From the Sector

There are only a few days left until the SEEK community comes together at the Station Berlin on 16 and 17 January 2024. The team around SEEK's Show Director Marie-Luise Patzelt is looking forward to welcome around 200 brands, speakers such as Jessica Arnold (Adidas), Sebastian Haufellner (Lodenfrey), Yannik Dietrich (Breuninger), Martyna Zastawna (Vogue), numerous game changers from the sustainability scene and new fashion and lifestyle inspirations.

The new alliance between SEEK and UNION Showroom presents its joint project "THE JUNCTION" for the first time. A selection of high-quality brands with a focus on craftsmanship, origin, and history will be presented in Station Berlin's exclusive loft spaces, includes brands such as A New Sweden, Bruné, Freenote Cloth, Fullcount, Godspeed, Good-Alls, Hidden Aces, Nudie Jeans, Oodoo Boots, Paltò, Viberg, White Sand, and Tenue. THE JUNCTION starts simultaneously with UNION on 14.01.24 and ends with SEEK on 17.01.24.

The SEEK brand portfolio currently encompasses almost 200 brands, including 46 % conscious brands and 45 % newcomers. Buyers and visitors can look forward to brands such as Aer Scents, Bask in the Sun, Chrome, Danner, Dedicated, Givn Berlin, Hestra, Kangaroos, Novesta, Palladium, Pyrenex, Santa Cruz Skateboards, Welter Shelter and Woodbird. Newcomers include Afoam Stories, A Good Company, Dale Of Norway, Good Wool Story, Heimat, Hen's Teeth, Open Era, Pompeii, The Jogg Concept, Wax London and many more.

The SEEK Conscious Club forms the heart of the January edition and is developing into the "place to be" of the sustainability scene. Purpose-driven business practices, systematic sustainability and practical standards will become even more crucial in 2024. With this in mind, the SEEK team introduces the innovative "360 Sustainability Validation" with its partners IVALO.COM and studio MM04. The "360 Sustainability Validation" - powered by IVALO.COM and consulted by studio MM04. Customers can see brand sustainability in 8 different sustainability categories. 360 is a commercial production value chain analysis tool that provides results that are comparable. The aim is to make the complex sub-areas of sustainability in fashion more transparent and comparable. The SEEK team has been working with the sustainability experts at studio MM04 for a long time and is delighted to be part of this important step towards standardising sustainability evaluations. Participating brands in this years Conscious Club are Basic Apparel, Bread & Boxers, Cabaia, Camper, Dawn Denim, Flamingos Life, Isaora, Jan'n June, Kings of Indigo, Rita Row, Secrid, Stapf and Thinking Mu, amongst others.

Together with renowned experts, SEEK is once again presenting a content programme with live interviews, talks, panels and community classes. Speakers such as Carl Tillessen (Deutsches Mode Institut), Steffen Liese (JD Sports), Stephan Huber (Style in Progress), Penny Whitelaw (Good on You), Mimi Sewalski (Avocadostore), Valerie Vogel (Engelhorn), Cheryll Mühlen (J'N'C), Rune Orloff (Pool), Sabine Rogg (Trendbüro), Anthony Lui (A New Sweden), Patrick Bergmann (Famefact), Florian Müller (Müller PR & Consulting) will share their insights exclusively with the SEEK community. The diverse programme includes themes such as pricing and profiling success strategies in times of disruption, a "no-bullshit" guide for brand spaces, the most important LinkedIn and consumer trends for 2024, new chances for recruiting and leadership as well as mental health in fashion.

The launch of the third edition of the Imagining Sustainable Fashion Award started on October 27, 2022. The Imagining Sustainable Fashion Award (ISFA) is the international competition born out of the collaboration between Connecting Cultures, the foundation that guides the Out of Fashion platform, and C.L.A.S.S., an international eco-hub that since 2007 has been advocating for a new generation of fashion in which the union of design, innovation, communication, and responsibility shapes a conscious and competitive business, capable of playing both an economic and social role.

The Imagining Sustainable Fashion Award invites stylists, photographers, designers, illustrators and artists to create visual imagery, a project that highlights awareness, respect for people and the planet that define the values of sustainable fashion in the fashion system.

