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The Berlin Fashion Summit
The Berlin Fashion Summit recently hosted a stage program and denim pop-up event, followed by a community gathering.
The Transformation of the Denim Sector
The diverse audience from different areas of fashion and sustainability participated in a two-hour program that focused on the transformation of the denim sector becoming a role model for innovation, equity, and positive impact.
Inspiring Change in the Industry
The conference focused on successful and proven denim sector best practice cases that inspire industry-wide change. Following the conference, participants, speakers, and industry representatives gathered outside Seek show for the 202030 Community Gathering to deepen conversations, make new contacts, share experiences, and think of joint projects. The conference was moderated by the initiative’s founders Max Gilgenmann and Magdalena Schaffrin.
“Denim is known in the industry as an environmentally damaging material, which is treated with a lot of chemicals and requires a huge water consumption. We were particularly pleased about the exciting inputs from different perspectives and discussions on stage and especially about the lively questions from the audience,” commented Magdalena Schaffrin, Co-CEO, Studio MM04, 202030 – The Berlin Fashion Summit.
Highlights of the Event
The content of the denim pop-up was discussed and presented by representatives of brands such as Lanius or Auf Augenhöhe, organizations from the political spectrum such as the Dutch Denim Deal or the Green Button, as well as changemakers from the industry such as Tony Tonnaer in open conversations.
In addition to Mayouri Sengchanh from Première Vision, Outi Pyy from Ivalo, and Tanvir Kabir from the Embassy of Bangladesh, who spoke from the perspective of international trade policy, Thomas Aplas from CHT Group enlightened the audience on the role of the chemical industry for positive change.
The inspiring opening keynote was given by Marian von Rappard, co-founder and owner of Dawn Denim. In his opening speech, he called for a new era of honesty and personality in the fashion industry, using his own journey to a successful sustainable denim brand as an example.
“I want us to embrace the unknown. We don’t know what’s going to happen in the next five to ten years, except that there has to be a big change in this industry,” von Rappard, Dawn Denim.
There was a lot of interest in the conversation with Sema Gedik and Janina Nagel from Auf Augenhöhe, the brand and community platform that is pioneering adaptive fashion in the German market with a crucial emphasis on inclusion as a facet of sustainability.
“The word ‘inclusion’ is not a trendy topic, and it is important to bring it inside a company. How can we change design so that everyone can be a part of it? We want to work with more fashion labels because that means creating more inclusion in the industry.” – Sema Gedik, Auf Augenhöhe.
The Denim Pop-up concluded with the panel “From ‘Dirty Denim’ to Sustainability Leadership”, organized by Denim Deal, a Dutch initiative to manage more sustainable supply chains in the denim sector.
Roosmarie Ruigrok, The Denim Deal, sat on the panel alongside Annabelle Homann from Lanius brand, Christine Moser-Priewich, Grüner Knopf, Tanvir Kabir, Bangladesh Embassy, and Tony Tonnaer, KOI Conscious Consulting. These expert insiders provided a picture of how the denim industry has been gradually changing in the last years and months.
The Future of the Berlin Fashion Summit
202030 – The Berlin Fashion Summit will return in 2024 with a two-day event. It will host a program that showcases the latest developments in fashion sustainability and facilitates eye-to-eye conversations in a strong community-building environment, with industry innovators and changemakers, supply chain representatives, and policymakers.
In the meantime, Studio MM04, the event’s organization, will continue broadcasting exclusive content on sustainable fashion via the 202030 podcast, as well as other pop-up events.
