Spotlight on green fashion at BioFach 2009

BioFach will be 20 and more than 2,900 exhibitors at BioFach and Vivaness, the world trade fairs for organic products and natural personal care and wellness, provide information on the global trends in organic and natural personal care products for more than 46,000 trade visitors in the Nürnberg exhibition centre from 19-22 February 2009. The birthday highlights include the newly set up Textile Area at BioFach in hall 7, where some 40 exhibitors of green fashion and natural textiles present their latest creations. Besides textiles produced in harmony with nature from traditional exhibitors, the visitors can also admire the collections from aspiring labels: BioFach is to become the future eldorado for fashion fans, who attach value to informed consumption and clothing produced by ecologically and ethically correct means.

“The trend to green fashion and ethical buying behaviour when it comes to clothing can’t be missed. Informed consumption is no longer restricted to food only, so redesigning the presentation of the textile segment at the World Organic Trade Fair was an obvious step. International customers increasingly question the origin of their clothing and the production conditions. According to experts, they want to combine style with a clear conscience and have high expectations of the design. We are delighted to offer a suitable platform for manufacturers and visitors at BioFach 2009,” explains Udo Funke, Exhibition Director of BioFach and Vivaness at NürnbergMesse. The stylish ambience of the lounge in the Textile Area invites visitors to communicate, discuss and make contact. Specific presentations at the BioFach Congress provide information about current developments in the market segment of green fashion.
 

Clothing produced in harmony with nature with careful use of resources has excellent market prospects. Organic Exchange of Oakland, the American lobby group for organic cotton, forecasts a rise in sales of products made from organic cotton from 583 million in 2005 to 2.5 billion US dollars in 2008 in the retail trade alone, according to the German market research company Zukunftsinstitut in its study on the Lohas target group. 65 % of consumers are mainly concerned with whether they like the item of clothing, but as many as one-third of the customers interviewed in the Socialwear 2006 customer monitor of the Frankfurt textile magazine Textilwirtschaft at least occasionally ask when buying whether the clothes concerned are ethical fashion, and also want to pay more attention to sustainability of clothes in the future.
 

Organic Exchange assumes worldwide sales of almost 100,000 t of organic cotton in 2010. This equates to a 0.4 % share of the worldwide cotton crop, which experts put at about 25 million t. According to the German Greenpeace magazine, 40 % of organic cotton originates from Turkey and 32 % from India, followed by China (7.7 %), Peru (3.5 %) and Uganda (3.1 %). Worldwide sales of organic cotton are to rise to 6.8 billion US dollars by 2010.
 

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