Berlin Fashion Week: what's next after its comeback?

A huge, silver-coloured inflatable sculpture by artist Eben Weile Kjaer towers into the 31-metre-high Hall of Honour at Berlin's Palais am Funkturm. In the minutes that followed, a runway show inspired by the legend of the dragon-slayer George unfolded around this monstrous figure. The models' outfits played with the fluid identities of the present through the lens of medieval archetypes. Is the hero figure a single mother in the big city and the princess a satire on masculinity?

The show by London-based label Lueder last summer was heralded by the voice of a creature resembling a medieval bard. It echoed from the gallery of the hall, almost as if it was heralding the rebirth of Berlin Fashion Week. The presentation and apparel could hardly be more different from what was shown there just over three years ago. In the same premises of Messe Berlin, trade fairs such as Premium and Panorama made some of their final appearances before closing down.

This part of the Berlin Fashion Week saga as a commercially successful trade fair city now seems a distant memory. While the trade fairs celebrated record visitor numbers, the Fashion Week's creative image suffered. Both the shows and the fairs were considered too commercial. In Paris showrooms, emerging labels were cautioned against showing in the German capital due to its image.

Following the departure of long-standing sponsor Mercedes Benz, the city of Berlin repositioned the event three years ago. Under Mercedes Benz, the fashion week had reached its first peak but had recently fallen into a creative standstill. Following the departure of long-time sponsor Mercedes Benz—under whose patronage Fashion Week reached its first pinnacle but had ultimately fallen into creative stagnation—the city of Berlin repositioned the event three years ago. The Senate of Berlin, the government of the German capital, commissioned the Fashion Council Germany to organize Fashion Week. Among other functions, the association coordinates the Berlin Fashion Week program and handles international guest management for the event.

Creating a new image

Through a clever, gradual expansion of invited media guests, the Fashion Council has managed to change the external perception of Berlin over the past three years. Initially, it was difficult to attract trade press and content creators with invitations that included travel and accommodation. Now, the Fashion Council Germany receives more requests than there are places available in its guest management programme.

In 2019, industry magazine Women's Wear Daily wondered what the future held for Berlin Fashion Week, only to conclude four years later that “Berlin Fashion Week is finally finding its momentum.” German media outlets are also striking a more positive tone. Similarly, hip pop culture titles such as New York's Paper Magazine attested in April that Berlin Fashion Week is gaining momentum again. This should come as no surprise given the current direction: the catwalk is dominated by independent labels that are not afraid to make statements, including political ones. Creative experimentation and inclusivity paired with a subversive touch make up the charm of Berlin these days.

Last July, the city once again succeeded in harnessing the potential of its creatives and businesses. The long-established Berlin-based label Ottolinger showed for the first time. Singer Kim Petras walked as the first model on the runway. The audience included Stefano Pilati, the former creative director of Yves Saint Laurent, who is now based in Berlin.

The Ottolinger show was one of the highlights of the fashion week and the finale of the Interventions presentation format, organised by the creative agency Reference Studios. It also featured hot brands such as GmbH and Lueder. The influential magazine 032c hosted a dinner and a showroom for the first time, where the fashion collection of the eponymous label was on display. Berlin-based e-commerce group Zalando also hosted a dinner.

Targeted funding

Shows on this scale and the rise of the fashion week would be unthinkable without the support of the Berlin Senate. Since Mercedes Benz withdrew its sponsorship, the fashion week has received four million euros per year, or two million euros per season.

The funds fuel the international guest program and the core organization of Berlin Fashion Week by the Fashion Council Germany, alongside the "Interventions" format by Reference Studios. And most importantly, a key to ensuring an appealing runway program over the long term: each season, an international jury selects around 18 labels, each of which receives €25,000 to present in Berlin. The prizes for the Berlin Contemporary competition are also covered by state and EU funds.

“Outside of Berlin, there is simply no framework for young brands to put on a show of this quality and scale,” said Mario Keine in the Fashion Council's showroom during the previous Berlin Fashion Week. The designer has shown several times during the fashion week with his label Marke, which he founded in 2022.

In cities like Paris, such financial support does not exist, and the Berlin prize money would not even cover a venue in the French capital, explained Keine. There, an emerging label would also immediately compete for attention with the major fashion houses and brands.

“The press we get here, I would have to fight to get even a fraction of the quality of guests,” said the founder of the label Marke. A show helps with brand awareness and how stores perceive a brand. “Collections always sell better when items have been shown on the runway."

