Things are happening in Düsseldorf, host to fashion fairs. The fashion industry in the capital of North Rhine-Westphalia state last Tuesday founded the ‘Fashion Net Düsseldorf' club with the aim of positioning Düsseldorf more strongly as a city of fashion in competition with its international rivals. A seven-figure sum is to be spent in the coming years on intensifying promotion. At the same time the association will act as a high-powered central coordination unit to focus activities for the fashion capital. Alongside municipal representatives and prominent fashion labels, the founder members include Werner Matthias Dornscheidt, chief executive officer of exhibition company Messe Düsseldorf, and Philipp Kronen, managing partner of the Igedo Company. All founder members are sharing in the association funding.
In a parallel development, in a bid to reposition itself the Düsseldorf fashion fair CPD (July 26 to 28, 2009) is dispensing with men's fashion on the fairground. ank