Avantex Fashion Pitch

Claudia Franz has been Director Brand Management Interior & Contract Textiles and Apparel Fabrics & Fashion at Messe Frankfurt since June 2019, as part of the Texpertise textile‑business network. With oversight of more than 60 international textile trade fairs across Germany, France, USA, China, India, Japan, South Africa, Dubai, Argentina, Ethiopia, Colombia and Uzbekistan, she leads a global platform connecting over 500,000 industry representatives. With Messe Frankfurt being the global market leader in textile trade fairs and covering the entire textile value chain, Claudia has guided the network’s collaboration with the United Nations Office for Partnerships and the UN Fashion and Lifestyle Network since 2019. Claudia brings extensive experience in textiles, leather, fashion and accessories. Prior to her current role, she was Senior Buyer for Saks Fifth Avenue off 5th Europe and held buying and product development roles at TJX Europe and Petit Bateau. Furthermore she established the buying office of Prada in Germany and opened and managed the first Prada store in Frankfurt, Germany, for shoes, bags and accessories.

Yoobin Jung is based in Paris and works as Sustainable Fashion lead at Plug and Play Tech Center, a Silicon Valley headquartered venture capital and corporate innovation platform. She has an academic background of chemistry and fashion design and worked as sustainable textile buyer and development consultant before joining Plug and Play in 2022. She is bringing unique expertise on the sustainable textile and fashion product development for early-stage investments at Plug and Play and the fashion corporate clients' sustainable innovation strategy. She is also an advisor for Biofluff, a US-France startup who produces plant-based fur textiles and angel investor of Silana, an Austrian startup who develops robotics to automate garment sewing processes.

Elodie Lemaire Nowinski is both a historian of fashion and clothing and a specialist in fashion tech issues linked to innovation and sustainable development. After teaching and directing academic programs at Sciences Po Paris, Columbia University New York and EM Lyon Business School, she is currently leading the project for the future National Tartan Centre in Scotland, combining a museum and innovation center dedicated to the iconic Scottish fabric. She is also a research fellow at the Glasgow School of Art, where her research focuses on the place of textile design in the feminine experience.

Jayne Simone Estève Curé, international fashion expert, is passionate about educating, training and advising creative industry players in France and abroad. Her aim is to fuse creativity and strategy to support the visionary development of brands and projects. It aims to position fashion as a positive catalyst in a changing world, promoting responsible innovation aligned with global issues. As a teacher and advisor, she shares her experience to encourage excellence and innovation in the sector, where creativity and awareness unite to shape an enlightened future for fashion. Jayne is currently supporting the European expansion of the successful American brand L'AGENCE as European Fashion Director.

Carol Hilsum has been standing at the cutting edge of innovation in the fashion industry for over 20 years, holding leading roles at Topshop, Net-A-Porter, and Farfetch. She later spearheaded corporate ventures at Farfetch, laying the foundation for the company's sustainability strategy. This included creating circular services and leading investments in early-stage, sustainability-focused fashion companies such as EON, Thrift+, and Good On You and the aquaition of Luxclusiv. She is now the co-founder of StudioThree, a consultancy for startups and investors in the fashion, beauty, and lifestyle sectors, focusing on innovative, growth and sustainable business practices.