Review thekey.to 2011 - Conspiracy

With Berlin’s Columbiahalle donning a new look for the occasion, the fourth edition showed more than 50 fashion labels and designers from 15 nations, and well and truly kicked off the next phase for Thekey.to. More visitors were counted than at past events and more sales-generating discussions took place. The venue change proved to be positive, with both exhibitors and visitors welcoming its close proximity to Tempelhof Airport.

"THEKEY.TO CONSPIRACY was our most successful edition yet. We are more than satisfied!"said co-founder Gereon Pilz van der Grinten. "The theme was provocative - and yet, as intended, the message was well received, discussed and understood by the exhibitors and the press. The conspiracy was open to all. thekey.to yet again served as a platform for the sustainable textile scene. There was a meeting of nearly all the Europe-based Eco-Fashion Professionals. Never before has thekey.to attracted so many international labels and visitors as we did this time, in January 2011."

Something that thekey.to has long since recognised, and in fact saw as the building blocks of its development is attracting increasing backing. Namely – that the so-called 'trend' of sustainable production and in particular fashion, is not in fact a trend – rather it is an approach that is more and  more called for in the consumer-oriented society at large. 'Eco Fashion' – fashion with more than just an aesthetic value is progressively creeping into the mainstream.

Initiated by the thekey.to, this year Berlin Fashion Week brought together all the green fashion events and presented them collectively under the banner “Eco Fashion Days”. In this thekey.to serves as a platform for trendsetting developments to be shown and where fashion with more than just 'green' conscience is on offer.

To the grand opening evening the patron Renate Künast from the political party “Bündnis90/ Die Grünen” was welcomed to the fair. She enjoyed meeting with new exhibitors and perusing their products with great interest while leading the press tour around the show. “We still need to try and expand the scope of eco-fashion presented in Fashion Week – there is still an additional message to get across. If one looks at food purchasing, the practice of buying organic products is already very established and relatively widespread – and the same also needs to become true in the purchasing of fashion garments. Sustainable production practice needs to be enforced more heavily in all areas, especially in the field of business-wear. We need a hallmark with mandatory standards, which would signify whether a product was produced under environmentally and socially acceptable conditions” said Künast.

After the busy press reception followed the fashion show Collaboration "In Your Skin". The selected outfits reflected the full diversity of 'green' fashion - capturing the essence and spirit of the trade show’s theme and vision of the individual designers.

“We were very pleased with the visitor turnout. The range and quality of the visitors at the thekey.to is our top priority and has increased considerably. Our aim is to bring the next events and our vision even more into the center of the fashion world, "said founder Frans Prins. For both founders the overall concept is very important. "We are careful to make sure that our ‘green’ values are respected every step of the way from the innovative exhibition architecture to our partners, such as our corporate account with 'green' bank Triodos and the fact that the CO2 impact of the event is compensated by projects of the company Ecogood. For us, doing business in this manner is just second nature, but others it is still avant-garde," said Prins.

Not only was ACCELERATION applied to discussion around the green movement, but also to the development of the event itself. This edition saw the unveiling of a new area along side the existing Magazine and Bakery, called the Gallery showcasing sustainable lifestyle design products. Other major expansions to the event’s program included the inaugural Fashion Show, a 6 day sustainable fashion business training program, called The Academy and a public-focused area called the Supershop, attracting sustainable shoppers, information-seekers and DIY workshoppers.

As with previous editions, thekey.to showed its continued support for art in the field of sustainability. But, for this first time this edition, one such artwork was chosen to feature as the key visual for the event campaign. “Back to the Futurama”, the thought-provoking work from New York artist Jeremy Dean, featuring a Hummer converted to be drawn by horses, was selected to the theme.

thekey.to proudly presented an amazing international selection of brands, including the already established through to the promising new comers, each with their complete collections, distinct styles and stories.

Alongside the brands, thekey.to also showed its support for young, up and coming designers by presenting the four winning outfits from of the ‘Ready to Green’ competition, in collaboration with online platform, Dawanda.

By the end of the 3 day event, thekey.to had welcomed a great variety of visitors, including international press, buyers from a variety of department stores and boutiques from within Germany and all over the world. 

All in all, only after a year since opening the first edition, thekey.to has made great progress, proving that it is a strong engine for change and ACCELERATION!