Award submissions will be examined by an international jury composed of:

• Anna Detheridge, Founder and President, Connecting Cultures
• Giusy Bettoni, CEO and Founder, C.L.A.S.S.
• Rita Airaghi, Steering Advisor, Gianfranco Ferré Research Center
• Paola Arosio, Head of New Brands & Sustainability Projects, Camera Nazionale della Moda Italiana
• Jeanine Ballone Managing Director, Fashion 4 Development
• Evie Evangelou, Founder and President, Fashion 4 Development
• Sara Kozlowski, Vice President of Program Strategies, Education, and Sustainability Initiatives, Council of Fashion Designers of America
• Dio Kurazawa, Founding Partner, The Bear Scouts
• Renata Molho, journalist, former editor-in-chief of L'Uomo Vogue and former editor-at-large of L'Uomo Vogue, Vogue Italia, Casa Vogue
• Stefania Ricci, Director, Museo Salvatore Ferragamo
• Jovana Vukoje, Senior New Brands Specialist, Camera Nazionale della Moda Italiana

The winning projects of past editions were Take a Walk on the Green Side by Emma Scalcon (2021 - Italy) and Fashion Affair by Vishal Tolambia (2022 - India), two very different works that highlighted how challenging sustainability issues are in the contemporary communication landscape.

The deadline for submissions is Wednesday, January 25, 2023.
The winner will be announced in March 2023 and will receive a cash prize of €3,000.00.

The winner of the IMAGINING SUSTAINABLE FASHION competition was announced during a webinar broadcast on March 30 at 4pm attended by Giusy Bettoni, CEO of C.L.A.S.S. Eco Hub, Anna Detheridge, President of Connecting Cultures, Dio Kurazawa, Founding Partner of The Bear Scouts, Stefania Ricci, Director of the Salvatore Ferragamo Museum.
 
Vishal Tolambia, 24, a graduate with an MA in Fashion Futures from the London College of Fashion and in Fashion Design from the National Institute of Fashion Technology India, is a Fashion Sustainability researcher and a multidisciplinary designer. In 2021, Vishal founded the organization Humanity-Centred Designs (HCD) with the aim of transforming "human-centred design into humanity-centred designs through sustainable practices to foster the Fashion Industry."
 
In his communication project, the "Fashion Affair" video proposes a speculative view of fashion dating - derived from dating apps - a tool to effectively evaluate brands and their products, in the form of augmented reality. The consumer is not only informed in real time about the brand and supply chain, but the app also becomes a platform for matching products based on individual sustainability goals and commitments. "Fashion Affair" also won the special social media contest open to the public among the finalists selected by the jury for being the most voted project by Instagram followers on C.L.A.S.S.' profile.
 
Vishal ranked first among the finalists selected by the international jury composed of:
- Anna Detheridge, Founder and President, Connecting Cultures
- Giusy Bettoni, CEO and Founder, C.L.A.S.S.
- Rita Airaghi, Director, Gianfranco Ferré Research Center            
- Paola Arosio, Head of New Brands & Sustainability Projects, Camera Nazionale della Moda Italiana (The National Chamber for Italian Fashion)
- Jeanine Ballone, Managing Director, Fashion 4 Development
- Evie Evangelou, Founder and President, Fashion 4 Development
- Chiara Luisi, Sustainability Projects Coordinator, Camera Nazionale della Moda Italiana (The National Chamber for Italian Fashion)
- Sara Kozlowski, Director of Education and Sustainable Strategies, Council of Fashion Designers of America
- Dio Kurazawa, Founding Partner, The Bear Scouts
- Renata Molho, journalist and fashion writer, former editor-in-chief of L'Uomo Vogue and editor-at-large of L'Uomo Vogue, Vogue Italia, Casa Vogue
- Stefania Ricci, Director, Salvatore Ferragamo Museum.

Technical textiles fulfil many functions: they hold, they lift, they fixate, they stretch – and they tension. In this function narrow textiles fulfil an important task in product development. And they offer significant advantages over metal or plastic tensioning devices such as springs, clamps or cable ties.

