Digital Fashion Days 2022

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

The Networking Day was a reunion of partners and customers who have become friends in the meantime and at the same time 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 in the Hexenweiher Restaurant was first-class, as expected, and the musical entertainment by David B. Whitley another highlight of the Networking Day.

There was a lot of input on the Congress Day. After the address of welcome by Detlef Beiter of SPH AG and moderated by Jochen Strähle, the keynote speeches started on the topic of SUPPLY CHAIN DIGITALISATION. Andreas R. Streubig of 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 of The Digital Fashion Group presented us a world alternative with Web3 and by means of his exciting presentation explained how we could experience fashion in the future: Everyone will be able to be a fashion designer in the metaverse. StreetStyle becomes ScreenStyle. Martin Schierer of 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 do platform companies proactively deal with supply bottlenecks, lack of storage capacity, shipment failure, margin pressure, generally increased uncertainty and a changing consumer climate? He showed us and also provided an idea as to why we are going through all this: “MYTOYS make families happy”.

In the next block under the motto SUPPLY CHAIN CASES, Matthias Mey of Mey GmbH & Co. KG impressively showed us how contemporary branding and digital product development work hand in hand in corporate development today. In his presentation “Digital product design – blessing or curse”, he demonstrated in an illustrative way how time and costs can be saved and at the same time showed where the limits lie. After that, Angelika Schindler-Obenhaus of GERRY WEBER International AG came on stage. In a very personal speech, she also presented Gerry Weber‘s rebranding and new brand manifest to us in a new look. „#WeAreGerry“ clearly leads to a new community for the brand. Before lunch, two more speakers came on stage: Eduard Vinokurov of SPH AG introduced the congress participants of the DIGITAL FASHION DAYS to the metaverse and showed in a transparent way where today’s market participants in the fashion industry already are and where there is real potential in the future. Today there are several 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 become familiar with the topic. Dietmar (Didi) Axt of DAXcon impressively promoted 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 of SPH AG showed us how we can apply the IN:FASHION solution digitally in 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 of K3 also pointed out in this context how important traceability and, once again, sustainability are for our industry. René Schnellen of Fashion Cloud documented how simple and promising a collaborative approach to in-season management can really work – transparency, overview and up to 30% increase in turnover are the clear advantages. Finally, Hans Peter Hiemer of Assyst impressively presented today’s digital product development: From the first idea to the printing of the production button of the top and in parallel also the creation of the order documents, everything works on the computer. After that, you can go straight to cutting. This has been done in the automotive industry for a long time. 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.

At the end, 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.