Digital Fashion Days 2022

What is the conclusion of the DIGITAL FASHION DAYS 2022? The aim of this year’s event was once again to bring people together, to exchange ideas, to combine information with networking, to learn new things and to look to the future together. Aim achieved? Definitely.

The Networking Day was a reunion of partners and customers who have become friends, as well as a meeting of new guests who are welcome to join us again at the next event. Whether it was the Golf Challenge, the Golf Introductory Course or the Bike Tour – the focus was on fun and networking.

In the afternoon, the guests gathered for the presentations in the Digital Fashion Lab, where our partners presented their showcases and solutions and exchanged ideas in personal conversations. Dinner at the Hexenweiher Restaurant was, as expected, first class, and the musical entertainment by David B. Whitley was another highlight of the Networking Day.

There was a lot of input on the Congress Day. After the  welcoming speech by Detlef Beiter from SPH AG and moderated by Jochen Strähle, the keynote speeches began on the topic of SUPPLY CHAIN DIGITALISATION. Andreas R. Streubig from HUGO BOSS started off with his sustainability keynote: “No planet – no fashion” was one of his main statements. “Be like a BOSS” has a lot to do with sustainability and circular economy. Afterwards, Leslie Holden from The Digital Fashion Group presented an alternative with Web3 and explained in his exciting presentation how we can experience fashion in the future: Everyone will be able to be a fashion designer in the metaverse. StreetStyle becomes ScreenStyle. Martin Schierer from MYTOYS GROUP made the guests aware of the challenges of supply chains and how fragile they are today. His presentation was about fact-checking: how are platform companies proactively dealing with supply bottlenecks, lack of storage capacity, delivery failures, margin pressure, generally increased uncertainty and a changing consumer climate? He showed us and also gave us an idea of why we are going through all this: “MYTOYS make families happy”.

In the next block under the motto SUPPLY CHAIN CASES, Matthias Mey from Mey GmbH & Co. KG gave an impressive demonstration of how contemporary branding and digital product development work hand in hand in today’s business development. In his presentation “Digital product design – blessing or curse”, he showed how time and costs can be saved and where the limits lie. Angelika Schindler-Obenhaus from GERRY WEBER International AG then took to the stage. In a very personal speech, she also presented the rebranding of Gerry Weber and the new brand manifesto in a new look. „#WeAreGerry“ clearly leads to a new community for the brand. Before lunch, two more speakers came on stage: Eduard Vinokurov from SPH AG introduced the congress participants of the DIGITAL FASHION DAYS to the metaverse and showed in a transparent way where today’s market players in the fashion industry already are and where there is real potential for the future. Today there are multiple non-interactive worlds and no unified metaverse. Presence, active social interaction and gamification are the main drivers of this future. Now is the time to get familiar with the topic. Dietmar (Didi) Axt from DAXcon made a strong case for the fact that these new challenges can probably only be solved together in strategic partnerships in the future. His statement: “In every crisis there is not only an opportunity, but also a possibility”.

After lunch in the Öschberghof, it was time for the DIGITAL FASHION SOLUTIONS. Michael Vogler from SPH AG showed us how we can digitally apply the IN:FASHION solution in terms of proactivity, flexibility and connectivity to make the entire supply chain for the fashion industry more secure for quick decisions using AI and simulation as the tool for future strategic decisions. Resilience was really a big issue: Marco Vergani and his colleague Josselin Vogel from K3 also pointed out the importance of traceability and, once again, sustainability for our industry. René Schnellen from Fashion Cloud documented how simple and promising a collaborative approach to in-season management can really be – transparency, overview and up to 30% increase in turnover are the clear benefits. Finally, Hans Peter Hiemer from Assyst gave an impressive presentation on today’s digital product development: From the first idea to the printing of the production button on the top and the parallel creation of the order documents, everything is done on the computer. Then you can go straight to cutting. This has long been the case in the automotive industry. For the fashion industry, this also offers enormous time and cost savings. In addition, virtual models are created that will also run in the metaverse in the future.

Finally, the well-known body language expert Stefan Verra showed us, among other things, how we can be perceived more clearly with simple, targeted use of eyebrows and a real, genuine smile. Pace and movement are also important factors, whereby individual temperament is unchangeable. Whether someone is more agile or more quiet – both ways are good! Stefan Verra showed us very important tools for business and personal communication.

The artist Sandra Schulze again accompanied us graphically through the congress day, this time completely digitally on a tablet. Her great talent for summarising complex contexts in graphical form was very well received, especially by the respective speakers, but also by the guests.

A big thank you to the Öschberghof, to Prof. Dr. Jochen Strähle, to all speakers, guests and the many partners and friends who make the DIGITAL FASHION DAYS possible every year: Microsoft, Assyst, K3, Fashion Cloud, Sievers Group, NoseDat, Perfion, Sharp, actiware, TrueCommerce DiCentral, Jack Russell Consulting.

After the DFD is before the DFD. You can already look forward to the DIGITAL FASHION DAYS 2023. You’re welcome to register now for the DFD 2023. An official invitation and details will follow.