Something is happening on the fashion market: Well-known brands are disappearing, new labels are entering the market. Sustainability plays a growing role – and production in Europe is in greater demand.
Frankfurt’s Zeil is one of the shopping streets with the highest turnover in Germany – and it changes its face every day: many well-known brands and fashion retailers are insolvent, some are closing their branches or at least downsizing: Galeria Karstadt Kaufhof, Esprit, Peek & Cloppenburg, Görtz, Reno and finally Hallhuber. Companies that are primarily active in the mid-price segment have been hit hard.
The situation is different in the lower and upper price segment: Discount brands are the inflation winners, and the clientele of luxury brands is unimpressed by the current price increases.
“The brands have to stand for a certain lifestyle, appeal to a certain group and sharpen their profile accordingly,” says Achim Berg, an expert for the fashion industry at the management consultancy McKinsey. “You can only survive if you keep reinventing yourself and don’t lose sight of your customers.” In principle, fashion is becoming faster and faster, but at the same time sustainability is also increasingly in demand.
Interest in sustainable fashion is growing
The fashion industry currently causes around ten percent of global greenhouse gas emissions. At the same time, the number of people interested in sustainable fashion is growing.
In a study, the environmental organization Greenpeace confirms a growing awareness of a more sustainable approach to fashion: In 2015, an adult in Germany had an average of 95 items hanging in the closet, by 2022 it was only 87 items. A drop of 340 million pieces of clothing per year in Germany.
Production returns to Europe
The European Commission also intends to make textiles more durable and recyclable by 2030. Production conditions are more closely targeted. According to an industry analysis by McKinsey, more than half of those responsible in the fashion industry want production to be more local and more controllable.
In addition to Poland and Romania, the textile industry in Portugal is currently very popular, also because the state has invested heavily in this sector, says Berg. “In addition, there is a well-trained specialist staff and a low minimum wage of 887 euros per month.”
Textile boom in Portugal
Business is booming around the city of Porto in Portugal. The industry affords its own research and innovation center here. The existing recipe for success: sustainability, the recycling of waste or residues.
One example is the fabric manufacturer Valerius 360. The company’s business model: Valerius gets seven tons of leftover fabric a day from local textile companies. What used to end up in the trash is shredded here and processed into new yarn. “We hardly have any cotton production in Europe. We have to get everything from other countries. Here in this production we can make yarn from recycled fabric, so we reduce dependency,” says manager Ana Tavares.
Can’t fashion be sustainable at all?
One of the best-known German labels for sustainable fashion that works with Valerius is Armedangels. Kataya Kruk is responsible for the sustainability strategy. She of all people says that sustainability and fashion are mutually exclusive: “Every piece that goes to the closet is an additional burden on the environment. It’s super important that the clothes are made responsibly, but it’s also important how much we consume.”
So less is more: the Cologne-based company has been making fashion for 13 years. And brings out four collections a year. This clearly distinguishes Armedangels from the so-called fast fashion companies, which launch up to 24 collections a year.
“Fast Fashion” also wants to go to Europe
But many “fast fashion” labels are also planning to bring parts of their productions back to Europe. Even if not primarily for reasons of sustainability. “Brands can bring new collections to stores even faster and save on transport and storage costs,” says industry expert Achim Berg. That is not possible if you have production in Southeast Asia or China.
Sustainability and proximity to Central European sales markets: two trends that have given Portugal’s textile industry a boom. This boom will probably continue – or even get bigger. Many insolvent clothing chains in Germany are looking for new strategies. One is certainly sustainable fashion – but at the lowest possible price.