The German financial capital hosted five days of fashion events within its first edition of Frankfurt Fashion Week, despite in a slimmed-down version. The happening, held from January 17 to 21, 2022, involved various industry leaders and fashion designers, and drew fashion insiders willing to discover a new platform dedicated to sustainable fashion, along with fresh inspiration and the possibility to exchange visions and opinions within various locations of the city and digitally in the FFW Studio.

"Highlights included the Neonyt installation, the Frankfurt Stage Fashion Show of the Fashion Council Germany, exciting talk sessions of the Neonyt conference format Fashionsustain, diverse official side events and the event series of AAAREA, the festival for Frankfurt Fashion Week," explained Frankfurt's Lord Mayor Peter Feldmann. “Now that Frankfurt Fashion Week has come to an end, and we look back on inspiring fashion shows, district events and exciting exhibitions, we can say we were able to experience the great potential of our city and its creative and design scene,” he added. “Despite massive pandemic-related restrictions, we were able to provide the industry with initial inspiration and impulses at many events. After the long break, the exchange and get-togethers were much needed, even though we were unfortunately only able to realize a fraction of what our concept envisages,” commented Olaf Schmidt, vice president Textiles & Textile Technologies at Messe Frankfurt. “We are starting the new season with full energy and are looking forward together to the July edition with the premieres of the major international trade shows in Frankfurt,” he added.
A clear focus on sustainability
The Fashion Week gave a significant emphasis to stylishly curated fashion events with a clear focus on sustainability: at the Neonyt installation, independent and newcomer labels met established brands and designer pieces, which were artistically staged in multibrand looks. Participants of the project there were: A.N.G.E.L.O Vintage, Balenciaga at Nightboutique Archive, Ecoalf, Fade Out Label, Falke, Fassbender, Folkdays, Freitag, Gianfranco Ferrè at A.N.G.E.L.O Vintage, G-Star Raw, Jack Wolfskin x GmbH, Miu Miu at Nightboutique, Mykita, Natascha von Hirschhausen, Neubau, Nobis, People Berlin, Pugnat, Salvatore Ferragamo Vintage, Sepideh Ahadi, Spatz Hutdesign, Studio Fantastique, Timberland, Trakatan, Trippen, Vaude and WeDress Collective.


Susumu Ai’s catwalk debut
The Japanese/German brand Susumu Ai, supported by the Fashion Council Germany, underlined that sustainable fashion is increasingly playing an important role in contemporary fashion. The collection was presented within the "Continuous Love,” catwalk show held in cooperation with accessory brands including Anna Auras, Frau Frieda, ITEM m6, Maison Baum and Leinz Eyewear that also participated in the event. The brand, founded and managed by siblings Alisa and Keiho Menkhaus, offers a range of clothes and accessories for men, women and kids. Besides its main modern yet timeless collections, it also provides seasonless basic products for a contemporary essential daily wardrobe.

“We only make your clothes by order in Berlin and use carefully selected sustainable high-quality fabrics sourced entirely from Japan,” commented the founders. “Our collection stands for attention to detail and appreciation of quality. But it also stands for the love of ourselves as people with individual personalities. And that's what we want to express through it: high-quality and durable garments for everyone–regardless of gender, age or measurements," added Alisa Menkhaus.
Discussing the industry transformation
The Fashionsustain Conference, run as a hybrid event, focused on a hot  topic–the major transformation process in the textile and fashion industry. Expert speakers shared insights with an international audience and leading representatives of the industry, analyzing the gap between attitude and behavior and consumer habits, entrepreneurial duty of care and sustainability at the point of sale.
Premiere of AAAREA
AAAREA, the festival running alongside Frankfurt Fashion Week, brought fashion to life for fashion fans in the city area with a series of additional events. “The festival was the first of its kind that we created, parallel to Frankfurt Fashion Week. With this premiere, we got off to a very good start in the event series," noted Claus Fischer, one of three managing directors of the initiative. In July 2022, AAAREA aims to play again an important part of Frankfurt Fashion Week and include more event formats in presence.
Waiting for the July 2022 edition
The January event greeted all its participants and invited everyone to join next Frankfurt Fashion Week edition, planned to take place July 4-8, 2022. By then, Frankfurt am Main aims to be the stage for the international fashion industry and host two brand-new formats: Val:ue, organized by Messe Frankfurt, and The Ground, organized by the Premium Group. In July 2022, Frankfurt Fashion Week aims to further focus on sustainability. In addition to Neonyt, various additional event formats are being planned, including a continuation of the successful conference "The New European Bauhaus–Workshop of the Future", organized by the Fashion Council Germany in cooperation with Frankfurt Fashion Week.

Additional formats will also be realized in cooperation with the Conscious Fashion & Lifestyle Network and the United Nations Office for Partnerships. 

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