More supporters

Thanks to targeted funding over several seasons, a solid cast of dedicated brands with multifaceted shows and collections that capture the zeitgeist has now been established. Besides Marke, these include labels such as Richert Beil; SF1OG; Lou de Bètoly; Sia Arnika; Milk of Lime; and Namilia.

In light of the repeated cuts in Berlin's budget, which have already hit areas such as culture and education, the question arises as to the future of financial support for the fashion week.

Funding for Fashion Week has so far been provided by the Berlin Senate Department for Economics, Energy, and Public Enterprises. The presence of Michael Biel, State Secretary for Economics, at the Berlin Fashion Week show suggests that the success of the event is dear to the Senate's heart.

“Fashion is an engine of innovation for Berlin, and this must continue to be reflected financially,” said Biel during an interview in July.

The Senate was able to implement its intention in the double budget for Berlin 2026/27. “The funding for Berlin Fashion Week, amounting to around four million euros annually, has been maintained; smaller savings targets within this framework have been implemented,” a Senate spokesperson said on Wednesday by e-mail. “All formats and prizes will continue to be funded without change.”

The financial support has been secured for the time being. However, with elections in Berlin on September 20, no one can predict whether a future government will continue to back the fashion week as before, given the capital's financial circumstances. The organisers behind the fashion week agree that Berlin Fashion Week needs to attract more private funding in the long term.

The Fashion Council already organises the Metamorphosis Talks and designer presentations as part of Raum.Berlin with the help of US e-commerce company Ebay. In July, the aforementioned Berlin-based online retailer Zalando hosted a dinner with Reference Studios, where a preview of the latest collection by London designer Sinéad O’Dwyer was showcased through a Shibari performance.

The head of the Berlin agency, Mumi Haiati, would like to see more collaborations with fashion companies. “My main concern is that the major German players get involved, that they invest in Berlin and Germany,” he said in an interview in July. “We now have the international press on site and have set new standards that can compete internationally. The potential is there, and it is now being recognised. We can and should build on that.”

"An international hub"

In recent seasons, the restless mastermind of the fashion world has succeeded in bringing designers and guests to Berlin with names that made people take notice. Rapper Kanye West attended the show of Anonymous Club, the label of New York-based designer Shayne Oliver, concealed under his hood. That was in July 2024. At last summer's edition, Blumarine's creative director David Koma presented the spring/summer 2026 collection for his own label. The British label Mowalola also made its Berlin debut with a pop-up at Reference Studios, where fans lined up in long queues.

“Our thinking starts locally. However, our goal is to be an international hub that stands above all for creative excellence,” said Haiati, whose agency is known for its hype-worthy events. “This season, we were able to generate even more momentum.”

Intriguing international labels boost the image and program, adding variety to a fresh season. The organizers of Berlin Fashion Week recognized these benefits and reserved five of the 19 prizes in the Berlin Contemporary competition for international labels for the Fall/Winter 2026 season. This attracted fashion designers such as Kenneth Ize and John Lawrence Sullivan to present their collections for the first time.

Berlin's image has now changed so much that more and more designers and labels are choosing to show in the city, even without financial subsidies. For example, emerging designer Genaro Rivas self-funded his show in July, with the Peruvian embassy providing the venue.

“Berlin has always been on my radar. When the opportunity arose to present my work here, I decided to take it,” explained Rivas by email. The London College of Fashion graduate had previously shown his collections four times at London Fashion Week.

Clear positioning

Other designers, such as Vladimir Karaleev, returned to Berlin Fashion Week after a long break of eight years. “I have shown off-schedule several times, but this time the moment was right,” said the designer. With the support of the Fashion Council, he showed a conceptual capsule in July. At the upcoming fashion week, he will present an installation that explores shirts as a modular system on Sunday. His eponymous label continues to present its regular collections to buyers in its Paris showroom, but he is closely following developments in the German capital.

“The context of Berlin Fashion Week is becoming increasingly interesting, as important international stores are now present and the fashion scene here is positioning itself more clearly,” said Karaleev. He met his most important retail partners since founding his label in 2010 during Berlin Fashion Week. “I often see buyers in Paris who are very overwhelmed by the number of brands. Here, I feel they can take more time to discover brands.”

Karaleev is one of the designers who experienced the heyday of Berlin Fashion Week and is still in business. Until the 2010s, buyers from all over the world came to Berlin, primarily attracted by the Bread & Butter and Premium Group trade fairs. Exciting labels like Perret Schaad and Nobi Talai showed on the runways. However, many could not survive, as it has always been difficult for small designer labels to find their market. Although Germany is Europe's largest fashion market, the average customer tends to favour affordable mainstream fashion over high-priced, experimental designs.

