Successful premiere for two new festival formats in the MOC – Event Center Messe München: MUNICH FABRIC START and OutDoor by ISPO

This year, the international trade fair for textiles, MUNICH FABRIC START, was presented in an expanded format at several locations. The MOC building designed by star architect Helmut Jahn benefited from the cooperation with the adjoining event location MOTORWORLD. With nearly 900 exhibitors and 1,500 collections, the event was bigger than ever. During OutDoor by ISPO, the European outdoor trade fair, the MOC was already proving itself to be a unique location.

From August 30 to September 1, MUNICH FABRIC START celebrated both its 50th anniversary and a premiere in the MOC – Event Center Messe München. For the first time there was an expanded concept with the festival format: The event in the MOC – Event Center Messe München formed the basis for the next-door events running in parallel. There was therefore enough space to cover a wide range of the fashion industry. In addition to the well-known locations Zenith, Kesselhaus and Kohlebunker in the MOTORWORLD, the Dampfdom event hall is also located on the grounds directly next to the MOC. In the Lokhalle, a listed building, THE SOURCE provided solutions for the entire value chain in direct connection to MUNICH FABRIC START in the MOCEvent Center Messe München and to BLUEZONE in the Zenith. The locations used in parallel offered a holistic fashion experience from Munich Fabric Start Exhibitions GmbH.

The MOC – Event Center Messe München therefore became a part of—and a starting point for—an event that felt like a festival, not least because of the evening event in the outdoor area of MOTORWORLD with 2,000 guests. Around 900 exhibitors from 40 countries presented themselves over an exhibition space totaling 45,000 square meters, making MUNICH FABRIC START bigger than ever before. This special combination of locations allowed the event to generate new interest, and it was even able to grow in these challenging times.

“The multifaceted presentation options in the MOC—both inside the halls, atria and showrooms as well as on further areas of the MOTORWORLD and open spaces of the outdoor area—also fascinated exhibitors and visitors to OutDoor by ISPO this year, who now want to stay with us,” says Christine Heizmann, Head of Events MOC.

The different settings made for an authentic outdoor flair in the center of Munich—as well as a strong community feeling. The recent OutDoor by ISPO in the MOC Event and Order Center Messe München attracted about 8,000 specialist visitors and more than 300 international exhibitors following a three-year trade fair break caused by the pandemic. The event was met with such a tremendous response that the original plan to bring the event back to the fairgrounds in May 2023 was not carried out. Instead, the trade fair will be held again for a specialist audience in 2023 in a total of four halls, showrooms and atria as well as the entire outdoor space of the neighboring MOTORWORLD.