Messe Frankfurt’s Fashionsustain conference focuses on sustainable textile innovations. © Neonyt

With another two spin-offs in Los Angeles and Shanghai, Messe Frankfurt is driving forward the internationalisation of Fashionsustain, the Neonyt conference. In July, it made an appearance in New York City. With Tencel, Lenzing is supporting the conference’s international efforts.

Messe Frankfurt’s Fashionsustain conference, which focuses on sustainable textile innovations, will be taking place outside of Germany twice in September and bringing together trailblazers from the industry. On 20 September the event will be held during the LA Fashion Festival in Los Angeles. And on 26 September, it will be incorporated into Intertextile Shanghai Apparel Fabrics in Shanghai.

Change is now

At the LA Fashion Festival (LAFF), Fashionsustain will be taking place under the motto The change of fashion is now in close cooperation with Lenzing. Lenzing will be informing visitors at their own stand about the value chain as well as the benefits in terms of sustainability and performance regarding its Tencel fibre brand. Speakers include representatives from Lenzing, Candiani and Global Denim as well as “the Godfather of Denim” Adriano Goldschmied and Kerry Bannigan from the Conscious Fashion Campaign supported by the UN Office for Partnerships.

As an integral part of the fashion events in Los Angeles, the two-day LA Fashion Festival brings together influences from film, retail, innovation and beauty, inciting immersive cultural experiences. The LAFF has evolved from the LA Fashion Film Festival and will be offering film screenings, workshops, masterclasses, pop-ups and lectures all about fashion from 20-21 September.

Challenges and solutions

At Intertextile Shanghai Apparel Fabrics, one of the world’s largest trade fairs for clothing fabrics and accessories organised by Messe Frankfurt, there will be a keynote speech by Edwin Keh (Hong Kong Research Institute of Textile and Apparel, HKRITA) at Fashionsustain on 26 September in Shanghai.

Messe Frankfurt is driving forward the internationalisation of Fashionsustain. © Neonyt

Afterwards, Andreas Streubig (Director Global Sustainability, Hugo Boss), Jiehui Kia (Principal Sustainability Strategiest, Forum for the Future), Micke Magnusson (Change Agent und Advisor, ReAccess) und Mikkel Hansen (Program and Partnership Lead at Explorium, Fung Group) will be talking about the importance and the challenges of implementing more textile innovation pilot projects, as well as the question of how to bring new textiles to the market faster.

This will be followed by innovator pitches by start-ups TG3D, Reflaunt, and Circular Systems, presented by accelerators Fashion for Good, The Mills Fabrica, and H&M Foundation, as well as by industry leader HeiQ.

Scalability of innovative technologies

The following panel will focus on the importance and scalability of innovative technologies for the textiles industry. Panellists will be Cherry Cheuk Yan Ho (Investment Manager, The Mills Fabrica), Celine Huang (CEO Greater China, HeiQ), Emily Franklin (Innovation Associate, Fashion for Good), Florian Heubrandner (Vice President Global Business Management Textiles, Lenzing) and Jean Hegedus (Marketing Director, Invista Lycra).

The event will be rounded off by a talk between Tony Lowe (East Asia Ambassador, Better Buying) and Max Gilgenmann (Kaleidoscope Berlin) on the role of sourcing in a changing textile and fashion industry.

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