modebranchen.NU NU International June 2018 | Page 63

FASHIONTECH
Q/A
WHEN 4 July 2018,
10:00 -18:00
WHERE Kraf t werk, 1 Floor, Köpenicker
Straße, Berlin
w w w.fashiontech.berlin
with Michael Stracke,
Chief Business Development Officer
THEMES Digital Marketing & Commu-
nication, E-Commerce & Retail Tech
WHAT Providing valuable insights into
relevant topics from digital marketing ,
new media & communications to
e-commerce & future of retail & tech
tex tiles by leading industr y players and
successful innovators.
On 4 July, #FASHIONTECH will be headed up by Michael Stracke, appointed
Chief Business Development Officer in April 2018. He was the former Head
of Business Development at beecom AG, and recently promoted the World
Web Forum in Zurich. What is his vision for #FASHIONTECH?
Q | What has been your impression of the transformation within the company. The
#FASHIONTECH event up to now?
 bottom line is that the conference will
A | I visited #FASHIONTECH for the first follow the same principle that we pro-
time last year and was instantly capti- claim on stage: it’s important to dare to
vated. According to my research there experiment and thereby stay one step
is nothing else similar in Europe, espe- ahead of the competition. In future we
cially when it comes to the quality of the could imagine making #FASHIONTECH
speakers. We have previously had C-level even more international in scope and ta-
executives from Facebook, Instagram, king it to other countries as well.
WHY Learn from the industr y ’s most
influential visionaries to discuss
the most innovative developments,
pioneering trends and cut ting-edge
disruptive technologies in the fashion
industr y.
HOW By suppor ting
companies to master the challenges of
the digital transformation, connec ting
players of both fashion and technolog y
industries and initiating the process of
change and new thinking.
Google, Amazon and Matchesfashion, as
well as fashion- industry pioneers such Q | What is the response from #FASHION- hardly any competition, since there are
as Zalando, adidas, Liganova and MCM TECH visitors? almost no similar conferences in Europe.
to mention but a few. This is a very good A | The feedback is positive from both
mix of fashion, retail and tech compa-
nies. It makes the format very exciting.
fashion
businesses,
retailers
and
Q | Why does #FASHIONTECH collaborate
communication professionals. All have with Messe Frankfurt?
Over the two days participants can get a considerable thirst for information on up to speed on the latest on technology digital transformation. There are not in the world of fashion. At the same time that many places where this informa- A | Our interaction with Messe Frank-
they can meet future business partners tion is readily available to this extent. able to build on this close contact last
and – what is surely particularly crucial – Coming to us, they can engage with the season. Topic-wise, #FASHIONTECH is
they leave the conference again with an trailblazing companies in the field. You complemented perfectly by the Fashion
open mind and their motivation levels only have to think of Amazon Go, where Sustain conference put on by Messe
fully topped up. In my view this approach analogue shopping is already entirely Frankfurt. Messe Frankfurt has un-
is the key to accompanying the industry based on digital transactions. E-com- paralleled high-level expertise in the
through the digital transformation. merce with WeChat is another fantastic domain of tech textiles and sustainabi-
example. We want to remove the fear of lity, and we have the in-depth fashion
furt has always been based on part-
nership and we were delighted to be
Q | What plans do you have for the future? these types of developments and give knowledge. We can only benefit from
A | I see a huge amount of future poten- the industry the tools with which it can each other. I’m not sure whether the-
tial. As a platform where the critical deci- successfully overcome the challenges of re have ever been two trade shows
sion-makers meet we want to absorb and digitalisation. that are so closely aligned in terms of
translate all influences – whether from
content and format as those of Messe
Asia, Europe or Silicon Valley. We want to Q | How big could this type of event be- Frankfurt and the Premium Group. We
give the high-level audience even more come? see this as an important signal to the
disruptive examples, as well as present A | The potential of our event grows in outside world. We are proving that
best cases. In thematic terms, we will
be concentrating further on the digital
tandem with the technological develop- Berlin is in the position of creating a
ment of the industry. Plus, we have new c