The “Münchner Modepreis” has been awarded four times since 2015, most recently in 2022. What’s different about its 2025 incarnation under the new name of “Munich Fashion Award”?
OK: The City of Munich Council commissioned us to develop the Münchner Modepreis into a sustainability award with international cachet. The previous awards had only been aimed at graduates from Munich’s fashion schools—of which, unfortunately, there are only two. This new Munich Fashion Award is now aimed at emerging international designers who are already active and achieving their first successes in the industry. If a sustainability award is to create an impact, it needs to support concepts that have a proven track record of feasibility and scalability.
o the Munich Fashion Award promotes sustainable initiatives.
OK: We support designers seeking to scale up their promising concepts. You see, scalability is often a make-or-break for sustainability concepts. This award uniquely aims to address the entire supply chain of the fashion industry and turn the spotlight on solutions that already exist.
MS: We’re looking for technological solutions that will help to accelerate the shift towards sustainability in the supply chain.
Who was appointed to the Advisory Board?
MS: Twelve high-caliber players in the fields of fashion, sustainability, and technology, who reflect the various facets of the award. Their involvement provides us with access to networks that will enhance the reputation of the award.
OK: As board members, they will support us for a two-year term. We strove to reach a balance between local Munich color and a European dimension. On this basis, a jury will be appointed for the two style awards presented by the City of Munich: Ready-to-Wear Collections and Accessories.
Business is booming for Temu and Shein. Fast fashion is omnipresent. What leverage do you have against these powerful market forces?
MS: None whatsoever. All we can do is to try to win people over to good fashion with the topics we address, and continue to drive the issue of sustainability. There’s absolutely nothing we can do about disposable fashion. We would need regulations, and unfortunately they aren’t up to us. We can only make a small contribution …
OK: … but not an insignificant one, assuming the award ends up developing the impact we anticipate. It is intended to serve as a beacon, raising the profile of the event and turning the spotlight on best practices that we can then help to scale up. That’s our goal: to shine a light on existing technological solutions and raise their visibility.
What does that scaling up involve?
OK: On the one hand, we are currently seeking sponsors that are willing to fund technology awards in five categories. Alongside that, we are collaborating with companies that will supply their technologies, in the form of mentoring and masterclasses, to the winners of the fashion and accessories awards as part of the prize. This approach is vital to help award-winners scale up their sustainability concepts.
How do you see the award developing, and what could it mean for European fashion?
OK: By appointing a judging panel of credible, respected experts and holding credible awards ceremonies, we have the opportunity to build our reputation as a meaningful award, presented by a body with democratic legitimacy and free from any taint of greenwashing, which genuinely supports future-facing concepts.
MS: Our hope is that award-winners will receive a substantial boost, build their networks, grow their activities, and be able to expand their business models on a sustainable long-term basis with the technological support they receive—from chemical finishing treatments and innovative fibers and fabrics to greater transparency throughout the supply chain and improved working standards. In my view, this combination of aesthetics and technology will be a game changer over the long term. There’s nothing like it anywhere else.
OK: And we hope the award will become increasingly attractive and prestigious among industry partners, too.
Do you see the award as the starting signal for a renaissance in the European fashion industry?
OK: No, that would be far too presumptuous.
But the potential to restore manufacturing operations in Europe would be there?
OK: That can’t be our aim. With expectations like those, the only way is failure.
MS: We have to be realistic. Because we take an overview of the entire value chain, we have the potential to make a small contribution to the issue of how we can shape European fashion along sustainable lines.
OK: Of course we have the potential to reawaken interest in Munich as a fashion hub. Alongside that, there are certainly possibilities for bringing parts of the value chain back to Germany. That’s also the goal of the European Union’s agenda for industry. Take Adidas’ experimental smart factory, an Industry 2.0 facility that will return at least parts of the value chain to Germany by introducing technologization. That could be a great side-effect of the award, but it isn’t realistic as an overall aim.
What thoughts might you find running through your head on the day after the awards ceremony?
OK: What a great beginning, with so much potential for growth.
MS: Look at what we’ve done! Let’s do it again next year! We hope the City of Munich council will recognize the value of the event and continue to allocate substantial funding. There’s so much more to it than just fashion. Sustainable fashion by young creative designers always captures a spark of hope for a positive, beautiful, and sustainable future. The world could be reinvented at any moment In a new, positive, and sustainable light.
Awards ceremony at the Haus der Kommunikation on May 15, 2025
Exhibition of work by all nominees from the two categories of Ready-to-Wear Collections and Accessories.
Awards ceremony, fashion show, and networking event
Exhibition and conference on May 16, 2025