Fashion

How Did Copenhagen Fashion Week Become The Capital Of Sustainability?

Due to Covid-19 restrictions in Denmark, the event has gone fully digital for autumn/winter 2021. That doesn’t mean that CFW is holding back with its ambitious sustainability action plan.
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Street style at Copenhagen fashion week spring summer 2021. 10 August 2020.Raimonda Kulikauskiene

After opting for a ‘phygital’ (part physical, part digital) event in August, Copenhagen Fashion Week (CFW) — home to Scandi darlings such as Ganni, Stine Goya and Rotate Birger Christensen — is going completely digital for the first time, due to Covid-19 restrictions in Denmark. But while the format may look different, one thing that hasn’t changed is the urgent need for fashion to accelerate its action on the climate crisis.

“We are at a tipping point — I think many brands have realised [during the pandemic] that there is something broken in the system,” Cecilie Thorsmark, CEO of CFW, tells Vogue. “It’s reaffirmed the potential of our plan: fashion weeks need to take action in driving a sustainable transition within the fashion industry and not only be a platform for showcasing collections.” 

That’s why in the past year, CFW — which launched its three-year sustainability action plan in January 2020 — has developed a carefully weighted points system, which will assess the green efforts of brands. A pilot test involving 12 companies is taking place this month to establish a baseline score — a more ambitious target for 2023 will be set using these results. 

With CFW leading the way, here’s what we can learn about driving positive change in the fashion industry and how other fashion weeks can be expected to follow suit. 

It has accelerated action on the climate crisis

While there’s been a lot of talk about the environmental impact of global fashion weeks during the pandemic, the actual CO2 emissions of a fashion week — relative to the impact of the production of clothes — is comparatively small (an estimated 70 per cent of emissions comes from upstream operations such as material production and processing). While CFW is working hard to reduce its own emissions and plans to return to being a physical event when it’s safe to do so, its real influence will be in reducing negative impacts within the wider industry. 

“CFW can play a vital role in setting a global agenda,” say Rikke Baumgarten and Helle Hestehave, founders of Baum und Pferdgarten, which has already laid out a series of commitments for 2024, including ensuring 75 per cent of its products are recyclable. “Their action plan pushes the participating brands in becoming more sustainable within a relatively short time frame. It’s an interesting way for us to […] see how far we’ve come measured by an alternative scale.”

Copenhagen Fashion Week looks at the big picture

With many brands now claiming to be ‘sustainable’ for doing the bare minimum, it’s important to look at the overall picture. Just because a brand has introduced recycled materials into its collections doesn’t automatically make it a more responsible choice. “We wanted to develop a framework that considers all aspects of the value chain as a company,” says Thorsmark. “You could get a high score, but be lacking in one area such as working conditions — that's what motivated us to add minimum standards.”  

The CFW 2023 action plan includes 17 minimum requirements that brands will have to meet (such as pledging not to destroy unsold clothes, having at least 50 per cent certified, organic, upcycled or recycled textiles in all collections, and using only sustainable packaging). Following the global protests against racial injustice in 2020 and a resurgence of the #MeToo movement in Denmark, the framework now also states that brands must offer equal opportunities and operate a safe, healthy and respectful working environment for all employees, free from harassment and discrimination. 

Copenhagen Fashion Week supports brands that want to be part of the change 

Once upon a time, introducing a minimum points system might have led to push back from brands, but sustainability is now considered so important that CFW participants have readily embraced the new framework. “The industry is definitely receptive to change now. If we had launched this, say, five years ago, I'm not sure we would have received the same support,” Thorsmark says. “Most brands have already embarked on their sustainability journey so they have embraced this from the beginning.”

Ganni, for example, has been vocal about its sustainability strategy, launching a collaboration with Levi’s for its rental platform, Ganni Repeat, in August. “In many ways, the projects and goals we have set for Ganni have also helped inspire action points for the CFW framework and vice versa,” explains Ganni CEO and co-founder Nicolaj Reffstrup, a member of Copenhagen’s sustainability advisory board. “We are already well underway with initiatives. This season, our AW21 collection consists of 70 per cent organic, recycled and certified fabrics.”

Meanwhile, Stine Goya, whose AW21 collection features 55 per cent sustainable materials (such as organic cotton, sustainably-sourced viscose, and recycled polyester), describes sustainability as a “core priority in everything we do” and adds that bringing brands together will drive progress. “We need to band together to initiate change and we need to hold each other, and ourselves, accountable,” Goya says. “It’s a step-by-step, season-by-season process that cannot come into effect overnight, but we are committed to making a serious amount of change every day.” 

It proves that other platforms can drive change, too 

For now, Copenhagen remains an outlier in the fashion month calendar when it comes to demanding a minimum sustainability standard from participating brands. But Thorsmark hopes that other platforms, including major retailers, will start to use the framework, with Copenhagen International Fashion Fair (CIFF) already adopting the points system. 

“If we're serious about wanting to have an impact globally on the fashion industry, then it can't just be CFW,” Thorsmark concludes. “We need other fashion weeks to follow and other big fashion platforms to follow as well.” 

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