At the beginning of the year we braved the cold and jumped to NEONYT in Berlin, hosted at a former airport. This event is the world’s biggest exhibition for sustainable fashion, bringing together a community of forward-thinkers, an affinity for technology and environmental awareness. Let’s jump into the main themes that were highlighted at this event.

WASTE

Waste is totally on trend. Whether it’s transforming off-cuts from large factories to produce your own sustainable range, or being conscious of how your product is recycled at the end of its life. Waste was one of the main topics that were highlighted in the 3 days of NEONYT. 

ZERO WASTE

In terms of techniques, brands are investing in becoming ‘zero waste’. Why? To show its customers they care about the planet and release less C02 into the atmosphere. Portuguese shoe brand Lemon Jelly have implemented their Wasteless Act range, which is a 100% recycled line made from their production waste. 

CIRCULARITY

Mud Jeans impressed me with their circular guide and how they recycle denim to produce their own product. Their motto is ‘a world without waste’ and already they’ve saved 12,000 jeans from landfill and incineration and turned them into new denim. With their take-back scheme they collect jeans that consist of more than 96% cotton and send them to the recycle factory Recovertex in Spain. Plus customers can scan a QR code to see the environmental cost of their garment. 

TRANSPARENCY

During NEONYT I attended a talk with Ina from Circularity.ID, which is a digital platform that holds material and product data. It’s basically an information carrier that shows a product’s entire history. This data becomes accessible to stakeholders in the fashion ecosystem at any point in time to access and handle products in a circular economy. It’s very technical but the foundation is helping brands achieve total transparency, circularity, longevity and recyclability. 

The Mindful Step are helping companies and consumers transition to more sustainable methods of fashion. Join us on our Slow Fashion Tour of Porto to discover brands who’re supporting a circular fashion model.