Berlin’s fashion hub is taking shape. More than two years ago it became known that the German capital wants to promote innovative and sustainable fashion with a new contact point. What should the institution with the official name Vorn – The Berlin Fashion Hub look like?
The Fashion Hub has been online for a few weeks. Whoever calls up the website first sees many questions that alternately come to the fore like a screen saver:
“What are regenerative mode systems?”
“What is a paradigm shift?”
“What is the key to sustainability in the fashion and textile industry?”
The Fashion Hub undoubtedly asks the future questions of the fashion industry, for which there is still no formula for answering. But even if you want to solve big questions, you start with small steps.
A house full of exciting fashion companies
The digital member area, one of the four pillars of the Fashion Hub, has recently been online, says CEO Magdalena Schaffrin in an interview with FashionUnited. There will soon be three more pillars: an innovation lab, a scaling program and a co-working space with an exhibition room. The address of the fashion hub should also be set soon.
“We have big plans for the medium term. I dream of a big house full of interesting companies working in fashion. They then meet at our events or during the lunch break,” says Schaffrin, who has been promoting green fashion in Germany for years. She is co-founder of the consultancy Studio MM04 and the Greenshowroom, which later became the fashion fair Neonyt.
In the long term, Berlin’s fashion hub should stand on its own two feet. The funds from the State of Berlin – 1.5 million euros by 2025 – serve as start-up financing. In the future, the hub wants to finance itself and operate profitably.
The founders, who won the tender from the Berlin Senate for the project, bring many contacts with them through their previous ventures.
Schaffrin’s expertise in fashion lies in sustainability and fair trade. Your fellow board members are very familiar with the supply chain: Marte Hentschel is managing director of the sourcing platform Sqetch, Max Gilgenmann founded the MM04 studio with Schaffrin and is also in frequent contact with manufacturers of technical textiles and textile machines.
members wanted
In the community area, members can exchange information online, share resources and establish networks. Everyone can become a member, both companies from Berlin and from other parts of the world. A company from Sri Lanka, for example, will soon be added.
“We promote the Berlin scene with the hub and want to address them with physical events,” says Schaffrin. “The internationality is also in the interests of the city of Berlin, because Berlin also has an interest in attracting international companies here and developing the location further.”
Non-members do not have access to the community area, but can participate in Vorn Fashion Hub programs. The hub’s focus is on discovering talent and helping to build companies on a sound basis. Membership fees start at 120 euros per year for start-ups with up to ten employees.
“This is the low-threshold approach for everyone who wants to work with us but is not yet that big economically,” says Schaffrin. “Our community is primarily aimed at young companies, the creative scene, start-ups, scale-ups – that’s where life is, where we see the interesting ideas and innovations.”
But larger companies are also welcome. As a member, you pay up to 2,500 euros per year and in return get access to an “interesting community”, creative people who work on sustainability or innovations like the Metaverse, according to Schaffrin. “This is where the future of fashion is happening. There you will find those who think and work in such a way that they will shape the future of fashion.”
Innovation Lab
In terms of business volume, the Innovation Lab is set to become the largest area of the Berlin fashion hub. Research partnerships with other organizations are to be established with the help of funding. There will also be a living lab, a room in which, for example, a microfactory, a 3D printer or an in-house recycling plant could be located for a limited time.
There will be a program for the machines that will make the technology available to start-ups or creative people. “In these programs, we work specifically with industrial partners,” says Schaffrin.
For example, a collaboration with one of the hidden champions in the field of technical textiles or textile machine construction, in which Germany is the world market leader, would be conceivable. These manufacturers often have no connection to fashion, says Schaffrin. Cooperation could result in new products or markets.
The Innovation Lab also includes the Vorn Academy program, which is already running: Ten young talents spend eight weeks in Berlin learning how fashion is developed digitally and designed in a circular fashion. There is also a grant of 3,000 euros per month. The partners include the Berlin online retailer Zalando, the Israeli textile printing machine manufacturer Kornit and Unity, a game developer from San Francisco.
The result, a “phygital circular fashion capsule collection” is to be presented at the upcoming Berlin Fashion Week in January.
Co-working space and scaling program
As soon as the Berlin Fashion Hub moves into its premises, there will be a co-working space where members can book a workplace. A showroom will serve as a shop window to present sustainable fashion themes in exhibitions and make them accessible to the public. It can also be used temporarily as a room for events.
This gives green fashion a permanent public place in Berlin. A similar concept already exists at the Fashion for Good organization in Amsterdam, where start-ups are supported with a and innovations are regularly presented in the museum. Another incubator for green fashion is La Caserne in Paris.
However, the Berlin fashion hub plans not to be a classic accelerator. With the scaling program starting next year, the hub wants to bring larger companies and smaller labels together in collaborations and advise them in this process. For designers, for example, there can be legal advice or communication advice on the topic of sustainability for larger companies, so that the cooperation is on an equal footing.
The Fashion Hub as a cooperative
The hub is organized as a corporate cooperative that invests in and distributes profits, much like a fixed income investment. According to Schaffrin, the investment should be seen more as a contribution to the future viability of an industry, not as a risky investment with high profit prospects. After careful consideration, she and her co-founders made a conscious decision in favor of this legal form.
“The cooperative ensures that our values, which we have written down in our Code of Honour, continue to exist. It was really important for us to choose an organizational form that doesn’t play into the hands of classic predatory capitalism,” she says.
In the debate about a more sustainable fashion industry, the focus has often been on materials or fair working conditions. But the root of the problems often lies in the framework conditions. Corporate forms such as public companies tend to prioritize profits and growth over factors such as the environment. For this reason, the founder of the outdoor brand Patagonia recently decided to hand over the company to foundations.
Moderate growth
“If you think about how to solve the problems in the fashion industry, broaden your perspective and look at the system, then you also get into the growth discussion,” explains Schaffrin. “How much growth can we take? But this idea of growth is written down in the forms of society. Our cooperative stands for measured and impact-driven growth.”
Investors receive profits, but cannot sell shares for a profit. They do not have a vote on the business decisions of the Fashion Hub, but have full insight into the work of the Hub and can give advice.
Talks with interested parties are still ongoing, says Schaffrin. “Bigger investors give us the capital to be able to apply for other funding programs or loans,” she explains. “They leverage us financially to be able to handle larger projects.”
It takes everyone in the fashion industry to tackle the big questions on the way to a more sustainable future.