Düsseldorf

In Berlin they want it, in Düsseldorf they won’t let go of it: the title of Germany’s Fashion Capital. The dispute over who is the fairest in the land is dividing the fashion scene.

It’s the ego. It’s as if you were the prettiest girl in the class and along comes another beauty who stirs up the whole class like a fresh breeze. The boys fall in love with her; the former beauty is ignored. If Berlin were a girl, she would have long blonde hair, worn down on her shoulders, and she would be a little kooky. Düsseldorf would be the elegant beauty in the business style clothes. Their duel is the eternal question: who is the fairest in the land? Where is Germany’s Fashion Capital? I asked three people who are involved in the industry.

My search for clues begins in Berlin with Danielle De Bie. She is the head of communications of the international fashion tradeshow Bread & Butter. “Berlin has long established itself in the fashion world, and not just in Germany, but worldwide,” she says. It all began with the first Bread & Butter in Berlin, in January 2003. It was the first successful fashion statement in the capital city for a long while. Two years after its debut in Cologne, the tradeshow for street and urban wear dared to make the jump to Berlin. It was an idea that initially earned B&B sniggers.

“Back then, we sent up a signal and others followed our lead,” sums up De Bie. Since 2009, the models in denim & co. walk the hangars of the shutdown Tempelhof Airport. The “tradeshow for selected brands” is today more successful than ever, reports its head of communications, and comparable with glamour events like the Premium and the Mercedes Benz Fashion Week. In 2013, the debut of the fashion tradeshow Panorama will create a new platform for market-relevant, high-sales brands, with the aim of closing the gap between designer labels, the young avant-garde and sportswear and street wear brands.

Berlin is considered the “season kick off – the earliest date for the designers and brands to show themselves,” says the head of communications. In the throes of constant change for twenty years, the city is constantly reinventing itself. The latest darling of the creative types is the Ku'damm, in the west of the city. While Berlin was mainly perceived politically during the years of division, since the fall of the wall, the fashion rebirth of the capital city has also begun.

In the post-war years, Berlin had to hand over the title of Fashion Capital to Düsseldorf, explains Hans-J. Wiethoff, managing director of Fashion Square GmbH in Düsseldorf. “In the ruins of Germany, without the east, Düsseldorf was the city in the most populous state of North Rhine-Westphalia,” says Wiethoff.

The rise of the Rhine metropolis began with the Igedo, an acronym for Interessengemeinschaft Damen-Oberbekleidung in the year 1948. Local textile manufacturers united to gain more attention for their goods.

“International names are a rare sight”

They were successful: until the late 1970s, clothing sold in Germany was mostly made in Germany. And the Igedo was a synonym for women’s fashion and Düsseldorf. As men’s fashion found its home in Cologne, the Rhineland formed the heart of the German fashion scene. In its best days, the Igedo event Collection Premiére Düsseldorf drew 2,500 exhibitors and 40,000 visitors to the approximately 200,000 square-metre Düsseldorf trade fair and enticed the crowds with the entire spectrum of domestic fashion – from inexpensive to highest quality.


The scene transformed with the influence of the Italian designers in the late 1970s. “The Italians didn’t want to go to a trade fair, but to present their collections – as in Italy – in a special environment,” Wiethoff recalls. He therefore developed special showrooms starting in 1983. Between Kaiserswerther Strasse/Cecilienallee and between Theodor-Heuss-Brücke and Homberger Strasse, the firms were given the opportunity to show their collections all year round. Wiethoff named his concept the Fashion Square. “Today, about 400 showrooms with 1,000 designers and manufacturers are located there, and around 3,000 collections are shown.”

As more and more buyers and exhibitors stayed away from the Collection Premiére Düsseldorf trade fair, the state capital also did some rethinking. In 2010, Düsseldorf got its own Fashion Week. The Premium from Berlin and the Supreme from Munich are now also present on the Rhine on an area of up to 5,000 square metres. This constellation of fashion is unique in Europe, claims Wiethoff. This is why Düsseldorf will remain Germany’s “Capital of Fashion.”

How did Berlin manage to dispute Düsseldorf’s title, then? According to Wiethoff, with lots of money. “First the senate intervened with huge financial input and gave Berlin a push.” Fashion Week Berlin was launched with the management of IMG and with money from Mercedes Benz. Yet it possesses neither the breadth and international scope of the choice in Düsseldorf, nor the financially strong buyers of the deals. “Berlin puts on a party and attracts the media, but international names in fashion are a rare sight.” Although there are parties in Düsseldorf as well, they are for the insiders in the showrooms – not the media and minor celebs.

Elaborate trade fair presentations are out

Phillip Kronen, managing director of Igedo, is more diplomatic about things. “Both locations are essential to the fashion industry, they hold very different positions.” The cities are not rivals, but rather supplement one another within the fashion landscape. “Berlin as the meeting place of the industry at the start of the season with media hype and lots of events, Düsseldorf the unchallenged place where the big business is done.” Both cities continue to expand these positions.

Today, Igedo prefers to build on cooperation rather than confrontation. Under the title of “The Gallery” the syndicate organizes a communications meeting place twice a year – and is thus present both in Berlin and in Düsseldorf. The managing director explains the transformation of the fashion sector: “Many firms invest their budgets in marketing measures rather than elaborate trade fair presentations, preferably in their own shops or in advertising for the end consumer.”

This is why showrooms are becoming ever more important. “In the past seasons, more companies settled in Düsseldorf and set up new showroom centres. Ultimately, all roads still lead to Düsseldorf.” And although there will be no more Collection Premiére Düsseldorf trade fairs on the Düsseldorf trade fair grounds from February 2012 and Igedo gave up its name, the industry keeps the umbrella brand alive: the term Collection Premiére Düsseldorf presently stands for the so-called Düsseldorf order days, when dealers and designers meet to do business.

The state capital profits from a large, top-selling catchment area and is also an attractive location for Eastern Europe. Düsseldorf is one of the cities with the most solvent inhabitants. Königsallee is in the league of the most exclusive boulevards in Europe and draws a sophisticated buyership from all over the world. All in all, the metropolitan area of Düsseldorf with its 11.5 million people is a huge business market – the best prerequisites for an indispensable location.

But, Düsseldorf will never match the coolness of Berlin – the nation’s capital thrives on staging. Regularly for Fashion Week, fashion fever breaks out in Berlin and transforms the city into a big fashion party. Dynamic Berlin is now in yet another phase of change: trade fairs are scaling down, repositioning themselves and optimizing their concepts. According to a study, the informative function of the trade fairs will continue to shrink, and the event character will increase. Exhibiting is passé; excitement and attractiveness are what’s in today. Berlin has an edge on everyone else in that respect, yet always faces new challenges. “The city will constantly reinvent itself, as always. As a business location, Düsseldorf is a bit more down-to-earth,” says Kronen.