges’ Awards
First Place Reid Barnett
Ceretune LLCCeretune installs biodegradable Fibrous Aquatic Bioscaffolds that convert water nutrient pollution into compostable biomass, providing sustainable remediation for environmental and industrial organizations. Second Place Zoe Hezrony and Team Member
BareStepsThird Place Sonja Salmon
Trellis Eco TechTrellis Eco Technologies is
commercializing a biocatalytic
textile for improved carbon
capture to mitigate the effects
of climate change.Fourth Place Hitesh Manglani Supercarb, Inc. Supercarb transforms carbohydrate-rich waste into high-performance, carbon-neutral fibers using biomimetic nanostructures to create an infinitely tunable and biodegradable product. Fifth Place Jeanine Fry
LOOM3DLOOM3D creates seamless, zero-waste 3D woven garments using custom measurements to eliminate industry overproduction.
2025 Audience Choice Awards
Most Innovative Annie Hoyt
DENIDENI is a womenswear brand featuring adjustable sizing designs, headlined by a signature wrap skirt built to provide a consistent, flattering fit that adapts to the wearer’s body over time. Most Sustainable Adaline Griffin
Rest for the WearyRest for the Weary is a sustainable product designed to provide comfort and protection to the shelterless, utilizing recycled and unconventional materials to address homelessness and textile waste. Best Value Add Gunashekar Kalluri and Ethan Hill
Narrow SenseNarrow Sense develops smart, strain-sensing lashing straps that provide real-time tension monitoring and safety alerts to revolutionize cargo security and road safety. Best Speaker Brian Iezzi
FibarcodeFibarcode embeds permanent, fiber-based barcodes into textiles to enable lifelong traceability and automated sorting for efficient recycling.
Finalist Pitches
Experience the top student-led ventures from the 2025 Pitch to the Pack. These finalists showcase the next generation of textile innovation, sustainability, and entrepreneurship at NC State.
2025 Judging Panel
Our finalists were evaluated by a distinguished panel of industry veterans, entrepreneurs, and academic leaders. We thank these experts for their time and insight in selecting the 2025 award recipients.
Day-Of Judges
Julie Hampton
Wells Fargo
Prashant Prabhu
Clemson University
Thom Ruhe
NC IDEA
Stephen Satterfield
HONE Talent, and Whetstone Media