By Cassell Ferere originally published on Forbes.com

Copenhagen has created a fashion week that has progressively transitioned its local brands and extended fashion culture - its street style, couture, and everyday looks - into the conscious space, mindful of climate and people. Denmark is already notable as the second happiest country in the world, producing brands like Kering-backed Lindberg Eyewear, and jewelry brand Pandora as staples of Scandinavian aesthetics, besides the more associated H&M retailer.

The SS24 Copenhagen Fashion Week reflected that sentiment, hosting a week-long fashion experience that educated and excited enthusiasts and global fashionistas. A frigid and rainy start, only a reminder of the climate that has grown fragile over the last decades, popped off the illustrious week of brands showcasing their mode, and their mood in the fashion industry. Copenhagen Fashion Week set a precedent by becoming the first fashion week to enforce sustainability criteria for participating brands back in 2020. 

Today, at least half of the collections presented must be crafted from recycled or upcycled materials - a task that any up-and-coming designer can’t afford to avoid. This idea was heightened by the presentation by the Royal Danish Academy Master’s program runway show participants. A runway designated for graduates entering the next evolution of their fashion prowess is primed to come into a sustainable habit of fashion creation. 

Royal Danish Academy graduate student Andrea Ashworth shows her designs during the Copenhagen Fashion Week Spring/Summer 2024 in Copenhagen, Denmark.

N OUR NAME" also debuted at Copenhagen Fashion Week with MAD Brussels. Four designers from Brussels, all residents at the MAD incubator, including Kenza Vandeput of Kasbah Kosmic, shared the trade room floor at CIFF x REVOLVER from August 9 to 11.

Sentiment has grown over the years with each season displaying Scandinavian fashion through multiple channels, whether runway or the classic, showroom visit. CEO of the Copenhagen Fashion Week, Cecilie Thorsmark has converged the entire genre into ‘greener’ pastures, displaying globally what would have substantial benefits. 

“We launched our sustainability strategy in 2020 and since then have completed the targets we set for ourselves,” CEO Thorsmark relays. “A major milestone in this regard was our sustainability requirements coming into effect this February 2023, which means that all brands on the official show schedule of Copenhagen Fashion Week are met by mandatory minimum standards that they must document.” 

She continues, “While we are lucky to engage in a few international partnerships, we are still hoping for more fashion weeks and councils to follow suit as we are convinced that setting requirements - that cover the full value chain - can really move the needle in the industry.” From the most northern Fashion Week city, a message has been sent to the rest of the world in hopes of brainstorming global solutions for our shared climate as a fashion industry.

Day one hosted brands Latimmier, and 7 Days Active with indoor runways, but what was a test of fashion fans was the outdoor shows that A. Roege Hove and Saks Potts were lucky enough to plan, setting a tone for why climate change is a universal issue - to be addressed. The cold raindrops, however, were met with SS24 looks models strutted down runways; A. Roege Hove showed looks that used Renewcell’s Circulose® material just after the opening ceremony at the Designmuseum Denmark. 

Saks Potts sought a coastline backdrop that really gave perspective to where we are with how unpredictable climate can be. Stine Goya opted to limit the transport of her collection and show, showing her looks down her residential alleyway to the designer’s home.

“Comparing our starting point to where we and the brands are now, I am experiencing more nuanced conversations,” Thorsmark notes. “It is not about if and why sustainability is important but how to implement measures with the greatest impact on environmental and social sustainability. More and more brands are aware of their material and design choices and of course, we see more designs made of already existing materials be it in the form of deadstock, reuse, or recycling.”

The fight against climate change was personified by the over 20-year Danish designer Henrik Vibskov. The concept of a box as a container that safeguards valuable items like the various fashion we receive through packaging and “unboxing” was met by the idea of a literal boxing ring in the middle of the runway. The show started with the jarring “Are You Ready” by the MC and ball performer Kyle London, a sound familiar to boxing fans and a call to gird up a community to defend the climate. Boxing gloves were themed as headgear for the models while a stage suggested audiences “choose your fighter” or select a look. Each model met another in the ring, circling a stoic MC as the tempo changed for a faceoff between them.

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