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Bettina Bär is the new Show Director of Neonyt. Next edition will be setting the pace in sustainable fashion, lifestyle and textile innovation from 18 until 20 January 2022, . Everything is boding well for the first in-person Neonyt after the enforced COVID hiatus: the labels are motivated, the industry is open to sustainable innovations and Frankfurt is ready for Fashion Week.

There is nothing more constant than change – a fact that not only describes the very essence and core of fashion, but also the current sign of the times. Those who manage to accept change, creatively adapt to it and approach it positively will achieve long-term success. Bettina Bär is a good example to follow. 

Who is Bettina Bär and how does she arrive to the management of Neonyt? 

A trade show person trough and trough. I am made for people business and it’s proven to me each and every day, now even more than before the pandemic; because we all really got to experience a work life without the joy of connecting and interacting with other people – and I don’t like it! Ten years ago, in 2012, when I started at Messe Frankfurt as Sales Manager for the international consumer goods fairs Ambiente & Tendence, I didn’t dare to imagine heading a trade show like Neonyt one day. But I have worked my way through the ranks and after making Show Director of Tendence in 2016 and a few years later of Paperworld – with a short maternity leave in between – I am now happy to get a chance to be part of a positive change in values and a transformation process in the textiles and fashion industry. My goals for Neonyt are quite simple: to continue the good work of my predecessors, to support my team in anyway, to uphold the values that Neonyt embodies and to keep strengthening and refining the standards we set for ourselves. Even in times of global imponderables, Neonyt is number one in the sustainable fashion business and we owe this self-confidence to our cross-sector community – our exhibitors and partners, the victors and everyone who works for a successful Neonyt. And this is what I would like to continue.

What is your commitment to sustainability and a better future?

The fabulous “R’s” of sustainability: changing my mindset step by step and introducing “Re”-actions into my daily life and routines. On top of the list, rethinking options before consuming. Do I really need this, do I really wear this and if the answer is yes to any of the two questions further ask myself is there a more sustainable and considerate way to get the same thing. We share the responsibility to change for the better, and it starts at home.

"My goals for Neonyt are quite simple: to continue the good work of my predecessors, to support my team in anyway, to uphold the values that Neonyt embodies and to keep strengthening and refining the standards we set for ourselves."  - says Bettina Bär, Director of Neonyt.

With the spread of the pandemic, you arrived at a very difficult time for the development of trade fairs in general. How do you plan to organise the next edition of Neonyt and return it to the success it achieved in its last edition before the arrival of the pandemic?

The last physical Neonyt in January 2020 was simply magnificent – I still remember the headline: glorious sunshine to accompany a flying start of Neonyt. That says it all, I think. Anyone who has been to a Neonyt edition before knows that the energy there is contagious and, even though I only know it from the stories of my colleagues, I can only empathise with them: everyone wanted to take this energy with them into the summer of 2020. We have managed to maintain this motivation over the last 3 dry seasons and the voices from the industry also give us the necessary tailwind: 150 registered labels for January 2022 and constant exchange with the community. It is important that we send a signal together – we are here, the fashion is here, the fashion people are here, the collections want to be shown and ordered and by summer at the latest we will be running at top speed again.

Indeed, 150 brands confirmed. The big leaders in sustainable fashion will be there. We assume that the team is working hard to get more. What is the goal of Neonyt January 2022?

Everyone is working around the clock – the pandemic circumstances make everything a little more tense, but we are in the final spurt and our goal: a successful physical Neonyt, good order business for our labels, knowledge transfer and exchange at Fashionsustain and Prepeek, a cool runway show – meeting our old friends, making new contacts, experiencing up close again what we work for: lasting connections and personal encounters.

In addition to a great trade show, Neonyt has always stood out for promoting information, inspiration, and education as well as networking among the community. What will be the highlights of the Fashionsustain conference and what other attractions is the fair preparing? Will we have your inspiring Fashion Show?