Properties
Textiles are light: a property that plays a central role in modern mobility. Textiles are flexible: from extremely high to extremely low elasticity: the force-elongation behaviour of elasticated narrow textiles can be precisely defined. Depending on the tensioning task to be performed. Textiles tension in tight packaging spaces: elastics can also be used where space is too tight for springs and clasps. Textiles are energy efficient: lightweight, with high tensioning force. Textiles are easy to handle: replace a connector spontaneously and without tools, quickly change the length or roll up and store a supply. And textiles are sustainable: natural fibres and rubber are natural and ecologically degradable raw materials; synthetic fibres can be completely produced from recycled materials.

Applications
Development teams in numerous industries leverage these properties for their products. For example, for flexible machine parts in mechanical engineering, for switch contacts in electrical engineering, for oscillation-capable locking systems in the construction industry, for noise- and vibration-free seating systems in the automotive sector or for grip rings in the toys industry.

Tasks
Particularly en vogue today, when we are spending more time than usual in our own homes: applications for narrow textiles in the furniture industry. They go far beyond the area of legacy home textiles: as tensioning elements in armchairs, sofas and chairs, as hinge solutions in cupboards, as fixation elements in extendable or folding tables. Narrow textiles are used for gripping tasks almost everywhere in the living room.

"JUMBO-Textil specialises in precisely implementing the individual requirements for defined force-elongation values of elasticated narrow textiles: we adapt the technical properties of our products precisely to the specific task and the respective raw materials," explains Werner Thiex, Sales Director Automotive. "Precise technical specification plus sustainable raw materials – this is a crucial combination in the 21st century".

Mostafiz Uddin, Managing director, Denim Expert Ltd., founder and CEO, Bangladesh Apparel Exchange spoke at the Copenhagen Fashion Summit 2018 during a panel on Tuesday the 15th of May 2018 about the Transparency in the supply chain.

This makes him the first Bangladeshi garment manufacturer to participate as a panel speaker at a CFS ever. His speech revolved around the apparel industry in his home country of Bangladesh and how his vision influences the way his company manufactures.
The panel was visited by over 1300 top profile participants, including her Highness the Crown Princes of Denmark. It was opened by CEO Leslie Johnson of the C&A Foundation.

Mostafiz Uddin said after the panel: “I am thankful to the CFS organisers for giving me such a great opportunity and honour, to my country to share the true story of Bangladesh and our apparel industry.”
About Mostafiz Uddin: Mostafiz Uddin is managing director of Denim Expert Ltd., an environmentally sustainable and socially responsible compliant garment manufacturing plant in Chittagong, Bangladesh. A visionary entrepreneur in the development of sustainable apparel systems, Uddin is personally driven by social and environmental ethics and is recognised as a game changer through his introduction of sustainable practices, innovation and fashion disruption, which he sees as key to the future of the Bangladesh apparel industry.
Uddin founded the Bangladesh Apparel Exchange (BAE) to promote sustainable practices within the Bangladesh apparel industry and to improve the country’s image via various initiatives under the banner of BAE, including the Sustainable Apparel Forum, the Bangladesh Fashionology Summit and Bangladesh Denim Expo. Through these endeavours he strives to promote the advancement of sustainable practices, including environmentally sound production methods, full transparency, innovation, circularity and technology.

About the Copenhagen Fashion Summit: The sixth edition of the Summit also boasted 75 high-level speakers, including sustainability thought leader David Roberts of Singularity University; EU Commissioner for Competition Margrethe Vestager; COO Eric Sprunk of NIKE; CEO Spencer Fung of Li & Fung; Vogue US fashion director Tonne Goodman; sustainability pioneer Dame Ellen MacArthur; models and entrepreneurs Lily Cole and Edie Campbell, the founders of Highsnobiety, Vestiaire Collective, Fashion Revolution, and many more. The hosts were Amber Valletta, actress, model and entrepreneur, and Tim Blanks, editor-at-large of The Business of Fashion.

Wrapping up two days of intense leadership roundtables, conversations and business meetings was a panel discussion featuring the Strategic Partners of Global Fashion Agenda: Kering, H&M, Target, Li & Fung and Sustainable Apparel Coalition, who took the stage to address why sustainability should be a leadership priority and to discuss some of the recommendations from the Pulse of the Fashion Industry 2018 report, released the week prior to the Summit.