Munich Fabric Start, the bi-annual German textile trade show, announced denim industry veteran Panos Sofianos has signed on as Bluezone and new business exhibition manager. Sofianos will be in charge of the content and conceptual design of the show’s new Key House area, serving as a link between Munich Fabric Start and Bluezone.
Key House will be an innovative exhibition area, adding 2,500 additional square meters (8,202-square-feet) to the existing show space. The area will focus on offering a superlative mix of suppliers, as well as industry expertise and trends for the denim and sportswear market.
As a longtime industry insider, Sofianos will facilitate communication with suppliers and brands. He will develop the new presentation platform so that it offers information on new technologies for manufacturers and brands, including added-value functional fabrics and innovative materials.
Sebastian Klinder, managing director of Munich Fabric Start, said, “We are very happy to have Panos Sofianos on board in our Munich team as a long-standing expert in the denim and sportswear market. His extensive know-how as a denim insider allows us to establish an ever more targeted exchange with the industry and to address the industry directly—from the inside-out, so to speak.”
Sofianos previously served as the creative director at Denim Valley by Royo. In the past, he has worked as a denim curator in collaboration with brands like Diesel and Replay and also was the creative director with Hellenic Fabrics.
Sofianos said, “The denim industry is changing extremely rapidly, offering ever new resources for material development. Technology is the buzzword here.” He continued, “In both geographical and technological terms, Germany and especially Munich, as well as the neighboring states offer unrivaled prerequisites for research, development and the expansion of different and novel fabric segments.”
