The sustainable fashion fair Neonyt is aimed at consumers for the first time. Until Sunday, many newcomer brands presented themselves in Frankfurt’s Ostend, few familiar faces and curious customers. But is an event aimed at the end customer enough for sustainable fashion labels?
At first glance, it’s almost the same as always – the mood is warm, the atmosphere dynamic and the discussions open. On the upper floor of the Union Halle on a former industrial site there is a pre-peek lounge where influencers take pictures with items of clothing from the collection of sustainable fashion labels, in the basement experts discuss sustainable development goals and greenwashing.
Known and yet different
And yet something is different. The green fashion fair is now officially called Neonyt Lab. Anyone interested can get in as long as they register via the website or quickly at the door. The 30 brands exhibiting here also sell their clothing directly to the visitors of the event. They are also officially part of the “Greenstyle. TheStore”. The brands were selected by Mirjam Smend, the organizer of the green fashion event Greenstyle from Munich. Events with sustainable fashion geared towards end consumers have been their specialty since Geenstyle was founded in 2018.
Neoynt is reacting to additional customer needs by expanding its range of products, said Olaf Schmid, Vice President Textiles and Textile Technologies, at Messe Frankfurt in a conversation on Thursday. The concept, which is aimed directly at end users, is not only new for Neonyt. B2C is also new for the textile events at Messe Frankfurt. Schmidt leaves open whether it is a format that will remain, but a decision could follow at the end of July.
What is clear is that a lot has happened in the meantime. Everything was supposed to be really big, the Premium fashion fair and Neonyt wanted to move to Frankfurt. The Frankfurt Fashion Week was launched, where, in addition to the latest collections for the coming season, the upstream parts of the clothing production should also be shown. Plus fashion shows and other cool events in the Main metropolis.
Sustainable brands complain about gaps
But that never happened, the trade fairs could not take place during the two-year pandemic, and the Premium fashion fair moved back to Berlin. The Neonyt is now testing itself as an event for end consumers and how it will continue is unclear. For some sustainable fashion labels, the cancellation of the event for trade visitors is problematic.
“The Neonyt trade fair is not taking place, which is of course a big problem for us ecofashion brands. Where are we going this season now?” said Hermann Kohnen, managing director of the sustainable label Lana. He himself will show how many sustainable fashion brands will now be at the Premium trade fairs in Berlin in two weeks. The brand from Aachen, founded in 1987, plans to exhibit later in the green area of the Gallery fashion fair in Düsseldorf.
“We are doing a sweeping move and hope that we will find new customers in the first trade fair season, which is now taking place again,” says Kohnen. Because although most orders are written at the Innatex natural textiles fair, the brand got its new customers through Neonyt.
Lana now has a stand in Frankfurt to support Neonyt as a long-term partner and uses the event for marketing. Kohnen wants to address a new audience and young consumers here. Ten pieces from the label’s SS23 collection are hanging at the Prepeek on the upper floor, with which influencers can take pictures.
Lana sells pieces from the SS22 collection at his stand at a slight discount. “We would also recoup some of the expenses we have when we sell stuff.”
Quo vadis Neonyt?
The Cologne label Lanius handles it in a similar way. Sample pieces from the SS22 collection are slightly reduced, the label has already sold a few pieces on Friday afternoon and spoke to two buyers, says Annabelle Homann, Chief Operating Officer of Lanius.
“I think it’s a shame that Neonyt didn’t decide to hold a big B2B event in Berlin because it had developed incredibly well,” says Homann. The brand has exhibited at both Neonyt and Premium in the past, and most recently only at Neonyt because the show “has done so well”.
The last time for trade visitors, the Neonyt took place during the Berlin Fashion Week – on the site of the former Tempelhof Airport, next to the now insolvent clothing fair Panorama. More than 210 sustainable fashion labels from 22 countries presented their collections and attracted conventional fashion retailers such as Breuninger, CJ Schmidt and Amazon.
“That was the combination you need. All hell broke loose,” says Kohnen. For the future he believes: “It has to happen in connection with the other trade fairs, otherwise nobody will come.” He also finds it difficult to imagine that buyers would go to Frankfurt after the trade fairs in Berlin. “You have to connect where the music is playing.”
Lots of newcomers
On Friday afternoon, in addition to end consumers and trade visitors from the scene, there were also isolated buyers in the Union Halle. One of them was Christiane Sami, owner of the Emma 2.0 store in Bad Hölz.
The career changer founded her shop last year and is looking for new brands that are serious about sustainability. “I’m passing through, but I came here because I have faith that it’s a real sustainability event in the industry,” says Sami. She has found two interesting labels but finds the event a bit small overall.
“It’s almost a bit small,” agrees Christine Richter. She is one of the three sisters who founded the label “Make Somebody Happy” last autumn and is at Neonyt for the first time. So far on Friday afternoon she has sold five items of clothing and spoken to two buyers. It is important for the young brand to show itself and make contacts here, says the founder.
For Helena Harfst, owner of the brand of the same name, opening Neonyt to end consumers was the main reason to come. “I’m not looking for any intermediaries, I do everything myself,” she says.
Harfst has been selling her collections, which are made by a seamstress in Hüttenberg, Hesse, online until now. She is still a little struggling with the idea of working with fashion stores: she would have to raise her prices so that the margins are right. Harfst is in the Union Halle in Frankfurt because she has received inquiries from customers who would like to see her folklore-inspired fashion live. It’s good to start a conversation and get feedback, says Harfst.
“I think it’s good to have a pop-up store or a trade fair where consumers also have access. And it’s great where you can also buy right away,” says Sinah Schlemmer, who founded her upcycling label Amaran Creative in 2020. She sells her fashion online, now she is in Frankfurt to meet customers in person. Her pieces are unique and, like an opulent tie dress, can sometimes cost up to 599 euros.