Young designers present sustainable fashion ideas

Weinheim, October 01, 2018: In mid-September, Freudenberg Performance Materials Apparel selected the winners of the “Fashioning Sustainability” competition in Verona, Italy. Back in March, the company had invited fashion and design schools in Europe to submit their designs for sustainable garments. This initiative provided students with the opportunity to demonstrate that fashion can be both sustainable and a key factor for innovation at the same time.

A total of 45 students from 23 European fashion and design schools from Germany, Great Britain, France, Italy, Poland and Spain took part in the competition. Two of the most innovative outfits from each school were selected for the final round and presented to an international jury at the historic event location “La Gran Guardia” in Verona on September 13. Fashion design experts, opinion leaders and journalists were then invited to select the most sustainable design in the categories “Innovation”, “Technology” and “Design”.

A very special surprise awaited the candidates on the day of the jury’s decision: they were allowed to present their creations on a real catwalk with professional models. First prize in the “Design” category went to Mazo French Lorena from the Esmod fashion school in Lyon, France. Nuria Costa and Ane Castro from the Spanish fashion institute Esdi were awarded first place in the “Innovation” category, while Andrea Piva from the Italian school Naba won the “Technology” category. All winners received a prize of 2,000 euros.

“The interlinings from Freudenberg are exactly what I wanted in terms of quality and sustainability”, explained Piva after the award ceremony. “I like working with first-class materials and also used a sustainable product for my project, namely recycled wool.” Ulrich Scherbel, General Manager at Freudenberg Performance Materials Apparel, concluded: “It was impressive to see how creatively the participants approached the topic and how self-evident sustainability is for them.”

Networking with Freudenberg customers

Following the event, the students were given the opportunity to network with international representatives of the apparel industry. To this end, Freudenberg organized a customer event with around 600 guests on September 14 in “La Gran Guardia”. Here, too, the topic of “Sustainability as a driver of innovation” formed the focus of a panel discussion. In addition, a marketplace offered the opportunity to get to know the latest Freudenberg innovations and those of selected partners of the company. The event was rounded off by a presentation of the specific application of the interlinings in a fashion show, which was followed by a gala dinner.

About Freudenberg Performance Materials
Freudenberg Performance Materials is a leading global manufacturer of innovative technical textiles offering differentiated value propositions to a broad range of markets and applications such as Apparel, Automotive, Building Interiors, Construction, Energy, Hygiene, Medical, Shoe and Leather goods as well as Specialties. In 2017, the company generates sales of more than €935 million and has 25 manufacturing sites in 14 countries and more than 3.700 employees. Freudenberg Performance Materials attaches great importance to social and ecological responsibility. For more information, please visit www.freudenberg-pm.com 
The company is a Business Group of Freudenberg Group. In 2017, the Freudenberg Group employed approximately 48,000 people in some 60 countries worldwide and generated sales of more than €9.3 billion. For more information, please visit www.freudenberg.com