The Messe Frankfurt Texpertise Network has already reached more than 21,000 exhibitors, roughly 508,000 trade visitors, 6,250 accredited media representatives, and more than 945,000 followers on social media worldwide by 2023 with its global sustainable development goals (SDG) actions in eight countries. The SDG initiatives included podcasts, SDG information booths and picture walls, social media campaigns, panel discussions with UN members, press conferences, and a hackathon.
According to the network’s recently released SDG report, the Texpertise Network has prompted the fashion and textile sector to make the industry more sustainable on a global scale by launching multi-stakeholder collaborations, shared knowledge, and sustainability. This has been done in partnership with the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOP) and United Nations Conscious Fashion and Lifestyle Network (CFLN).
The paper listed the Texpertise Network’s numerous accomplishments on a global scale. Neonyt presented a display showcasing a few chosen firms in March 2019 to commemorate the UN Alliance for Sustainable Fashion’s establishment in Nairobi.
The first hackathon in India focused on technical textiles and sustainability, NEXT, was introduced during Techtextil India 2019 (TI). Both Niharika Gautam, who works to advance the SDGs in the fashion sector and is co-president of the Delhi All Ladies League, and Shrikar Dhole, founder and managing director of the SDG Foundation, participated.
Vladimir Kuznetsov, director of the UN Information Centre (UNIC) in Moscow, provided a welcome message in the digital version of Heimtextil Russia 2020.
The summer 2020 digital edition of Texworld USA (now Texworld New York City) and Apparel Sourcing USA funded the creation of a podcast with Claire Kells of the UN Global Compact and featured a lecture showcasing the Conscious Fashion Campaign. Many additional fairs promoted the SDGs using SDG walls, QR codes, and links to the main Texpertise Network website covering every facet of the targets.
More than 500,000 individuals worldwide are connected by the Messe Frankfurt Texpertise Network, which integrates topical themes, trends, and events in the textile industry. Messe Frankfurt is the industry leader for textile trade exhibitions, with more than 50 international events in 11 nations. The whole textile value chain is covered by texpertise.
Since over 15 years ago, Messe Frankfurt has actively included sustainability in its textile events worldwide by utilising topic-specific formats and content. The United Nations Office for Partnerships and the Fashion Impact Fund collaborated to create the United Nations Conscious Fashion and Lifestyle Network. Messe Frankfurt’s Texpertise Network has been supporting the visualisation of the Sustainable Development Goals at its events since 2019.
“It gives me great pleasure to present Kerry and Lucie with our SDG Report in person. The fact that we have already been able to implement, start, and accomplish so much as a team makes me pleased,” highlighted Olaf Schmidt. “We are trying to accelerate innovation and change in the textile and fashion sector through the Messe Frankfurt Expertise Network. We are informing and mobilising participants across the entire textile value-added chain and their industry partners to help this decade of action for the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030, focusing on realising solutions for social, economic, and ecological transformation.
Lucie Brigham states, “Collaboration is essential to fostering transformative sectoral engagement and accelerating the implementation of the SDGs.” Effective partnerships are the only way to mobilise knowledge, creativity, technology, and resources. One of the founding members and a critical Conscious Fashion and Lifestyle Network partner was the Expertise Network of Messe Frankfurt. We are happy to have been a part of the vast SDG initiatives from the start and anticipate expanding them jointly.
