Moved to 2022: Frankfurt Fashion Week

Frankfurt Fashion Week, organised by Messe Frankfurt and Premium Exhibitions, moved its physical launch to 2022. It was meant to take place early July 2021 but has not been granted permission by the German authorities to go ahead due to the current Coronavirus pandemic.

As such the organisers have decided to delay its physical launch to January 2022.

“The consequences of the ongoing pandemic spread of the coronavirus continue to govern our personal and professional lives. It is with a heavy heart that we must cancel the physical events in July, since these are not allowed to take place given the current legal constraints. Due to the lack of certainty for planning and new monthly evaluation we need to fulfil our obligations as event organiser and avoid unforeseeable risks for partners and clients.” Anita Tillmann, Managing Partner of the PREMIUM Group.

The event was meant to include different formats that include the visitors on- and offline. Amongst new formats such as “The Ground”, existing, successful formats like Premium and Neonyt were scheduled to take place. This came amid a move from Berlin to Frankfurt. Frankfurt Fashion Week had been announced almost exactly a year ago and was set to make Frankfurt a new fashion ‘hot spot’.

“A spectacular event like Frankfurt Fashion Week deserves an equally spectacular kick-off,” says Olaf Schmidt, Vice President of Textiles & Textile Technologies at Messe Frankfurt. “Sadly, this won’t be possible for summer 2021 – but the team behind Frankfurt Fashion Week refuses to be beaten. We are working full steam ahead on digital components to convey the Fashion Week vibe to the community wherever they happen to be. Live and on demand: despite contact restrictions, the new FFW Studio enables the international fashion scene to come together in one place and gives us the chance to stream our community’s textile expertise to the whole world.”

Instead the Frankfurt Fashion Week Studio will become a digital meeting place for all fashion professionals. It will go live on the event’s website (www.frankfurt.fashion) in July and through live stream from 5th – 9th of July 2021 the international fashion community will be able to gather input from various channels all on the overarching themes: sustainability and digitalisation.

“Just imagine it’s Fashion Week and no one turns up – I heard these words at the end of 2020, the second time we had to cancel a physical edition of Neonyt,” says Thimo Schwenzfeier, Show Director of Neonyt. “At the time, they were probably meant as words of encouragement in light of yet another cancellation, but they take on an even greater meaning today. After a good one and a half years of no events and a forced break, we – the team and especially our cross-sector community – were all more than ready to kick things off in Frankfurt am Main. And the high numbers of registrations from our brands for summer 2021 proved that. But obviously everyone’s health comes first, which is why we are looking forward to the digital edition of Frankfurt Fashion Week, FFW Studio, and to creating a line-up of sustainability content that showcases the expertise of our brands and speakers.”

This comes as a blow to the European fashion industry amid trade shows such as Pitti Uomo, White and Who’s Next announcing their summer dates and seemingly are going ahead. WeAr will continue to report on this issue.