Martan you may know it from Amsterdam Fashion Week, or you may even already have a piece (or two) from the brand in your closet. With a sustainable view on fashion and innovative design, Martan knows how to win the hearts of more and more fashion lovers – the brand (led by Diek Pothoven and Douwe de Boer) makes clothing from rejected luxury hotel linen and post-consumer waste materials, with CO2 emissions that are 82 percent lower than those of brands that use virgin cotton.
It is therefore no surprise to us that the brand has won an award. In Copenhagen Martan was allowed to do this earlier this week Grand Prize receive during the Global Fashion Summit.
The Global Fashion Summit
And that one Grand Prizewhich, as the name suggests, is not the least. The Global Fashion Summit is organized annually by the Global Fashion Agenda and is seen as one of the leading sustainability events in the international fashion industry.
Key figures from the fashion world are involved in the Summit – from the management of LVMH to the chief sustainability officer of Kering. Fashion brands from all over the world were in the running for the prize that was ultimately awarded to Martan – more than 600 brands participated. Fifteen of them were invited to the Global Fashion Summit, four of which received a prize of 10,000 euros and Martan went home with the Grand Prize: a cash prize of 20,000 euros, an intensive mentorship program and a direct collaboration with an innovator from the Global Fashion Agenda aimed at a joint product launch later this year.
Martan on winning the prize
After receiving the award, Pothoven shared with the audience: ‘This means a lot to us. Because we see that a lot sustainable brands around us lose sight of their values, simply because the competition from unsustainable brands is unfair and too great. This kind of recognition ensures that we can keep a close eye on our goal. But more than that: We are drowning in advice, but without time and money you can’t do anything with it. A prize like this ensures real growth.’
