CCB Magazine

The “digital revolution” is changing the fashion industry as fundamentally as the first two industrial revolutions did, for better or worse. One thing is clear: In the future, we will no longer consume as we did in the past. Soon we will stop producing the way we produce now. Above all, however, we can combine ecological standards with the latest technologies like never before in history. And we should make the most of that, especially in a city like Berlin.

BY MARTE HENTSCHEL (fashion designer and CEO of the Sourcebook platform)

Does anyone remember the first two industrial revolutions? Well, they really had it in them. The first gave rise to the textile industry from the second half of the 18th century, the second separated hand and head, with machines replacing manual work. People toiled in rattling factories for 12 to 14 hours a day – without safety precautions, no minimum breaks, and no rights. In the middle of the 18th century, industrialisa­tion produced the modern textile industry, the bourgeoisie emerged – and so did bourgeois fashion. Until 1880, how­ever, the textile industry didn’t really play a significant role in Germany. Afterwards, and especially in Berlin, the textile in­dustry turned into a prospering industry. Later, labour rights prevailed. Today Berlin is one of the leading fashion capi­tals in Europe along with cities such as Dusseldorf, Paris or London.

Now we’re having this sort of a “revolution” again. And the “digital revolution” is changing the fashion industry as fundamentally as the two first industrial revolutions once did. Initially this has proved to be rather opaque and involves a lot of pros and cons. Suddenly, even abandoned manual work is en vogue again. Digitalisation is the forerunner over­all, but also bears inherent risks – with all the consequences and side effects, especially for the many small labels and mi­cro­enterprises in this city making Berlin what it is: one of the most interesting fashion metropolises in the world.

The dynamic growth of online commerce is accelerating the transformation of the industry like never before. In the future, we will also see 3D printers that produce mass­produced goods. The demand for short delivery times and individualised products will increase

 I myself have been involved in this ‘digital revolution’ for years – as a fashion designer, networker, and consultant. In 2015, we launched Sourcebook in Berlin, an exchange plat­form for fashion designers and producers for acquiring and networking in the city. Digitalisation is associated with two key developments and challenges. First, the dynamic growth of online commerce is accelerating the transformation of the industry like never before. It is already foreseeable that the value chains of the textile industry will for the most part be automated in a few years, especially in the areas of produc­tion and logistics. The first integrated purchasing process­es are already available in a wide variety of locations, so that digital and virtual concepts can be combined by, for exam­ple, providing products with QR codes that allow customers to order the products via their smartphone. In the future, we will also see 3D printers that produce mass­produced goods. The demand for short delivery times and individualised prod­ucts will generally increase, and production times will be fur­ther reduced. 

The Sourcebook team. Photo: © Daniel Gebhardt

On the other hand, there will be a shift of production require­ments to the consumer markets – ‘Production on Demand’ is already a trend. Initially, for the small labels, that really doesn’t mean anything positive. After all, the potential it represents so far, its local anchoring, a kind of direct economy due to the proximity between manufacturers and consumers, is completely under scrutiny. Consumer habits and customer expectations will change so drastically in the future so that the classic offers in central city locations that are in competi­tion with e­commerce product ranges are increasingly com­ing under pressure. The large providers are already reacting to the demand for shorter delivery times and individualising products – even on site. Take Adidas, for example: Adidas re­cently launched the Knit For You In­Store Manufacturing pro­ject at the Bikinihaus. Here you can try on the latest sneakers, ‘digitally’. Basically, that’s a great thing. Foot measurements and running habits are scanned, then the personally opti­mised shoe is made – the customer becomes a co­creator. But on the one hand, as online commerce increases and the small boutiques struggle to survive because it can jeopar­dise their local roots, on the other hand, the individualised do­it­yourself shoe suddenly finds its feet through the large providers. However, small companies can’t yet afford to par­ticipate in this suburban game with digital individual fitting.