After the end of Bread & Butter, the commercial image of Berlin Fashion Week began to overshadow its creative one. The proportion of international trade fair visitors declined. Emerging, trendy labels could no longer identify with the fashion week's image.

That is all in the past now, but what does Berlin want to stand for alongside the other fashion weeks? In Paris, the business of designer fashion continues to take place in the showrooms. London has long been considered the place to discover emerging designers.

“A great addition”

“It is a great addition to Milan, Paris, London and New York,” said Stavros Karelis, founder of Machine-A, a store specialising in emerging designers. “It is a place of exploration. There is so much emerging talent that I love being here and exploring this. That's what I find the most attractive being in Berlin, is the emerging talent.“

Buzigahill, Marke, Richard Beil and Haderlump are labels that have caught Karelis' attention during his visits, and he is considering placing orders with them.

“I think they can be very viable commercially,” he said in a conversation in July. “I see their communities and I see which customers their products can appeal to.”

It is important for him to observe a label's development for a few seasons before adding it to his store. The relationship between designers and Machine-A is much more than just a business one. “A lot of times they will come to me and we'll discuss advice on how to handle other relationships around them, you know, like, whether that's with other stores, you know, activations, direction with their own brand. So, I'm very close to most of the designers that we're working with," Karelis said.

Karelis attends Berlin Fashion Week in a dual role, as a buyer for Machine-A and as a jury member for the concept competition that decides on the allocation of funding for runway shows and events.

In addition to Karelis, Chloe King, a buyer for the US department store group Saks Global, and a buyer from the Japanese luxury department store Isetan also attended last summer. In the future, the Fashion Council plans to invite even more buyers, while the guest list for media will remain at its current level. The Fashion Week is intended to be more than just a presentation platform.

“Distribution is important, as is Paris as an international location for showrooms and agencies. However, we are convinced that Berlin will also have more to offer in terms of distribution in the future,” said Scott Lipinski, chief executive officer of the Fashion Council Germany, in an interview in July.

Between creativity and commerce

The label SF1OG showed for the first time at Berlin Fashion Week four years ago and has since built up a small network of concept stores in Taiwan, Japan, China and the US. Wholesale now accounts for 70 percent of product sales, and the label is growing by 50 to 100 percent each year, said co-founder and brand manager Jacob Langemeyer.

“Berlin Fashion Week definitely gave us visibility at the beginning,” he explained in a voice message. Receiving this stage to present products to the international press and to grow the brand was “a kick-start” for the young label.

Two years after founding the label, he and designer Rosa Marga Dahl discovered that the label's core market is in Asia, outside of Europe. The 40,000 euro prize money from the UGG Changemaker Prize helped the label with the commercial development of the collection and the financing of a showroom in Paris. Langemeyer still meets most of his buyers in the French capital; so far, one or two contacts have been made through Berlin.

An acquaintance recently complained that Berlin is now only home to subculture and no longer commercially relevant. A buyer remarked after a runway show last summer that the labels in Berlin are too niche. The disappearance of the major trade fairs was a creative liberation. However, the question remains as to how the fashion week can establish itself to be commercially in the long term. However, the dilemma between commerce and creativity that the German capital is facing, is not a new paradox in fashion.

The organisers of Berlin Fashion Week are clear that they intend to work on bringing more buyers to the city. At the same time, they emphasize that the timing must be right. “Of course, our ultimate goal is for orders to be placed here as well. I do not believe, however, that you can simply force this on something that does not yet have the network for it,” said Lipinski. “The right distribution measures should take place in Berlin at the right time.”

Opening a showroom and sitting down with sales staff would be ill-advised right now if no orders are ultimately placed. That would not be conducive to the positive narrative that the Fashion Council and other leaders behind Berlin Fashion Week have built up over recent seasons. “Then it is no longer a positive circle, but a vicious one, and people will speak ill of it again because something was done at the wrong time,” said Lipinski.

This article was translated to English using an AI tool.

FashionUnited uses AI language tools to speed up translating (news) articles and proofread the translations to improve the end result. This saves our human journalists time they can spend doing research and writing original articles. Articles translated with the help of AI are checked and edited by a human desk editor prior to going online. If you have questions or comments about this process email us at info@fashionunited.com