Messe Frankfurt envisions new ecosystem merging Fashion and Exhibitions
Fashion will have a new address now in Europe, Frankfurt. Thanks to the cooperation of Messe Frankfurt and the Premium Group, which promises to put up a good show the next summer, perfectly blending together the beauty of fashion and art of holding successful exhibitions. Mr. Detlaf Braun, Member of the Executive Board Messe Frankfurt GmbH, shares with ExhiBits his opinion on this association, sustainable future of fashion and his hopes for the revival of exhibition industry.
Wish you the very best on this association with the Premium group. Please share the vision and ideology behind this collaboration, especially, when it has happened during this unprecedented crisis engulfing the whole world of exhibitions.
Thank you for your good wishes! Premium Group and Messe Frankfurt have been working together for many years now. Together we wanted to create something new and unexpected. Frankfurt is the perfect location for that. Our aim is to create a Frankfurt Fashion Week ecosystem for tradeshows, conferences, runway shows and events. The industry demands shorter distances and more connection – Frankfurt is providing that. We will be connecting the fairs Premium, Seek, Neonyt and the conferences FashionTech and FashionSustain. This way we will bring the industry closer together. Especially, during these times people are longing for personal encounters. We have enough space to welcome the international fashion- and design-community and we are looking forward to host the community starting next summer.
The success of any show has a ripple effect on the economy of the place. How do you see the fashion week aiding in boosting Frankfurt’s economy? What are the reasons to choose Frankfurt as a host for this mega event?
The event will transform Frankfurt into a new hotspot for the international fashion and lifestyle scene. It is a huge economic opportunity for the city. Expected is a generation of more than 200 million euros per year for the Rhine-Main area. It will boost the local hotel, hospitality and transportation sectors.
Frankfurt has the most cosmopolitan and international community in Germany. The city has a large catchment area and an excellent international reputation as a design- and culture metropolis. The Messe Frankfurt with its 600.000 square meters fairground, the central position and the excellent infrastructure of the city provide unique possibilities for an event like this. Small distances connect the fairground with the city which is exceptional for trade fair location. We think that Frankfurt is the right place for this new project.
As the show is scheduled next year, do you see any aftermath of COVID-19 affecting the show? Do you see good chances of revival of the fashion and exhibition sector by then?
The health of everyone involved in the Frankfurt Fashion Week is our first priority, so we will be planning the event very carefully and in agreement with all responsible authorities. We do believe that the announcement of the Frankfurt Fashion Week is sending out an important and positive signal to an industry that has been particularly hard hit by the fallout of the coronavirus pandemic. We hope that there will be no further restrictions next year.
As per the updates, this show is going to be one of the biggest shows in Europe. What is the expected international participation you foresee for this event? Would you include virtual means too?
Right now we are still in the beginning of our planning, but we are open for any new approaches and will be including virtual means for sure. The Frankfurt Fashion Week is an international event and we are looking forward to welcome the international fashion industry in Frankfurt.
The pandemic has shifted the focus on digitalisation and sustainability. How do you see the show and the fashion industry incorporating these? Is it practical to make fashion sustainable with new trends coming out every season and also work towards reducing the carbon footprints alongside?
Applied Sustainability and Applied Digitization are the content USPs of Frankfurt Fashion Week. These topics are major to us and the whole industry. There is a big change going on. We want to make sustainable innovations and business models accessible to a wide market. We want to be part of the change towards a more sustainable fashion industry. We offer state-of-the-art companies a stage and support the development of those who are still in the starting blocks. We believe in new concepts and creative approaches for the fashion industry.
The theme of the show says, ‘Unveiling the Unexpected’. Would you please elaborate on this.
When fashion, lifestyle, digital innovation and sustainability form a synthesis, something new and unexpected will arise. That is our aspiration. The unexpected is new, inspiring and different. It is surprising. The Frankfurt Fashion Week wants to arouse curiosity and encourage to look closely. A new, modern format of a Fashion Week is formed in Frankfurt. To create a networked, transparent and sustainable economy of the entire textile value chain.
How is the Government supporting the show?
The city of Frankfurt and the federal state of Hesse as the hosts of Frankfurt Fashion Week are providing 10 million euros for location marketing, youth development and concepts in the next three years. Both the city and the federal state were supporting this project from the beginning.
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