About Sustainable Fashion

Sustainability – never before has the range of creative actors been so wide, never before have the most exciting topics of the future encompassed such a broad spectrum.

And there is a reason for this, because fashion has degenerated into a disposable commodity: Of the 5.2 billion items of clothing bought by Germans, 40 percent are very rarely or never worn. After a brief tour of the wardrobe, they end up in the landfill or are burned.

But more and more designers want to change that. Especially in Berlin, the green fashion capital of Germany, interest in fairly and sustainably produced garments is growing. Here, sustainably produced collections are created at the highest level with very good quality. In Berlin, terms like Slow Fashion, Circular Fashion, Transparency & Traceability and many more are being coined.

Sustainable in a big way

Since the beginning of the Berlin Fashion Week, sustainable shows have steadily gained in importance and become increasingly larger. It all started in 2018 with the Neonyt format, which is not longer taking place in Berlin since 2020.

In January 2021, the shift to a digital Berlin Fashion Week with a focus on sustainability was successful. 202030 – The Berlin Fashion Summit has emerged as one of the strongest formats here. 202030 - The Berlin Fashion Summit is a cross-disciplinary platform where avant-garde creatives and critical protagonists meet industry players. The challenge is to network and find solutions for the needs of different fashion industries, consumer cultures, innovation-driven sustainability and the tech movement. Furthermore, a bridge could be built during the new kick-off of Berlin Fashion Week in January - to Upcoming textile brands in the sustainable textile sector with novel design and distribution concepts and fair fashion labels of the Fashion Open Studio / Fashion Revolution format in cooperation with Mercedes Benz Fashion Week.

Sustainable fashion is a relevant location factor for Berlin, the Berlin Fashion Week and the leading fashion designers, which will increasingly shape Berlin as a fashion location in the future. Under the label of Berlin Fashion Week, developments, projects and innovations are presented in order to strengthen and further develop Berlin as a location for sustainable fashion both nationally and internationally.

The Berlin Senate Department for Economics, Energy and Public Enterprises supports the Fashion Council Germany's mentoring programmes for sustainable fashion designers, sustainable fashion is taught at fashion schools and countless networks connect designers, textile manufacturers and retailers.

The official website of Berlin Fashion Week maintains an up-to-date listing of verified sustainable designers and fashion – far from greenwashing.