From interdisciplinary thinking, via sustainable material innovations, to collaborative corporate structures – a new generation of founders is revolutionising the fashion industry. Fashionsustain Paris offers insights into future-oriented concepts

Messe Frankfurt is internationalising its innovative Fashionsustain format, the Neonyt conference for sustainability and innovation, and is presenting the event for the first time with a spin-off focusing on sustainable shoe and leather innovations at Texworld Paris on 17 September 2018.

‘Collaboration is key for innovation’

During Texworld Paris, three experts from the sector will give lectures under the heading ‘Collaboration is key for innovation’ and discuss their creative corporate models and state-of-the-art technologies. With circulatory concepts, innovative recycling processes and sustainable marketing, the founders will scrutinise the status quo of the industry and generate new impulses for the fashion and textile sector. The conference is embedded in the comprehensive programme of events of the fair, which comprises talks, round tables and showcases.

The program

Fashionsustain will begin with a lecture by François-Ghislain Morillion, founder of the sustainable Veja shoe label and the Paris-based Fair Fashion Stores Centre Commercial. Under the slogan ‘Let the product and your company do the talk’, Morillion will show how sustainable marketing strategies can unfurl their entire power. He will be followed by Patrick Mainguené, founder of the environmentally-friendly Ector shoe label and Insoft, a company that helps other companies with the development of new products. Under the title ‘Closing the loop’, Mainguené will demonstrate how sustainability can be implemented through new technologies in the value chain. Olivier Grammont of Recyc Leather is an expert in alternatives for leather. His company specialises in reprocessing leather leftovers and waste. With his lecture on ‘The new alternative real leather’, he will reveal how recyclable materials can create value added for the industry. After their lectures, the three speakers will take part in a panel discussion entitled ‘What's the future for footwear — The roles of leather and recycling’ on changes taking place in the sector. The panel will be chaired by Thimo Schwenzfeier, Show Director Neonyt of Messe Frankfurt.

The lectures will be held in the Agora Apparel area from 14.00 to 17.00 hrs on 17 September.

Under the motto ‘The Fairyland for Fashion’, Messe Frankfurt France will hold Texworld Paris at the Le Bourget Exhibition Centre in Paris concurrently with the Apparel Sourcing, Avantex, Leatherworld, Shawls&Scarves and Texworld Denim Paris fairs with more than 1,850 exhibitors and 15,000 visitors from 110 countries.