Copenhagen Fashion Week reveals AW23 line-up alongside new minimum standards

"I’m proud of the industry and I’m proud of my organisation," Cecilie Thorsmark, CEO of Copenhagen Fashion Week tells me. It was in 2020 that Thorsmark introduced the event's Sustainability Action Plan, which mapped out lofty goals to be achieved in just three short years. One of these goals was to implement mandatory minimum standards that brands must meet each season in order to participate in the program.

"To have made it this far is both a relief and something I’m immensely proud of," Thorsmark says. "It’s a big milestone in our organisation, after three years of preparation, to finally be able to say the minimum standards have come into effect. This is a really significant time in the recent history of Copenhagen Fashion Week. It has obviously required a lot of work from our end, and it has also required a lot of hard effort and resources from the perspective of the brands too."

The 18 Minimum Standards are a screening framework with criterion across six focus areas: Strategic Direction, Design, Smart Material Choices, Working Conditions, Consumer Engagement and Show. The area of Show, which will come to life from 31 January to 3 February 2023 for the autumn/winter edition, includes requirements such as a zero-waste production, offsetting or insetting carbon emissions, the ban of single-use plastic packaging, and that the brand is a signatory of the Danish Ethical Fashion Charter to ensure best conditions for all involved models and workers.

In Thorsmark's own words, the new framework comes hand-in-hand with an "extensive screening process". All applicants are assessed by the regular show committee on fashion criteria, with successful brands then progressing through to an assessment by the sustainability committee on the new standards criteria.

It's a rigorous set of criteria and not all brands made the cut for autumn/winter 2023, according to Thorsmark. “We’ve witnessed a natural evolution over the years, with brands joining or applying to Copenhagen Fashion Week because they feel aligned with our sustainability vision. As well, we’ve likely lost a few brands along the way – brands that maybe haven’t been ready or able to commit to this and accelerate their sustainability efforts to this degree. So it’s been a natural evolution of gaining and losing some. However, what we aim for is, of course, to continue to work with all brands that wish to be a part of Copenhagen Fashion Week going forward, and to continuously guide and support them to live up to our minimum standards."

In addition to the 29 brands approved and scheduled for the the autumn/winter 2023 edition, CPHFW NewTalent supported by Circulose® will include three brands in the talent support scheme: Latimmier from Finland, P.L.N. and Iso.Poetism by Tobias Birk Nielsen from Denmark. The latter joins as part of the partnership with Wessel & Vett Foundation, being this year’s winner of the Wessel & Vett Fashion Prize.

The Zalando Sustainability Award will also continue to form part of the program, marking its fifth iteration in partnership with Copenhagen Fashion Week. Celebrating brands that drive positive change and contribute to a more responsible fashion industry, this season Zalando welcomes Selam Fessahaye (Sweden), TG Botanical (Ukraine) and Stamm (Denmark) as finalists for the award which will be presented as part of the official show schedule at Copenhagen Fashion Week.

While this new milestone further cements Copenhagen as the sustainability capital of the world, Thorsmark is optimistic that other fashion weeks will rise to similar benchmarks as she remains in open dialogue with contacts in Paris, London and beyond. “We are really hoping for 2023 to be the year of exploring more and further opportunities and engaging global partnerships," she comments.

See the full line-up of brands below for Copenhagen's AW23 edition, all of which passed the 18 Minimum Standards screening.