Opening Hours
Networking Event
Date: 18 March 2026
Conference
Date: 19 March 2026
Program
Welcome to CIRCULAR ROOMS! Get ready to gain unique experiences on 19 March 2026. Join us for a day filled with creativity, innovation, and inspiration. Explore different perspectives and connect with like-minded individuals and experts in a dynamic setting. Don’t miss out on this opportunity to expand your horizons and be part of a great community.
Speaker Details
By invitation only!
Our speakers have been chosen to address topics that are textile and apparel industry oriented and groundbreaking relevant for the upcoming transition process. They are specially inspiring and expressing foresight that the content cannot be found in literature or other conferences.
Speaker
Dr. Monika Hauck (Founder & CEO, Repair Rebels)
Moderator
Monika is an entrepreneur, social activist, and researcher in the field of open innovation. Driven by her passion for sustainable fashion and extensive experience in innovation management, she is the driving force behind Repair Rebels – Germany’s pioneering online platform for fashion repair and alteration service. She holds a Ph.D. from WHU – Otto Beisheim School of Management, where she specialized in Corporate Venturing and Open Innovation in the fashion industry. In 2018, Monika founded the WHU Entrepreneurship Center, where she served as Managing Director. She supported startups and entrepreneurial innovation initiatives while actively contributing to the development of the startup ecosystem in the North Rhine-Westphalia region. In 2018, Monika became a City Ambassador for the UK-based social enterprise Fashion Revolution in Düsseldorf and a year later founded change-room.org, a think tank dedicated to fostering sustainable and inclusive innovation in the fashion industry. With her unique blend of expertise in innovation management, circular economy, and hands-on experience revitalising Germany’s local craft sector, Monika is active as a consultant, lecturer, and speaker.
Markus Andrezak
Speaker
Markus Andrezak has been building wide-reaching internet products since the mid-1990s, including the first German search engine, even before Google. For over 10 years, he has been training and coaching product managers and CEOs in strategy and product development. He invented Portfolio Kanban and developed the “Markers Options Work” strategy framework. He is currently launching his programs as blended learning with AI. Above all, he helps companies make clear decisions and see them through.
ANDREA HOMANN (CEO hessnatur)
Speaker
Andrea Homann is an entrepreneur and a leading voice for sustainable practices in the fashion industry.
As CEO of hessnatur—the pioneer of fair fashion in Europe—she is shaping the further development of a brand that consistently combines ecology, circular design, and social responsibility.
With more than 25 years of management experience in the international fashion and lifestyle industry, she brings deep expertise in brand management, product strategy, and multichannel management. Before joining hessnatur, she held executive positions within the TOM TAILOR GROUP, among others.
Since 2022, she has been driving forward the strategic shift towards circular business models and a clear D2C brand orientation at hessnatur. Her work is shaped by the conviction that fashion can contribute to social progress – through transparency, fair value creation and sustainable design.
Andrea Homann holds degrees in business administration (Germany) and a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Hogeschool Utrecht (NL). She stands for modern, value-oriented leadership that combines economic strength with ecological and social standards.
Ilias Iakovidis (PhD, Adviser, Digital aspect of green transition, European Commission, DG CONNECT)
Speaker
Ilias Iakovidis PhD, Adviser, Digital aspect of green transition, European Commission, DG CONNECT
Ilias works on maximising the positive impact of digitalisation on the green transition. He initiated the European Green Digital Coalition (EGDC) whose Members and Supporting partners have committed to work on science-based methods to estimate the net carbon impact of digital solutions. As result, the development and deployment of digital solutions with positive net carbon impact to be eligible for climate (sustainable, green) finance.
He also works on the Digital Product Passport as introduced in the Eco-design for Sustainable Product Regulation and as explored in the EU project CIRPASS and CIRPASS 2 . The aim is to accelerate the transition circular economy through digitally enabled sustainable business models and to reduce the administrative burden of ( non-financial) reporting.
Before 2017 Ilias has contributed to the EU Agenda of eHealth and ICT for Active and Healthy Ageing for over 20 years. Areas he pioneered include digitally supported Integrated Care, ‘Virtual Physiological Human’ (Patient Digital Twin)’, Personal Health Systems and Electronic Health Records.
Andreas R. Schneider (CEO, Global Textile Scheme)
Speaker
Andreas R. Schneider is Founder and CEO of a cross-sector industry initiative called Global Textile Scheme Initiative, that developed a new data exchange standard, which will be critical to manage increasing volumes of end2end product related data of all kind. GTS initiative: “Our mission is to drive efficient, resilient, sustainable and transparent end2end Value Chains in the Textile & Fashion industry by simplifying and automating the exchange of data between all stakeholders – from fiber to recycling.“ Andreas R. Schneider was/is: Member of key steering committees, e.g. at GS1 (Germany) and The Consumer Goods Forum; Contributor to industry standards: eBIZ, EPCIS, EPC Global (RFID); One of the experts in the latest Sustainability Roadmap of DIN; Co-Sector Lead for Textiles in the CIRPASS project of the EU; Industry expert at JRC textile expert workgroup, defining future ESPR performance criteria as basis for future data points in the Digital Product Passport and the upcoming Delegated Acts; Member of WG 1 (advisory work group) and WG 4 (interoperability work group) at JTC 24 at CEN/CENELEC; Managing the Expert Work Group 3 (textile experts) at CIRPASS 2 Cirpass2
Robert van de Kerkhof (Founder of Pepper-I2, interim CEO of Rehubs, president of the Austrian Fibre Institute and member of the board at Global Fashion Agenda)
Speaker
Robert van de Kerkhof is the founder of PEPPER-i2, a Swiss-based impact advisory firm. Drawing upon over 25 years experience in the fiber industry, Robert is a recognised leader in sustainability, circularity, investments and decarbonization. Robert currently serves as interim CEO of ReHubs, President of the Austrian Fiber Institute, and Board Member at Global Fashion Agenda. With a B.Sc. in Aeronautical Engineering and an MBA in International Management, Robert brings a strong technical and strategic foundation to his work. He has held senior leadership roles at TenCate, DuPont, and INVISTA, with broad career experience spanning sales, marketing, R&D, quality, supply chain, and branding.
Lutz Walter (Founder and Managing Director Think Innovation s.p.r.l. and Secretary General European Technology Platform for the Future of Textiles and Clothing)
Speaker
– 25+ years of professional experience in the textile and apparel industry
– Founder and managing director of Textile ETP – the European Textile Technology Platform
– Ex-Director Innovation & Skills at EURATEX – the European Textile and Clothing Industry Confederation
– Coordinator of EU textile research & innovation projects
– Organiser of European textile innovation events
– Editor of studies and strategy papers on textile innovation degrees in Business Administration (Germany), Political Science (France) and an Executive MBA from Vlerick Business School in Belgium.
Speaker March 2025
