Can Berlin Fashion Week expand its international presence?

Sign up to receive the Vogue Business newsletter for the latest luxury news and insights, plus exclusive membership discounts. This article is part of our Beyond the Big Four series, which explores emerging fashion weeks around the world looking for the lessons the industry can take from its smaller players. Many returning guests at Berlin Fashion Week noticed a leap forward compared to last season — better brand curation, more sophisticated collections, new formats and an international crowd. Buyers from the likes of British retailers Browns, End and Machine-A, Portugal’s Wrong Weather, and Parisian concept store Elevastor were in attendance, as well as industry heavyweights such as Vogue’s Mark Holgate and renowned talent scout Sara Sozzani. The challenge now is to channel the attention into sales and help emerging labels become bonafide, financially viable businesses. Berlin Fashion Week has seen a revival in recent years after headline sponsor Mercedes-Benz officially stepped back. Fashion Council Germany, which hadn’t been involved previously, took over in 2022 and has been on a mission to boost Berlin Fashion Week’s relevance in the industry, fuelled by over €4 million in investment from Berlin’s Senate Department for Economics, Energy and Public Enterprises. According to the department, Berlin’s fashion industry is currently made up of over 5,000 companies and employs almost 26,000 people, contributing to a turnover of around €5 billion. “For a long time, Berlin Fashion Week was about parties, big sponsors and goodie bags, and we’re over that now,” says Michael Biel, state secretary for the Department of Economics, Energy and Public Enterprises. Biel sees strong potential for the city’s young talent. “It’s a rather big economy here in Berlin and it’s growing. All of the designers that show in Berlin have a heart for the city, and that’s why we cooperate with them.” Each economic department in Berlin has a dedicated internationalisation strategy, and Berlin Fashion Week is a core part of Biel’s strategy. Programmes such as Berlin Contemporary (which awards 18 designers with €25,000 each), Studio2Retail (offering €5,000 grants to connect designers with consumers), Newest (which offers funding for a show location), and Neo.Fashion (geared towards graduates) are at the heart of the city’s support for emerging labels. “It’s completely changed with the people that are coming and the interest from the outside, and it comes from the support from the senate, they really have this desire for this to work,” says Sia Arnika, a Berlin Contemporary designer, backstage after her show. Some of the international buyers were drawn by the dual appeal of attending fashion week alongside Berlin trade show Seek, which ran on 2 to 3 July — the two events have previously been held at different times. Brands on the fashion week schedule were excited to see more buyers. “As a small brand, this is your chance to grow your business,” says Rosa Marga Dahl, founder of SF1OG, backstage after her show (which was inspired by Berliners strolling through markets — whether they’re dressed to shop, or en route home from the club). SF1OG usually holds a showroom in Paris — last time the brand tapped three new stockists — but they’re keenly awaiting buyer response here in Berlin. “I’m here because I think that it is important to pay attention not only to what the fashion capitals are doing,” says Stavros Karelis, founder and buying director of London-based independent concept store Machine-A, before the Kitschy Couture show on Wednesday. “There are so many young designers that I wasn’t aware of, and we at Machine-A are always looking for the next talents.” Some of his favourites on schedule included Haderlump and Richert Beil, and he was also particularly impressed by BA student Netanel Kantor’s pieces, which he saw in the Berliner Salon exhibition. Berlin-based label Haderlump’s show was a favourite for many, set in the city’s historic Tempelhof Airport. “We really try to focus on what drives Berlin to make good techno music, have very cool places, Berlin’s way of dressing the harder looks. Berlin is unique and we try to push this — and apparently it works,” says Julius Weißenborn, co-founder and CEO of Haderlump, after the show. Fashion Council Germany CEO Scott Lipinski refers to this as a positive cycle. “If you have the right [people here], that will become news within the community, brands will become aware of it, then certain brands will say, ‘Why shouldn’t I present my collection in Berlin because I’ve heard certain brands have come on board like GmbH, or certain buyers show more interest,” he says, adding that “brands that never wanted to show in Berlin want to have a conversation now.” Many attendees namechecked Ottolinger as a Berlin-based brand they’d love to see show in their hometown. Brands are looking for more support on the practical side of navigating wholesale orders. Namilia, whose SS25 collection was inspired by the glitz, glamour and dark side of paparazzi and celebrity culture in Y2K, has historically prioritised direct-to-consumer (DTC), but co-founder Nan Li says stockists have more than doubled since February, up to about 20, thanks to increased attention in Berlin. “So many stores have just DM’d us — we don’t even take part in any showrooms, everything’s digital, so it was really surprising to me,” Li says. Li would like the fashion council to expand its Berlin Contemporary showroom to better accommodate wholesale requests — with sales representatives and linesheets, for instance. “At the [opening] dinner, people were asking us if we had a showroom and that they’d have loved to check out the pieces in person.” “Our showroom is a nice place to present and network and be part of fashion week, but at the end of the day, brands want to do business — that’s something I’m starting to hear this season,” says Lipinski. Fashion Council