Digital Fashion Days 2021

After last year’s DIGITAL FASHION DAYS met with an overwhelmingly positive response, this time 130 guests accepted the invitation to meet at the 5 star conference hotel Öschberghof in Donaueschingen. Together with its partners, SPH had prepared a varied programme. The Networking Day in beautiful weather offered the ideal opportunity for exchange and networking with the other guests who had a choice between the 3rd SPH Golf Challenge, a Golf Introductory Course or Business Yoga. German Champion Tessa Oldenbourg kindly managed the SPH Golf Challenge.

OUR PARTNERS
The DIGITAL FASHION DAYS 2021 were made possible thanks to the support of our strong partners to whom we would like to express our sincere thanks once again at this point: Microsoft, k3 business technologies, Fashion Cloud, Perfion, NoseDat, Jack Russell Consulting, Assyst, Sharp, DiCentral, actiware Consulting, Sievers Group. In the DIGITAL FASHION LAB, which took place in the afternoon of the Networking Day, all partners introduced themselves and presented individual solutions and showcases of digitalisation for the fashion industry. Throughout the event, partners were available for one-on-one meetings at their exhibition counters.

The Congress Day was dedicated to the event motto “WITH DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION TO NEW BUSINESS MODELS IN THE FASHION INDUSTRY” from different perspectives. Detlef Beiter, CEO of SPH AG, opened the Congress Day and welcomed the guests. For the moderation, we were again able to win the fashion expert Prof. Dr. Jochen Strähle, Dean of the Faculty of Textile & Design at Reutlingen University. With his professional expertise and his relaxed manner, he knew how to link  the contents of the presentations and to encourage constructive discussions. 

FUTURE OF THE FASHION INDUSTRY
What comes after digitalisation? The answer was given by Peter Wienand (Roland Berger GmbH) in his exciting presentation – he identified content management, social media marketing, data analytics and the digital value chain as important factors in the digital revolution. Eduard Vinokurov (SPH AG) showed alternative retail processes at the POS and demonstrated how experience from the book market can be applied to the fashion industry. Stefan Beyler (GERRY WEBER Retail GmbH) shared the lessons learned from a cyber-attack that the company had survived and strategies for successfully protecting against attacks from the darknet. Changing customer behaviour and the resulting opportunities for new business models from a sustainability perspective were presented by Kerli Kant Hvass (REVALUATE) in her English speech.

NEW BUSINESS MODELS IN THE FASHION INDUSTRY
Richard Maier (NILE Clothing AG) gave a vivid account of NILE’s strategic positioning in fashion retail. One of the most important points for the company is its commitment to fair working conditions throughout the entire supply chain. René Schnellen (Fashion Cloud GmbH) presented the chances of digital order processes as enabler for brands and retailers. Based on their sharing platform, Melina Heinze und Janina Hoffmann (NRNY wardrobe GmbH) explained how the lifespan of hardly worn clothes could be extended and thus resources be saved.

DIGITAL FASHION SOLUTIONS
The advantages of digital ecosystems for companies and people who are connected by the joint use of platforms was demonstrated by Thorsten Scholl and Alexander Britz (Microsoft) with examples from experience. Marco Vergani (K3 business technologies) explained in his English speech the strategic positioning of K3 – also in this context, the topics sustainability and changing consumer behaviour play a major role. Boris Fischmann (NoseDat) and Wolfgang Schenke (SPH AG) pointed out how demand assessment and product management in the fashion industry will develop over the next years and presented intelligent optimisation solutions using a live demo.

IMPULSE SPEECH
Benedikt Böhm (Extreme Mountaineer and Managing Director of Dynafit) shared his experience from a sporting and business point of view. With impressive videos of his first mountaineering expeditions, he demonstrated that turning back does not have to mean failure, but can be a wise decision. Benedikt Böhm’s lively impulse speech was the concluding highlight of the Congress Day of the DIGITAL FASHION DAYS 2021.

GRAPHIC RECORDING
The artist Sandra Schulze once again captured the presentations on a large-format canvas in a highly imaginative way, which was very well received by the guests and speakers and led to lively discussions during the breaks.

Detlef Beiter thanked all partners, speakers and guests for the successful event and presented in a short video the keynote speaker of the DIGITAL FASHION DAYS 2022 who has already been booked. You will be surprised! His summary: “This mix of networking, relaxation, first-class presentations and discussions is what made the event so charming – a feeling of solidarity among the industry experts that was palpable from the very beginning and forms the basis for promoting exchange and working together for the positive development of the fashion industry.”