We Love Fashion!
About VDMD
PROFESSIONAL INDEPENDENCE
The VDMD is the strongest professional representation for fashion and textile designers in Germany. More and more, design is seen as an essential factor for the economic success of a product.
ANCHORING OUR PERFORMANCE
All activities of the association serve to better anchor design performance in politics, in the awareness of the industry, among consumers and in the social context. In addition, it is important to us to generate networks from competent advisory services and to create profound information offers externally and internally.
RECOGNITION AND APPRECIATION
Another important goal of the VDMD is to create more recognition for the profession and the creative potential of its members, their professionalism and experience among industry and trade, the media, politics and the public, and thus to strengthen the industrial creative competence of the entire textile sector.
COMPETITIVE EXCHANGE
We offer our freelance and employed designers, as well as the next generation, a wide range of services to help them and provide them with security in all questions specific to their profession, e.g. law, tax, fees, contracts, applications, costing, presentation, marketing and subsidies, as well as access to the artists' social insurance fund. Equally important to us is a non-competitive exchange among ourselves.
MEDIATION AND COOPERATIONS
The VDMD sees itself as a mediator between the industry and designers. It promotes interdisciplinary contacts and cooperation with politics, business, culture and the media as well as with other design sectors. We are also the contact for training centres, design centres and institutions interested in design.
Work: Susan Wrschka
The Core Team
René, our man for "menswear"
René Lang
President
My motivation as president is…
...to continue to operate successfully in our homogeneous team....to establish fashion as a cultural asset in Germany....to support our network with my ideas and many years of experience and to actively represent our goals in public.
My professional competencies are…
...all about menswear....pass on my knowledge as a lecturer....think outside the box....act diplomatically and thoughtfully.
My passions…
...my family
...my job
...my voluntary tasks
...local cultural policy
...my art.
Susan, perfect for knitting and illustration
Susan Wrschka
Vice-President
My motivation as Vice-President:
"Lobbying is the voice that gets loud!" "Every force and voice consolidates our collective action." "It's welcome that a fresh generation is unquestioningly pushing their views on fashion, clothing, silhouettes and techniques. It needs support to do so! It is an important cultural contribution to lobby this at the VDMD.
My professional competencies are:
Internationally experienced fashion designer in leading positions, many years of professional experience in the independent textile fashion industry, lecturer at textile universities, fully comprehensive expertise in knitting technology and jersey, strong communication skills in English and German. Knitted products - jersey products. Product monitoring - briefing agencies, fashion painter and fashion illustrator.
My Passion…
My slogan: "Creative Hands on Fashion".
My passions: full speed ahead into fashion
Our woman for fashion communication and fashion visualisation!
Christine Lipowsky-Möhler
Vice-President
My motivation as Vice-President:
- Anchoring "fashion as a cultural asset" - still a long way to go!!! - Networking - Exchange - Support
My professional competencies are:
- Fashion Communication/Fashion Visualisation
- Teaching and presentations
- Trend research/trend analysis
My passions…
... my garden ... active and passive!
... my Munich DNA - also as an Augsburg resident
... my profession - still, always prefer it!
Wolfgang, has our finances firmly under control!
Wolfgang Eckstein
Treasurer
My motivation as treasurer is,...
...that the German Designers' Association, which I founded, remains an indispensable point of contact for Germany as a fashion location as a whole.
My professional competencies are...
...decades of activity as chief executive of 7 interest groups in the fashion industry
...officially appointed and sworn expert
...legal and economic training
My passions…
...literature
...music
...art
...fashion
...sport.
Mara, fight for social justice!
Mara Michel
Managing Director
My motivation as managing director is,...
...that designers receive respect, appreciation and monetary recognition for their product innovations and works so that they can make a living from their profession.
...to develop service programmes for designers in order to promote and strengthen their contact with each other, with industry, media, associations and politics.
My professional competencies are...
...create links with politics, industry, media and associations.
...holding seminars and workshops, lectures on mega trends of the future, impulse lectures
...create concepts for the industry, trend research, future analyses, social research
...writing articles as a journalist, teaching at textile universities
My Passion…
...my husband, our three children and our animal roommates.
...reading a lot, reflecting and developing.
...lobbying in politics for social justice, for art and design
...my company .futurize, dietrendagentur
Regine, the rock in the surf!
Dr. Regine Blättler
Assistance to the management
My motivation as an executive assistant is:
- Pulling together with the management team
- Finding joint solutions to problems
- Always be there at 150 % when things are burning - what counts is the result.
My professional competencies are:
Doctorate in natural science, additional qualification as office manager and marketing assistant.
Meticulousness, commitment and loyalty to the employer are a matter of course for me.
My passions…
... are reading, mountain climbing, photography, my two parakeets and my garden.
Gerd, always a helping hand!
Gerd Ritzau
Social Media Officer
My motivation at VDMD is:
I have realised that without a central contact point, German designers will sink in the shark tank of fashion and have no future.
For this reason, I have been working for the VDMD for 9 years now and will continue to use my energy to help implement the goals of the VDMD.
My professional competencies are...
…IT skills, membership administration, as well as trade fair set-up/dismantling and supervision
My passions…
...testing software from different game design studios.
...Local Area Role Play - LARP for short, either in the gothic/steampunk or medieval area with fantasy touches, reading novels set in the above-mentioned genres.