SDBI Networks Talents and Industry

1/35 – Tobias Gröber (SDBI Vorstandsvorsitzender, Mitte) stellt PR-Fachmann Alois Loew (Burberry, Calvin Klein, Jil Sander, rechts) Preisträgerin Birgit Brockbals (FASH 2011, links) vor. Foto: © Bernhard Ludewig/SDBI

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The cocktail reception with which the Stiftung der Deutschen Bekleidungsindustrie (German Fashion Industry Foundation) – SDBI launched its premiere in Berlin on the evening before the opening of the Berlin Fashion Week was extraordinary, high class and profound. 

Guests Who Rarely Mingle
More than one hundred high-caliber guests from the sectors of industry, government, media, creative industries, academia as well as the stars of the evening – winners of the European Fashion Award FASH from all years – came together at the SDBI cocktail reception. Members of the advisory and management boards introduced the young talents and industry greats to each other. The atmosphere at the elegant private Hotel Brandenburger Hof Berlin was exceptionally profound.

Let The Industry Benefit From Creativity
In her welcoming address Minister of State at the Federal Foreign Office Cornelia Pieper (FDP) not only thanked the not-for-profit foundation SDBI and expressed her appreciation of its new talent fostering activities, but also emphasized the importance of fashion for Germany: “Fashion is particularly suited to complement the traditional image of Germany. It is the most dynamic sector of our culture, and just like music its international language functions without words.“
Minister of State Pieper particularly praised the performance of the winners of the European Fashion Award FASH: “Fashion, with its very complex supply chain is a high-risk business you are facing. You are already working in future-oriented work and business models, and thus are the pioneers for the industry and for social changes. […] You represent fashion at the highest level of design and craftsmanship, and the future in a globalized world filled with mass production. It is becoming increasingly important for the industry to tap into this innovation potential.“

Investment In The Future
Minister of State Pieper appealed for more support for the work of SDBI: “The endorsement of the next generation has an inherent value. It is not charity, but an investment in the future!“ The Minister of State became more specific and invited SDBI to present the European Fashion Award FASH on January 13th, 2014 at the impressive Weltsaal (World Room) at the German Foreign Office. The room, restyled by Professor Hans Kollhoff, featuring lounges, oversized crystal chandeliers, historical illuminated ceilings and exquisite wall paneling made of French cherry wood is one of Berlin’s grandest spaces and has not yet been used for an event during the Berlin Fashion Week.

New SDBI Circle of Friends
SDBI Board Chairman Tobias Gröber took the opportunity to promote the new SDBI Circle of Friends. Among its first members are the companies Closed (Hamburg), Freitag (Zurich) and Christof Nardin (Vienna).
Earlier, Tobias Gröber and SDBI Director Joachim Schirrmacher welcomed the guests with the following words: “When SDBI was founded in 1978, Munich was Germany’s fashion capital. Today, Berlin has definitely regained this position. This and to the positive development of SDBI are the reasons why the Advisory and Management Boards have decided to move SDBI and its European Fashion Award FASH to Berlin,” Schirrmacher said.
Tobias Gröber thanked Margareta van den Bosch, who traveled from Stockholm to attend, as well as Dr. Adelheid Rasche and Michael Sontag for their involvement in the Advisory Board. Robb Young, from London, who was unable to attend in person, wrote to the guests: “Contrary to other industries the fashion business certainly does not ‘wrap them up in cotton wool.’ They must develop ‘thick skins’ from a very early age to face what is a positively electrifying but often ruthless industry. That is what makes awards like the European Fashion Award FASH so important in promoting and recognizing their talents.”

Prominent Guests
Among the more than 100 guests who accepted the invitation were James Buckley (CEO Falke), Holger Knapp (CEO Deutscher Fachverlag), PR expert Alois Loew and Andrea Thiele (Marketing Director, Closed).
Guests from Berlin included Petra Gothe (Vice President of Berlin’s Club of Merchants and Industrialists – VBKI), Dr. Katja Blomberg, Director Haus am Waldsee – International Contemporary Art in Berlin, fashion photographer Gregor Hohenberg and the Finnish photo-artist Ola Kolehmainen.
Vegetarian canapés, miniature Quiche Lorraines with chanterelles or fruit tarts from the Quadriga kitchen headed by Joseph Cassar also contributed to the festive atmosphere at the lounge, the salons and in the Japanese garden at the Hotel Brandenburger Hof Berlin.

Multiple Highlights
Prior to the cocktail reception SDBI invited blogger and inddustry to a technical discussion themed “Quo Vadis Fashion Blogs” at the show room of Bikini Berlin, as well as to an exclusive guided tour of “Luxury for Fashion” with curator Dr. Adelheid Rasche, who is a member of the SDBI Advisory Board.
Additional highlights for SDBI during the Berlin Fashion Week included the Vogue Salon during which Tim Labenda – FASH 2013 – presented his first women’s collection, the presentation of the “Designer for Tomorrow” award by Stella McCartney to Ioana Ciolacu Miron, who won the European Fashion Award FASH in 2011, as well as the keynote presentation “Fashion, Future, Sustainable” by SDBI Director Joachim Schirrmacher to 50 fashion professors from Korea, USA, Japan, Taiwan, Mongolia and Russia at the 18th International Fashion Conference of the Society of Fashion & Textile Industry in Berlin.