Yes to both. There will be a Neonyt Fashion Installation during Frankfurt Fashion Week and alongside technological innovations, new business models and ideas for fashion retailers, topics like consumer behaviour, gaming and ‘Nudging for Good’ are on the agenda for Fashionsustain to explore the discrepancy between intention and reality within the international textile and fashion industry. At Fashionsustain, the participants are going to be discussing questions concerning how to close the gap between the mindset and actual behaviour of consumers and therefore between intention and reality regarding sustainable consumption. Digitisation is a big topics and how it can be used to design sustainable fashion, for example, and how they use their retail apps and positive incentives encourage consumers to consume more sustainably, catchphrase re-commerce and how it can become a successful business model for fashion retail.

What technological advances will we be able to see at the fair?

Our Neonyt Showcase is the best place to go for this, because it’s the place where companies from textile upstream or complementary section will present their innovations. Just to name a few: BCOME, a platform for sustainability and innovation management in the textile and apparel industry, enabling brands to build more responsible supply chains and ensuring transparency for their final customers. EnvoPAP, a certified B Corp using using renewable sources like agricultural waste instead of wood for their production of sustainable packaging and paper while still delivering an industry-leading product. mySHOEFITTER, a scientifically based, biometric foot measurement technology for mobile devices that allows customers of online stores to measure their feet themselves with millimetre precision in order to determine the exact fitting shoe size for online purchases. And that’s just on the very technical side.

"The labels at the trade show have of course outdone themselves again: collections that are completely cradle to cradle, garments made from rose-fibre viscose, coffee grounds and ginger fibres, climate positive collections and clothes made from 92% recycled fibres – the Italian label Rifò for example was able to use 3,738 tonnes of recycled textile materials in their collections, in 2020."

What role will Neonyt play within Frankfurt Fashion Week and how will the synergies be in the city?

Neonyt will clearly continue to lead the way in sustainable fashion and textile innovations. We take care of this with our in-depth sustainability check and thus guarantee Fashion Week visitors that there is real sustainable fashion to discover with us. Before the exhibitors are approved, all interested labels must fill in a questionnaire of several pages and provide specific information about their ecological and social commitment efforts. This can be proven by certificates such as Bluesign, GOTS, Fair Trade or Oeko-Tex, their participation in multi-stakeholder programmes, their Codes of Conduct and information about their carbon and water footprints, delivery and supply chains, resource efficiency or innovative production cycles. Sustainability guaranteed: only collections that meet at least 70% of the requirements are Neonyt approved and may be exhibited at the tradeshow. This helps to credibly and transparently show the transformation of the sector and to communicate it to all tradeshow visitors from agencies, buyers and retailers to marketing and CSR representatives, business journalists and fashion editors.

The synergies in and for Frankfurt are great. At first glance, Frankfurt may arouse contradictory emotions: Banks and capitals. But the creative scene here is huge and AAAREA, a “fashion festival” in the City of Frankfurt, already shows that: Street-spaces turn into catwalks, fashion labs, installations, performances and virtual experiences. Various creators and formats are combined in an interdisciplinary and collaborative way. Virtually, hybrid and in live locations. Everything goes by the motto: Access All Areas, thus AAArea. Be prepared to use all your senses in a whole new way. You have never experienced fashion quite like this.

"Frankfurt may arouse contradictory emotions: Banks and capitals. But the creative scene here is huge and AAAREA, a “fashion festival” in the City of Frankfurt, already shows that: Street-spaces turn into catwalks, fashion labs, installations, performances and virtual experiences."

It has been a very difficult period of two years, what have we learned? Does digital work as well as physical for trade businesses? 

Neonyt, like every other entity in the event and trade show sector, had had to reorient itself, restructure and think more digitally. We have nevertheless refrained from implementing an online showroom for our exhibitors, because we are still convinced that fashion thrives on personal interaction, presentations and inspiration, as well as being able to see and feel materials and craftsmanship up close. And this is reflected to us on a nearly daily basis. But of course this crisis requires all stakeholders to shift their mind-set towards agility to scale in disruptive environments, so over the last three seasons, we have set up our conference themes for Fashionsustain online, mapped them via digital modules and livestreamed them. The core business though ever was, still is and always will be bringing people together, offline and face-to-face. So the simple answer: No, solely digital does not in any way close work as well as physical for the trade show business.