Working together for more sustainability
Berlin, 24. April 2025 – Sustainability is no longer a seasonal trend in the world of fashion – instead, many stakeholders are committed to a sustainable future for the industry and are therefore also taking on social responsibility. Initiatives and efforts are particularly promising when they are promoted and implemented jointly and in cooperation with colleagues. Working together for more sustainability in the fashion industry – that is therefore also the goal of the network members of VORN – The Berlin Fashion Hub. The cooperative is no longer only present in the digital space, but has created a physical meeting place for its community in Bikini Berlin.
VORN - The Berlin Fashion Hub was founded by Prof. Marte Hentschel, founder of the sourcing platform Sqetch and lecturer at the BSP Business & Law School Berlin, together with Max Gilgenmann and Magdalena Schaffrin, founders of Studio MM04, which initiated the Green Showroom, Neonyt, 202030 - The Berlin Fashion Summit at Berlin Fashion Week, as well as Andreas Krüger and Andreas Foidl from Belius. VORN - The Berlin Fashion Hub is currently managed by Marte Hentschel and Oliver Lange, former head of the H&Mbeyond innovation center, as co-CEOs.
VORN – The Berlin Fashion Hub is a registered cooperative. The approximately 200 members, including Zalando, Stoll, Clo3D, Fashion Council Germany, ito ito, Otto Bock and a large number of leading Berlin labels and startups, are working to identify interfaces in the areas of fashion, sustainability and digitalisation and to utilise the resulting potential.
The hub will be funded as a network project by the Berlin Senate Department for Economic Affairs, Energy and Public Enterprises until the end of 2025. As Berlin’s business development agency, Berlin Partner is also involved in providing support and has supported the implementation of two specific projects. While the application for GRW funding (to improve the regional economic structure) for the 3D knitting machines of the SHIFT – The Microfactory newly opened by the Fashion Hub by means of Investitionsbank Berlin (IBB) has already been completed, the application for Pro FIT project financing, also a funding offer from IBB, is currently still pending as part of the Masterplan Industriestadt Berlin 2022-2026 (MPI) with a focus on the circular economy.
The aim of the Fashion Hub is to promote cooperation and dialogue between companies, innovators and other stakeholders in the fashion industry in order to make it more sustainable through circular business, greater social responsibility and the reduction of CO2 emissions. The specific implementation takes place within the four programmes Community Services, Innovation Lab, Scaling Program and Co-Working Space.
Keyword Bikini Berlin: Here, members can network through events. For example, in May 2025, when the first workshop will be held in the SHIFT – The Microfactory. The topic: Knitwear Inside Out – and how it becomes not only a well-combinable but also a sustainable fashion piece.
