NEWS: Annual General Meeting 2025: Fashion Council Germany celebrates its tenth anniversary in Berlin – and continues to rely on a strong quintet on its board

Berlin, November 27, 2025 : “Never Change A Winning Team” – this could be the headline for the annual general meeting of the Fashion Council Germany (FCG): In the presence of numerous participants, our Chairwoman Christiane Arp as well as the other board members Marie-Louise Berg (CEO, Berg Communications), Roel de Cooman (VP Global Sales, haebmau.ATELIER), Simone Hartmann (Managing Partner, Hartmann Consultants) and Dirk Schönberger (Global Chief Brand Officer, MCM) were confirmed in their honorary positions on Thursday at the Zoo Palast cinema in Berlin.

With this appointment, the board, elected for a two-year term, further strengthens the FCG as a competence cluster with expertise in media, sales, design, human resources, and political networking. There are, however, changes to the Advisory Board: Our representative advisory board will now be complemented by entrepreneur Janina Lin Otto (Chairwoman of the Board, Holistic Foundation), sustainability expert Magdalena Schaffrin (CEO, studio MM04), and communications specialist Philipp Wolff, who will assume the chairmanship of the Advisory Board.

In addition to the central agenda item of the board election and the announcement of the new executive committee members, the FCG members were informed about the positive financial developments of the club, the status of its far-reaching initiatives and about new projects that are currently in the planning phase and will be implemented in the coming year.

In a detailed presentation, Scott Lipinski, CEO of the Fashion Council Germany, drew a positive conclusion, highlighting successes achieved in political networking. "For example, through a commission from the Senate Department for Economics, Energy and Public Enterprises, we have been responsible for the strategic realignment and overall coordination of Berlin Fashion Week for several seasons now." The format has since evolved steadily and has been able to reach an increasingly larger international audience.

The close exchange with political stakeholders was further underscored by the participation of Dr. Christian Ehler, Member of the European Parliament and member of the Advisory Board of the Fashion Council Germany, at the Annual General Meeting. Gitta Connemann, Parliamentary State Secretary at the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy, also accepted our invitation and delivered an impressive keynote address. Thus , we not only look back on a successful anniversary year in 2025, but also forward with great enthusiasm to the next decade of the FCG.

Speaking of anniversaries: The meeting was preceded by a dinner celebrating our tenth anniversary, which we hosted on Wednesday evening at the Restaurant Beast together with our official partner eBay – located in the historic Pressecafé, a historically and socially significant site in Berlin. In front of 220 guests from media, politics, and the city's community, Kirsty Keoghan, General Manager Fashion & Luxury at eBay, highlighted the success of the FCG and the collaboration in her speech.

In her address, Christiane Arp recalled our overarching mission: “ We wanted to establish fashion in and from Germany as a cultural and economic asset, especially to offer young talents a platform to make them visible both nationally and internationally, and to build bridges to the clothing industry, business, and politics. ” Since then, numerous programs have been established, “ each one of which contributes to our vision. ”

Among the evening's guests were Michael Biel (State Secretary, Senate Department for Economics, Energy and Public Enterprises), Johanna Dramé (Advisor for the Fashion Industry, Senate Department for Economics, Energy and Public Enterprises), Frank Fischer (Head of Department for Cultural and Creative Industries, Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy), Mandy Krüger (Head of Fashion, eBay Germany), Timo Weber (CEO, KaDeWe), Heiko Desens (VP Creative Direction, Puma), Patrick Pendiuk (Fashion Features Director, VOGUE Germany), Herbert Hofmann (VP Creative Director, High Snobiety), John Cloppenburg (Member of the Advisory Board, Fashion Council Germany), Mumi Haiati (CEO, Reference Studios), Kristian Schuller (Photographer), Philipp Bree (CEO, PB0110), Bianca Lang-Bognár (Editor-in-Chief, S-Magazin; Managing Director, brookmedia), and numerous designers, including Sia Arnika, Fiona Bennett, Alan Balletshofer, and Anne Bernecker, Johannes Böhl-Cronau (Ioannes) and Odély Teboul (Lou de Bétoly).