#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

Therapeutic patterns and mythology as design inspiration: New Talent Area curated by Trendease at Heimtextil grows

Even more young design talent and creative ideas: at the upcoming Heimtextil, the New Talent Area returns for its second edition with stronger presence. From 12 to 15 January 2027, the curated area welcomes more than 30 participants, many of whom are presenting on the international stage for the first time. In Frankfurt, they showcase exciting textile designs, surprising materials and market-ready products.

Heimtextil Trends 27/28: ‘Home-Maxxing’ between performance and respite

Sleep better, recover faster, live more efficiently: the desire for optimisation has long since reached our homes. Under the title ‘Home-Maxxing – The Performance of Everyday Living’, Heimtextil Trends 27/28 show how our relationship with efficiency-driven thinking and technology is influencing the design of spaces and textiles. The more sleep, wellness, routines, materials and spaces are optimised, the stronger the desire for a home that does not demand even more of us.

Texworld Apparel Sourcing Paris opens with focus on AI, circularity and new sourcing regions

More than 1,000 exhibitors from around the world are gathering at Paris-Le Bourget as Texworld Apparel Sourcing Paris opens its doors from August 31 to September 2. With around 500 textile manufacturers and a similar number of apparel and accessories suppliers, the trade fair reflects the ongoing transformation of global sourcing and the growing diversification of supply regions.

180 years of TESTEX: From Zurich silk testing to global certification

For 180 years, TESTEX has developed alongside the textile industry while maintaining the same underlying purpose: creating trust through independent and reliable measurement. Founded in Zurich in 1846 as the Zurich Silk Conditioning Institute, TESTEX has grown from a local institution serving the silk trade into an international Swiss testing and certification institute for textiles and leather.

Cascale launches member-led process to shape 2030 strategy

Cascale has launched a member-led process to define the industry alliance’s strategic direction for the next decade. At the Cascale Annual Meeting 2026 in Athens, CEO Ying McGuire announced that members will contribute to an industry system map that will inform Cascale’s 10-year vision, its 2030 strategy and priorities for 2027. The new strategy is scheduled to be finalized in December.

Jeanologia Sustainability Report highlights environmental impact of textile technologies

Jeanologia has published its Sustainability Report 2025, reporting a 13.64% reduction in its own carbon footprint and quantifying the environmental impact associated with the use of its technologies across the global textile industry. According to the company’s calculations, their use avoided the pollution of 21.52 million m³ of water and emissions of approximately 103,530 tonnes of CO₂ compared with conventional textile finishing processes.

Global Standards announce launch of a new textile processing standard

The 14th September 2026 marks the public launch of the Global Responsible Textile Standard (GRTS), a new standard for the processing of textiles made from fibres certified to third-party standards recognised by GRTS and covering a broad range of plant, animal, synthetic, man-made cellulosic and recycled fibres.

20 Start-Ups selected for CEMATEX Start-Up Grant at ITMA 2027

CEMATEX has selected 20 emerging start-ups from nine countries to receive the CEMATEX Start-Up Grant and showcase their innovations at Start-Up Valley during ITMA 2027 in Hanover. Their participation will be fully funded by CEMATEX, giving promising early-stage companies access to the world’s leading textile and garment technology platform.

Leading UK garment decorator expands short-run apparel production and print-on-demand fulfillment with Kornit Digital

Kornit Digital (NASDAQ: KRNT), a global pioneer in sustainable, on-demand digital fashion and textile production technologies, announced that leading UK garment decorator Fifth Column has expanded its apparel decoration capabilities with the installation of a Kornit Atlas MAX PLUS system. Based in the United Kingdom, Fifth Column specializes in garment decoration, including screen printing, embroidery, digital printing, garment finishing, and print-on-demand production. Its customer base spans breweries, music merchandise companies, workwear providers, designer brands, and retail businesses.