Online retailers Zalando announced that Berlin’s consumer facing fashion festival, Bread&&Butter, will not be taking place next year. Over the past three years, the show has attracted brands, music talent and international hype in a way that Berlin Fashion Week has never really been able to. Especially with streetwear brands, the fair was able to attract big names, provide exclusive launches and become a hotspot for European influencers. In its absence, the city will have a void to fill.
Berlin is definitely a major fashion capital, but it has never been good at providing a meaningful platform for its designers in the way that Paris and Milan, or even Copenhagen have been able to do. Although the city is home to buzz-worthy designers who have their ateliers in Berlin, brands like GmbH and Ottolinger often choose to show abroad to avail of the buyers and press that are available to luxury brands during other fashion weeks. Berlin has only hosted a fashion week for a little over a decade, so it’s difficult to compete with other cities that have a half-century or more experience and heritage. Still, the city is hungry for something.
Bread&&Butter seemed to fit the wild child German capital because it was not trying to follow someone else’s patter. It was definitely an industry event, but its public-facing perspective put more emphasis on the new closeness that brands have with social media and influencers. Musicians like Lauren Hill, Princess Nokia, M.I.A., and FKA Twigs have all taken to its stage and panelists included everyone from Dame Vivian Westwood to Adowa Abowah and Jaden Smith.
Photograph by Sam Smelty. Courtesy of Zalando.
The fact that it focused on exclusive drops, instead of seasonal collections, also did well to cater to a streetwear audience that responds to clothing that’s linked to a specific place in time or collaboration. It even succeeded at showing off some local talent like, streetwear brand 032c – who ordinarily do not show in Berlin – featuring their partnership with footballer Jerome Boateng as part of the Berlin festival.
Zalando co-Founder, David Schneider, told the local press yesterday that the Bread&&Butter was not discontinued because of the German e-commerce giant’s sinking stock price, but repeatedly dodged questions about how much it cost the company to put on the festival. He also said that the company still holds the rights to Bread&&Butter so it will definitely not be appearing in the upcoming year with new owners.
Even with the collapse of this platform and Berlin talent showing elsewhere, the world’s creative class still has a love affair with the German capital. Let’s keep our fingers crossed that they will find something to fill the Bread&&Butter-shaped hole in the city’s fashion scene.