Texpertise Network, a division of Messe Frankfurt, is refocusing its sustainability efforts at more than 50 textile trade shows around the world. The textile events will take on a new collective identity and emphasize sustainability more strongly, showcasing it as a crucial element and a driving force in the global textile sector. This transition will be centered on the newly coined term “Econogy,” which stands for a fusion of environment and economics.
The phrase reflects the notion popularly expressed by Canadian biologist and Alternative Nobel Prize laureate David Suzuki, “Let’s give the economy back the eco!” It denotes how crucial sustainability has become to a company’s financial performance.
According to a news statement from Messe Frankfurt, the move intends to enhance sustainability within the textile and apparel industry by better tying it to the needs of social and economic transformation.
A new cross-trade fair strategy has been created, providing the sustainability initiatives of the events for the first time under a single communication roof. The improved orientation, cohesion, and visibility that this realignment provides for sustainability efforts at trade shows.
The launch of “Econogy” will offer global direction across trade shows and be eventually embraced everywhere. It will be accompanied by a revised icon, which will increase its likelihood of identification.
In the industry, knowledge transfer, curation, and orientation are becoming more and more important. This development is a result of ongoing debates over sustainability principles and legal obligations on the national and EU levels.
Innovations in sustainable content forms will be a part of strategic realignments. Partners, exhibitors, and visitors will benefit from the new “Econogy Tours,” “Econogy Finder,” and “Econogy Talks” in terms of positioning and professional development.
To improve orientation, transparency, and customer friendliness, the sustainability tests that are now conducted at international textile trade fairs will be harmonized. Messe Frankfurt will keep collaborating with impartial outside sustainability experts and recognizing the most recent certificates, seals, and indices.
The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the United Nations (UN) will be more rigorously and quantitatively integrated into sustainability checks starting in 2024, increasing transparency.
Messe Frankfurt has demonstrated ongoing progress and company-wide advocacy of sustainability. In 2023, the Texpertise Network released its first SDG Report, which summarized international commitments made at its textile trade shows.
With the creation of a sustainability board last year and membership in the UN Global Compact since 2010, Messe Frankfurt has continued to steer the textile industry along the textile value chain. The network, which unites more than 500,000 businesspeople from 11 nations, aims to spread knowledge about the SDGs and put change-making strategies into action.
Finally, the ‘Econogy’ concept represents a crucial development in Messe Frankfurt’s global textile strategy. The realignment signifies a shared dedication to ethical corporate conduct and an open strategy that is expected to have a long-lasting effect on the global textile and apparel industries.
Olaf Schmidt, vice president of textiles and textile technologies at Messe Frankfurt, emphasized that “the complexity concerning social, economic, and ecological change in the entire textile value chain continues to increase, making it all the more important today to offer orientation for our textile trade fairs, to make innovative approaches by the exhibiting companies visible, and to promote the exchange of knowledge among all stakeholders along the textile value chain.”
