Copenhagen: Making Its (Den)mark on Fashion Week As We Know It
Fashion weeks are notorious for being wasteful. Garments that are not part of ready-to-wear collections are often never worn again after they are strutted down the runway. Seeking to change the wasteful nature of fashion shows, Copenhagen Fashion Week hoped to not only provide a platform for talented designers, but to call for more advocacy efforts in sustainability. Copenhagen Fashion Week, headed by Chief Executive Cecilie Thorsmark, launched a sustainability action plan that listed requirements needed to be met by designers in order to showcase their collection. The action plan grants designers three years to accomplish the seventeen sustainability standards. Some of these standards include having zero-waste set designs, pledging not to destroy unsold clothes, and using at least 50% organic or recycled textiles in their collection. By 2021, plastic coat hangers will be banned and digital streaming will be utilized in order to reduce emissions from people flying in for the shows. By 2022, the sustainability action plan hopes to achieve a 50% reduction in emissions and have all shows be fully zero-waste.
Behind the scenes of Cecilie Bahnsen F/W 2020. Source via.
“I think that to be able to make a collection that builds on the collections before is part of a sustainable approach [to making clothes]. Of course, we’re also looking at our sourcing, our fabrics and our manufacturing.”
Ganni F/W 2020. Source via.
While the sustainability action plan is still working within the wasteful framework of traditional fashion shows, Copenhagen is taking the first step in revolutionizing the event. Other larger fashion week cities - Paris, New York City, Milan - can take a page from Copenhagen’s book. If designers are making individual efforts to cut out the use of animal fur and incorporate more sustainable textiles in their collections, it is a no-brainer that this change should also be applied to the platform that showcases their collections.
Feature image and featured quote via.