The local roots and a kind of direct economy of the small labels in Berlin are completely put to the test by the online trade. At the same time, digitalization creates new forms of transparency and produces more sustainable productions

Second, digitalisation also does a lot of good. Above all, it creates a new form of transparency and generates more sustainable production­processes and new collaborations. Even now, successful and marketable product and service innovations in the fashion and textile markets require more and more interdisciplinary cooperation between designers, developers and production companies. Currently, exciting, new participation programmes are establishing themselves in Berlin, which are based on interdisciplinary cooperation. Take, for example, Textile Prototyping Lab (TPL): With the TPL, Berlin is currently developing Germany’s first open lab­oratory for the development of future­oriented textiles. Sup­ported by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), TPL is developing a textile technology workshop and a textile library in the immediate vicinity of Fab Lab Berlin in the coming months. The laboratories of highly specialised partner institutes supplement this central facility – design­ers, engineers and researchers come together here. Another example is the CRCLR at Agora Rollberg Neukölln. In recent years, a gigantic think tank has developed into new, loopa­ble digital concepts. The Berlin­based fashion designer Ina Budde also sits in the  CRCLR with her company circular.fash­ion and has integrated an initial scannable code in her col­lections, which makes information about supply chains and material production available in seconds via smartphone. Whereas years ago you had to operate investigatively and search for the truth analogously, now everything is digitally verifiable. The NGO WikiRate, also based in Berlin, has re­cently even revealed maladministration in supply chains and forced even the big chains to comply with new standards. Even Zalando, one of the most successful German digital fashion companies based in Berlin, now uses the in­house zImpact project to create new supply chain transparency via WikiRate. 

The novelty of this development is that even small fashion labels are now entering into new, strong alliances with large digitalisation and technology companies, even if the connec­tion between the fashion industry and the start­up world so far remain the exception. Digital platforms and communities such as tbd and Betterplace Lab form a new infrastructure for the growing group of impact companies and social entrepre­neurs who are finding fertile ground in Berlin for meaningful projects in a post­growth economy. New platforms for cus­tomer­brand relationships are also establishing themselves, such as the sustainable fashion fair Neonyt in Berlin together with the blogger and influencer event Pre­Peek. And we our­selves have just launched a new Thinkathon, which invitesdesigners, developers and entrepreneurs to use digital tools to promote the sustainable transformation of the fashion in­dustry. 

This is exactly where we must continue now, because this is what makes Berlin special. Berlin is not Dusseldorf, New York, Paris or London, where the fashion industry is prosper­ing in terms of size economically. In Berlin, even the small­est and the lowest­tier companies have a chance. But there are also no developed entrepreneurial structures in the field of fashion that offer permanent employment. That’s why Crowdfunding has become a ‘digital’ financing alternative for the notoriously under­funded Berlin indie brands, with all the pros and cons. On the one hand, crowdfunding has become an important tool for early­stage and product financing. On the other hand, no jobs are created (as a rule).

What we need in Berlin is an offer of craftsmanship, service providers and the processing industry, because that is the  prerequisite for a prospering infrastructure. And we need support for an ecosystem that makes it possible to integrate analogue craft with digital renewal

 What we need in Berlin is an offer of trades, service providers and the processing industry, because that is the  prerequisite for a prospering infrastructure. And we need support for an ecosystem that makes it possible to integrate analogue craft with digital renewal. There are many approaches. One is to make all packaging recyclable in the future and to avoid the packaging waste that is created by the new online trade: The Germans produce more than 18 million tonnes annually the most packaging waste in the whole of Europe. Solutions are needed here. Another is to favour environmentally friendly resources in the future in terms of tax law and to provide ad­equate start­up capital for companies that already produce sustainably. Digitalisation is the key here, too. Technological innovations make savings potential possible today, since it is easier to manage capacities and resources. At the same time, through the technology of clothing itself, sensors and geo­lo­cation chips, value creation is becoming ever more transpar­ent and new options for creating value and adding value in terms of transparency are becoming evidence of corporate sustainability. And this is exactly where progress needs to be made. We have the first two industrial revolutions behind us; they paved the way for the industrialisation of the fashion in­dustry. The third is ahead of us, making it possible for the first time to combine ecological standards with the latest techno­logical innovations. We would be fools if we failed to exploit this potential, especially in a city like Berlin.

You can find another interview with Marte Hentschel about the Sourcebook service [here]

Profile of Marte Hentschel on Creative City Berlin