#30 – VORN Academy II: Loom, Circular Luxury from Emerging Talents

Show notes

VORN – The Berlin Fashion Hub has been uniting local stakeholders, innovators, and designers for nearly two years. In that time, one of their most noteworthy projects has been the VORN Academy, a program for emerging designers to learn strategies and develop products for a circular fashion ecosystem. The 10 finalists of VORN Academy II: Loom showcased their final pieces during Berlin Fashion Week in February 2024 at VORN. The garments and accessories were paired with a virtual showroom of the work, accessible world wide.

This episode features Marte Hentschel, co-founder and co-CEO of VORN, and Lara Gesche, the Senior Manager of Corporate Citizenship at Zalando, who worked together to develop this iteration of the VORN Academy. With 202030 Podcast host Max Gilgenmann, they discuss the journey in supporting the recent cohort of emerging talent in more sustainable fashion design and circular innovation. Zalando was the key partner of VORN Academy II: Loom, and Lara underscores the importance of building up innovation topics among upcoming designers, as well as the need for innovation scouting to identify the best-in-class solutions and connect complementary skills and resources. The luxury sector in particular needs interdisciplinary collaboration, complete with a designated space for entrepreneurs to collaborate, experiment, and scale their impact.

Looking to the future, Marte and Lara tease that the third iteration “Design Academy by VORN & Zalando” is already in the making. Interested potential participants can sign up for the VORN Newsletter to stay up to date on the call for entry.

For more information on the VORN Academy II: Loom: https://vorn-hub.com/academy-program-ii-loom

Sign up for the VORN – The Berlin Fashion Hub newsletter: https://vorn-hub.com/letsconnect

More about Zalando’s corporate citizenship initiatives: https://corporate.zalando.com/en/our-impact/societal-engagement-and-corporate-citizenship-zalando

Tickets are now on sale for 202030 – The Berlin Fashion Summit’s 8th edition in July 2024: https://202030summit.com/tickets

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