The Grüner Knopf (Green Button) government-run certification label by the federal ministry of economic cooperation and development, German fair fashion pioneer Hessnatur and the Oeko-Tex association, partner for certification systems, are the presenting partners of digital community format, ‘Neonyt on Air’.
The event will be held from January 18-22, 2021.
Various representatives from the organisations and several other speakers from the sustainability fashion scene will be discussing a transparent textile value chain and everything it entails: from accountability, transparency and green financing to sustainable sourcing and blockchain solutions.
The textile and fashion industry are regularly coming up with new, smart approaches and solutions related to sustainability, throughout the past year, the COVID-19 crisis has raised people’s awareness of this, but also revealed the gaps that still need to be closed: from transparent supply chains to business practices based on solidarity through to green investment and financing strategies. These are all topics that the Neonyt community is constantly developing or rethinking completely, according to a press release by Messe Frankfurt.
In a panel talk presented by Oeko-Tex, Annika Sauerhöfer (product manager for Made in Green by Oeko-Tex), Mirjam Smend (Greenstyle), and Andreas Bothe (head of CSR and sustainable management at Bay City) will be talking about transparency in textile supply chains and building a bridge to the sustainable development goals of the United Nations.
Transparency and accountability are also important topics in politics, like in the case of the Grüner Knopf. On the second day of Neonyt on Air, Anosha Wahidi, head of division at the BMZ, will be talking to Max Gilgenmann, content director at Neonyt, about the future and further development of the textile standard, as well as explaining why the ministry decided to develop and launch its own seal of approval for corporate social responsibility in 2019.
The Neonyt community can also look forward to a keynote by the Kering group, a live interview with Timberland, and a panel talk by the Maleki corporate group on the topic of ‘Sustainable fashion – the long financial thread of sustainability’, with Sabine Schlorke, global head manufacturing at the IFC World Bank group; Christian Heller CEO of Value Balancing Alliance; and Hans-Jürgen Walter, global leader sustainable finance at Deloitte. Plus: insights on the topic clusters of certification, sourcing and digitalisation with speakers from Fairtrade and the Federal Environment Agency, as well as from Foursource, the biggest B2B sourcing platform and international IT company, IBM.
“New concepts and progressive advancements need space for discussion and exchange, the right audience and a fresh, outside perspective. This is something we always wish to provide, albeit digitally again in January. During our planning for Neonyt on Air, we realised once more how important knowledge sharing is for the future of the sustainable fashion scene and that we are responsible for working together to make it happen,” Thimo Schwenzfeier, show director of Neonyt said.
 government-run certification label by the federal ministry of economic cooperation and development, German fair fashion){kind=link}