Germany also offers business mentorship to support brands. “Quite often, brands don’t even know how to create a linesheet or order sheet or a delivery note,” Lipinski says. Albert Ayal, talent scout and founder of @UpNextDesigner, says some of the newest brands on-schedule that he has his eyes on include Kitschy Couture (who showed in Stadtbad Neukölln, a public swimming pool with ornate architecture) and Clara Colette Miramon (who enjoys playing with symbols of femininity and girlhood). “To be on the map, [Berlin Fashion Week] needs to get designers who haven’t shown on the runway yet to do their first show in Berlin and keep that hype up, because the Berlin community is always so excited to see their work for the first time,” Ayal suggests. Sozzani, creative director of Fondazione Sozzani — who scouts young talent for Vogue Italia and serves as international brand ambassador for Camera Nazionale della Moda Italiana — says she’s seen a huge improvement since she last attended eight years ago, but suggests some steps Berlin Fashion Week could take to increase its international reach. “They could invite designers from other countries or other fashion weeks to show here and create more engagement,” she says. “What they’re already doing is great — there are so many of us [international guests] here — and the German scene is already multicultural, but [the event could benefit from] trying to create events that involve people from outside [Germany].” Learnings from Copenhagen Many attendees drew parallels between Berlin and Copenhagen Fashion Week. For one, a mixed format of trade shows such as Seek, an exhibition by Black in Fashion, and the Berliner Salon were each present. There were talk series like Berlin Fashion Summit 202030 and a new sustainability and innovation-focused series of talks titled Metamorphosis (Vogue Business was the official media partner). Berlin Fashion Week has also announced it will roll out a set of mandatory sustainability criteria based on Copenhagen’s blueprint last month, which will come into effect in February 2026. Every brand Vogue Business spoke to was encouraged by the requirements, whether they were brands rooted in sustainability, or not. “There was a fear from many people in Berlin that we’re copying Copenhagen and we’re weak because we’re using their system. I say no, we’re smart, because why should we invent something completely new?” says Lipinski. He’s got his eyes on whether other fashion weeks might adopt similar criteria next — particularly London, where, like in Berlin, there is a strong line-up of smaller, independent brands. State secretary Biel says cooperation with other fashion weeks around the globe is a key part of his strategy to expand the city’s international reach. “There are not a lot of cities that show political support [for fashion week]. [CEO] Cecilie [Thorsmark] from Copenhagen Fashion Week has even asked me to come to Copenhagen to talk to my political colleagues and show them there’s a different way to do it,” he adds. Berlin’s Intervention Some of the most highly anticipated shows of the season were part of Intervention, a brand showcase now in its second edition, hosted by local communications agency Reference Studios (which has offices in Milan and London too, and whose clients include Gucci, Acne Studios and Gentle Monster). Reference Studios founder and CEO Mumi Haiati thinks of Intervention as “Berlin International”. This year, Intervention featured GmbH, which showed in its hometown for the first time, knitwear legend Claudia Skoda who designed for David Bowie in the ’70s, Shayne Oliver’s Anonymous Club and Yeezy Gap graduate Marie Lueder (the latter two showed last season, too). All Intervention shows were hosted in different areas of the iconic events venue Tempodrom (previously a circus tent), in artsy neighbourhood Kreuzberg. Brands from Reference Studios’s inner circle are invited to the programme; Haiati says he looks for a strong design language, an understanding of the zeitgeist as well as ties to Berlin’s culture and promising international potential. Haiati also has a dialogue with international buyers and press about designers who hold the most potential. “These [designers] are really key to the city,” says Haiati. “If you know the scene, the communities, the creative tribes of Berlin, they are the trailblazers and the ones leading these conversations, so I’m incredibly proud to have all of them together and also from across different generations.” The goal is to nourish these designers and create a platform with a “stronger positioning and international relevance”, he says. Lueder’s show, which drew attention from buyers, press and notable industry figures, opened with a performance by a vape artist who blew smoke in circular patterns, followed by a collection inspired by traditional alchemical processes (the designer takes inspiration from medieval armour throughout her designs and silhouettes in each collection). She’s planning to stick with Berlin: “I think sales are in Paris but everything else [such as the show] can be anywhere else,” she says backstage. Alongside Intervention, Reference Studios hosted Oliver’s multi-brand exhibition Mall of the Anonymous and a new showcase of German talent, Reference Forum, again drawing international attention. “We need these kinds of people and agencies with international contacts to bring people from abroad to Berlin and bring Berlin labels to the world, and Reference Studios is doing a fantastic job,” says Biel. “It’s first about creating desire,” says Haiati “Then step by step we also have to create relevance for actual business.” Comments, questions or feedback? Email us at feedback@voguebusiness.com. More on this topic: Openness, diversity and a ‘certain roughness’: Inside Berlin Fashion Week’s revival GmbH on what’s next after their Berlin show Berlin Fashion Week launches sustainability requirements

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