#Sustainability

2022-01-13

Fashionsustain is inviting guests to a new format: Frankfurt City Edition

In keeping with this season’s Change the set-up theme, Fashionsustain – Neonyt’s international conference format – is adapting the event to the current legislative framework and presenting a compact line-up focusing on the topics of sustainability, supply chains and retail on Wednesday, 19 January. In its hybrid City Edition, the conference will play host to a limited number of guests at the Danzig am Platz even location in the city centre of Frankfurt and will also be streamed live.

From 11:00 am until 2:00 pm on 19 January 2021, industry insiders will be shedding light on the current challenges facing the fashion industry in keynotes, deep dives and panel discussions and providing valuable forecasts and solutions.

Starting the ball rolling is neuroscientist Dr Maren Urner, with her keynote speech entitled Change the mindset. The focus here will be on the attitude-behaviour gap: a scientific phenomenon that involves consumers increasingly stating in studies that they attach importance to sustainability and are willing to spend more money on sustainably produced goods, yet other studies confirm that the price is still one of the most decisive purchasing criteria. This means that their actual consumer behaviour falls doesn’t live up to their good intentions. Dr Maren Urner will explain how to manage this dilemma and how our brains can be reprogrammed from powerlessness to sustainable action.

In the subsequent deep dive with Karin Ziegler from Blutsgeschwister and Lutz Dietzold from the German Design Council, she will be reflecting on why people act differently than they intend to and how our own attitudes will reflect our behaviour even more in the future.

Government-run certification label Grüner Knopf (Green Button) is inviting guests to a panel discussion: Sebastian Herold from the Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development will be joining Axel Schröder from Tchibo GmbH and Hannes Weber from Fond of to discuss where the Green Button stands two years after it was launched, how much progress has been made in terms of due diligence obligations from a company perspective and how this development will continue.

The fact that brands aren’t immune to the attitude-behaviour gap either is being proven by Christian Salewski from research start-up Flip. In his insight talk Sneaker Hunt – What happens to our old shoes?, he will be giving us a peek behind the scenes of one of the most hotly discussed videos in the industry last year: together with media such as NDR, Die Zeit and well-known celebrities, Flip has exposed the truth behind sneaker recycling and shown that they aren’t always recycled how the brands say they are.

The Fashionsustain City Edition will be rounded off with a panel discussion entitled Sustainability at the point of sale – How do I explain it to my customers? Tanja Kliewe-Meyer from Like a Bird, Marco Schütte from the EK Service Group and representatives of Handelsverband Hessen, the trade association for the German state of Hesse, will be discussing how the retail sector can pass on its knowledge and contribute to raising awareness among consumers and what that could mean for the rejuvenation of city centres.

The conference is aimed at a professional audience and will be held as an in-person event in German. The live stream will be offered in German and English. B2B visitors and press representatives can register to take part in person in advance on the website at www.fashionsustain.com. The event is taking place under Germany’s ‘2G+’ rule, meaning that only those who have been fully vaccinated or recently recovered plus tested will be able to attend. Participants are requested to bring the necessary documents as proof.

Fashionsustain will also be streamed live on www.fashionsustain.com and in Frankfurt Fashion Week’s digital FFW Studio: https://frankfurt.fashion/de/studio

Messe Frankfurt commits further to East Africa: three textiles trade fairs during Africa Sourcing and Fashion Week from 2027

Messe Frankfurt and its Texpertise Network continue their steady, successful trajectory in the region. As Africa Sourcing and Fashion Week (ASFW) opened today, Member of the Executive Board Detlef Braun announced that Messe Frankfurt is licencing its three leading international trade fair brands Texworld, Apparel Sourcing and Texprocess to Nairobi, Kenya for the first time in 2027. From now on, they will take place annually as part of the Africa Sourcing and Fashion Week (ASFW) Nairobi.

Speed and connectivity: Techtextil and Texprocess provided market-ready solutions for industries under pressure

With more than 36,000 visitors and 1,700 exhibitors from a total of 112 countries, Techtextil and Texprocess 2026 demonstrated how innovation comes into industrial use. The convergence of research, industry and application proved to be a breeding ground for new material solutions, manufacturing and processing technologies. Natural fibres, performance apparel, connected systems and AI-driven processing technologies emerged as key growth and future markets.

A new standard to combat plastic waste in forests

With DIN SPEC 35808 “Tree Shelter for Forestry Applications,” the testing and research service provider Hohenstein, in collaboration with Rottenburg University of Forestry, as well as forestry authorities and industry partners, has established a clear framework for bio-based and fully biodegradable tree shelters. The pre-standard defines requirements and practical testing methods designed to reduce plastic waste in forests and strengthen the long-term protection of soil and the environment.

Denim moves towards sustainability

EIM (Environmental Impact Measurement), the global reference platform for measuring the environmental impact of garment finishing, presents the second edition of its annual report Denim Industry Progress & Insights 2025. The study analyses over 100,000 real denim finishing processes, providing an accurate and up-to-date view of the industry’s evolution towards more sustainable models.

Europe’s textile future at a turning point: New 2030 Circularity Blueprint aims to scale recycling and unlock investment opportunities

The EU textile system is at a critical crossroads. Today, less than 1% of discarded garments are recycled into new garments, despite EU-wide obligations for separate collection. In response, Global Fashion Agenda (GFA) is launching the 2030 Circularity Blueprint, in partnership with ReHubs. This ambitious initiative is designed to support the transformation of the EU textile ecosystem to advance textile-to-textile recycling and drive the transition to a circular economy.

BB Engineering unveils new, patented “Val-uePack” spin pack at ITM

At the upcoming ITM in Istanbul, taking place June 9–13 at the Tüyap Fair Convention and Congress Center in Hall 7, Booth 702B, BB Engineering will once again be represented at a joint booth with its parent company, Barmag, and its representative, Tekstil Servis. The German machine manufacturer will show-case its expertise in man-made fiber and recycling technology, presenting its entire product portfolio, which includes compo-nents such as extruders and filters, as well as complete sys-tems for spinning synthetic fibers, air-texturing, and PET recy-cling.

ITM 2026: KARL MAYER presents new perspectives

KARL MAYER will once again showcase itself as a strong partner to the Turkish textile industry at ITM in Istanbul from June 9 to 13. At Booth 303 A in Hall 3 of the Tüyap Fair Convention and Congress Center, the industry leader will exhibit solutions for warp knitting, warp preparation, and technical textiles – tailored to a challenging economic environment.

STFI highlights textile circular economy and alternative fibres at INDEX™ 2026

From 19 to 22 May 2026, INDEX will invite visitors to Lake Geneva for the world's leading nonwovens trade fair. The Centre of Excellence in Nonwovens at the Sächsisches Textilforschung- sinstitut e.V. (STFI) will be in attendance to present the latest developments in nonwovens research. In the field of the textile circular economy, the STFI will present acoustically effective nonwovens made from chemical recycling residues. The range also includes innovations aimed at replacing conventional raw materials, such as the biobased and biodegradable polymer polybutylene succinate (PBS) and Kendyr as an alternative to cotton.