Berlin Fashion Week: German designers showcase sustainable fashion

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We head to Berlin now for something different from the usual haute couture you see on the runway. The Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week turned the spotlight to brands focusing on innovative eco-friendly creations and designs, with apparel made out of milk and mushrooms.

At Kraftwerk Berlin, an event venue and former power station, the "Green showroom" showcased progressive and ethical approaches towards fashion.

"QMilk" makes textile fibres out of milk and turns it into the linings for backpacks and shoes.

ANKE DOMASKE MANAGER, "QMILK" "We came across an old technique from the 1930s, when they already realised that you can make textile fibres out of milk. The fibre must be edible, it has to be natural and sustainable."

And a biologically based polyamide out of castor oil is used for jacket zippers and other traditionally plastic parts.

LARA DELLE INNOVATION MANAGER, "VAUDE" "We use QMilk for the backpack supports and shoes. Here, we use a bio-based polyamide made from castor oil from which we make a fabric. We also use this same exact fabric for the zippers and all other plastic parts of the collection."

This Munich-based label "nat-2" makes a soft leather out of tinder fungus growing on trees. The shoes are 100-percent vegan, made from not just mushrooms but also cork, organic cotton and recycled bottles.

SEBASTIAN THIES OWNER, "NAT-2, GERMAN-ENGINEERED FOOTWEAR" "Here we have our mushroom sneakers made from tinder fungus. That's a mushroom growing on trees. We succeeded in tanning the material in a way which makes it look like leather, a very soft suede. The shoes are completely vegan."

Meanwhile, Berlin-based Austrian fashion designer Marina Hoermanseder, who counts Lady Gaga and FKA Twigs among her fans, presented her latest collection "Ready to Fight". It is inspired by the "ski looks of the 70s and 80s" and lots of camouflage.