The Rise of Sustainability – Berlin Fashion Week Key Takeaways

McKinsey released their State For Fashion and with it their humble view on sustainability, being both the biggest challenge and the biggest opportunity for the entire industry. However, the significant growth of interest in sustainability was outstanding during Berlin Fashion Week.

NEONYT, the global hub for fashion, sustainability and innovation, welcomed around 14.000 visitors in their new iconic location, Tempelhofer Airport. This is more than twice the amount of visitors compared to previous years. The shift in exhibitors emphasises the growing interest with considerable players like Armed Angels exhibiting their work.

©NEONYT

Glocal key players of the industry showed their interest and knowledge in sustainability and innovation during passionate panels and discussion. Fashion Council Germany presented a guide on how to be successful as an independent and sustainable fashion brand to inspire young business developers, designers and players of the industry.

The emergence of radical transparency and its implementation in a brand’s DNA, for instance the French company VEJA, has been discussed during SEEK.

The field of textile dyeing is considered being the most polluting and harming process within the value chain. The companies CleanDye, Dyecoo and Bonprix faced this great challenge and showed their advancements and how new and innovative processes can be used.

The industry is seeking a global rise of sustainability and innovation, changing the polluting and damaging way it’s currently operating. The possibility of local or global circularity was explained by key players like August Bard Bringéus, co-founder of Asket and Mikkel Hansen, Fung Group.

The advancement of sustainable fashion is also noticeable when considering one major aspect of fashion – its look. Aesthetics played a core role in NEONYT’s fashion show and made its audience dreak, while connecting with the collection and the designer. With a focus on functionality Claudia Hoffmann illustrated the intersection of high-fashion and innovative high-performance materials in the industrial traits that Kraftwerk provided. Check out our gallery to see the collection.

©Daniel Gebhardt

Berlin is attracting and giving a stage to many sustainable brands that are shaping the future of the textile and fashion industry. Therefore, it is not surprising that key players of the Berlin fashion industry are cooperating with the green section of the parliament to create a ‘Berlin Fashion Hub’. An initiative that is putting a light on Berlin’s creative, independent and innovative potential, while connecting it to the other global fashion hubs. A collaborative space, where knowledge and experiences are shared, innovation is created and sustainability is the focus.

That Berlin is the meeting point for the German fashion market and Germany’s talents was seen through the collaboration of different fashion universities and schools. Neo.Fashion presented unprecedented collections, giving young designers the chance to reveal their collections, dreams and perspectives.

©Daniel Gebhardt

Berlin Fashion Week demonstrated that sustainability is of great importance and that the growing interest is noticeable. Today, Berlin is a fashion meeting point, showing the world that it can be done differently. We are happy being involved in this area of change, shaping the entire industry.