Written by Joseph Benjamin

The Neonyt Fashion Show will take place for the second time in Berlin this January 14th - 16th, in partnership with the United Nations Office for Partnerships and the Conscious Fashion Campaign.

The fair, combined with conferences like Fashionsustain, FashionImpact, the Silent Forum, and the Thinkathon, brought together 150 national and international sustainable brands from 26 countries to disrupt the world of fashion and use this media for what truly matters: to bring the topic of sustainability awareness to the table.

Here are some highlights from the show taking place on January 15-17th 2019 at the Berlin Fashion Week:

This year’s topic was centered around water: designers presented pieces made of ocean waste and algae (Ecoalf) or recycled fishing nets (Piwari) or launched initiatives to bring awareness to ocean-related issues such as #NoPlastics by Lanius. Other creators displayed ecological functional clothing with water-repellent and non-toxic materials to stop contamination and limit trash on our planet. Some labels produced their creations in cooperation with refugees (Kuniri) and artisans in countries like Colombia and Peru (Jungle Folk). Other initiatives were in display, such as the urban outdoor label Erdbär and its 100% recyclable tradeshow stand.

January 2020, the upcoming edition of Neonyt will be taking a closer look at the fashion industry’s carbon footprint, as well as presenting best-practice labels and encouraging industry-relevant discussions on the increasingly digitalized future – always from the analytical perspective of inspiring pioneers and pragmatic experts in sustainability. With views of the former runway of the decommissioned Berlin Tempelhof Airport and the expanses of the sky above it, the overarching theme of the global hub for fashion, sustainability, and innovation, will certainly be palpable.

“In these times of Fridays for Future and society’s growing awareness of sustainability, many industry players are recognizing the necessity of sustainability in fashion. From the very beginning, Neonyt has been dedicated to the major topics affecting the fashion industry – such as the use of resources, working conditions, and pioneering technologies. This season with ´air´ we are again setting the theme for the Berlin Fashion Week, and will ask what the future of fashion will look like,” says Thimo Schwenzfeier, Neonyt’s Show Director.

Something’s In The Air

Air serves as our protective coating – a thick layer of nitrogen and oxygen that wraps itself protectively around the earth and warms us. But the air we breathe is polluted by smog and fine dust particles. And a major contributor to that is the textile industry, which is responsible for 10% of global CO2 emissions. This means it’s high time that we paid even more attention to the topic.

It’s Getting Hot In Here...

...keep them on! The fashion industry is known for creating a lot of hot air, but the fact is that the earth continues to get warmer and warmer. Performance apparel has to withstand increasingly extreme weather conditions and the fashion industry is no longer working in four but in 52 seasons. From the production to the usage down to the disposal, carbon dioxide is released into the air and condenses the atmosphere. And there seems to be no end in sight: since 1960, the global emissions of carbon dioxide have been continuously rising.

Hard-Wear & Clouds

With the introduction of digital sampling, virtual fashion and the cloud, huge hums of data are meanwhile whirring through the air. New technologies such as visualization software, 3D body scanning, and digital twins are taking the industry to a new level. But in addition to its huge potential for increasing efficiency, digitalization also poses a whole host of new challenges. Every click on the internet consumes energy and the statistics concerning the number of returned orders in online retail is enough to take anyone’s breath away: a whopping 800,000 parcels are returned daily, causing 400 tonnes of CO2 emissions. That is equivalent to around 250 car journeys from Berlin to Beijing.

Inhale, Exhale

We breathe in and out around 20,000 times a day, sometimes more and sometimes less consciously, depending on how much mindfulness and digital detoxing our daily life permits. For the workers of the fashion industry, however, regular breathing doesn’t always come without risk. Cultivation, production and textile finishing are the stages of textile production that are particularly harmful to people and the planet.[5] Toxins are often used to dye and process fabrics, which the workers inevitably inhale and absorb through their respiratory tract.

In 2020, Neonyt is calling for action – before we start running out of air altogether. The change in fashion is now…

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