Copenhagen Fashion Week publishes first Annual Sustainability Report

Coinciding with its first digital event, Copenhagen Fashion Week (February 2 - 4 2021) has published its status report on the first year of its 2020-2022 Sustainability Action Plan that sets out to incur far-reaching and long-term change wtihin the fashion industry.  One of its main goals is to stage a trade event that is primarily focused on sustainability, requiring participating fashion brands to comply with minimum standards as well as obtain a minimum points score in a sustainability survey in order to show at CFW by 2023.

Cecile Thorsmark, CEO,
Copenhagen Fashion Week

Cecilie Thorsmark, CEO of Copenhagen Fashion Week says, "Despite a challenging year, we believe that the status of our Sustainability Action Plan shows the potential of our strategy and three-year targets to inspire and push fashion companies to embrace more sustainable business practices. Although unable to meet every one of the goals set for 2020, most goals were accomplished and we look forward to continuing the work." 

As to highlighting some of the most significant Year 1 milestones of the Sustainability Action Plan, Thorsmark adds, "We made progress in the further development of the 2023 Sustainability Requirements. A year ago, Copenhagen Fashion Week announced that fashion brands will have to comply with minimum standards as well as obtain a minimum points score in a sustainability survey in order to show at our fashion week by 2023. 

AW21 collection By Melene Birger
"The pandemic has been challenging and 
pushed us to think more about
sustainability," says Meja Dixdotter,
head of design, By Melene Birger,
showing at Copenhagen Fashion Week.

"Throughout 2020, in collaboration with Rambøll, In futurum and Dansk Fashion & Textile we developed a carefully weighted point system (considering both impact and challenge level), which enabled the technical implementation of the requirements in an online survey for brands to fill out. On 20 January 2021, we kicked off a pilot test of the Sustainability Requirements survey system with 12 brands. The results of the pilot test will allow us to establish a baseline score for determining the number of points brands must achieve by 2023 to participate in fashion weeks. 

Copenhagen Fashion Week initiated dialogues with the local trade fairs to strive towards a closer alignment of our sustainability goals. The trade fair CIFF has committed to initiate a process of adopting our 2023 Sustainability Requirements in a way that resonates with and creates value for their own platform as a fashion fair, their business model and their exhibitors and buyers. In concrete terms, it means that CIFF - as of 2023 - will require that brands comply with Copenhagen Fashion Week's minimum standards and obtain the minimum score needed in order to exhibit at CIFF. We are very optimistic that this process will lead to even more alignment and connected efforts across industry platforms.

Looking ahead, an important focus for 2021 will be to push for a wider industry adoption of their 2023 Sustainability Requirements, says Thorsmark. The ambitious aim is to roll it out more broadly in the fashion industry in Denmark and as part of other key global platforms, striving to gather more industry actors around the same sustainability vision and a similar framework and methodology for creating change.  The 2020-2022 Sustainability Action Plan report is available to read HERE. 

Nynne's Women for Women AW 21 collection features 

at least 60% sustainable materials

Danish fashion designer Nynne Kunde says she is committed to only creating two collections a year for her oponymous brand that seeks to transcend seasons and trends as a way to focus on responsible consumption.  Her latest AW21 collection: Women for Women, showcased this February at the digital Copenhagen Fashion Week consists of at least 60% sustainable materials and is produced with small-scale manufacturers in Europe, says the designer.

Instead of using fashion models for the video presentation of this new collection, Kunde selected 9 women in her native Copenhagen “who embody the brand and personally inspired her to be the face of the campaign.” 

"We create pieces that are meant to be worn in the most versatile way possible, giving the costumer the chance to dress up and down a garment, wearing it to casual and formal occasions. "

The Nynne team of “models” included her own sister Nanna Kunde, who’s does Marketing for Kunde & Co, as well as the 87-year-old Eva Hougaard Lauridsen, grandmother to Simone Steenber, Nynne’s photographer;  and other high achievers of various professions, including Fatima Fransson, a furniture & production designer at ART OFFICIAL AGENCY. Josefine Nielsen, a first-time mother to 5-month-old Rose, is a data ethics specialist at Erhvervsstyrelsen (Danish Business Authority; 

The collection is modeled also by Anna-Sophie Hartvigsen, Camilla Cloëtta Falkenberg and Emma Bitz, co-founders of innovative tech start-up Female Invest.