The most sustainable fashion moments of 2021

As it becomes more popular, it’s increasingly difficult to set apart the heroes from the pretenders. As the fashion industry starts to get to grips with its role in the climate crisis, brands are feeling the heat when it comes to their carbon footprints and coming up with some pretty radical solutions.

So which brands have taken the challenge with both hands to deliver some truly sustainable successes in 2021?

In 2020, Zalando launched its sustainability prize in partnership with Copenhagen Fashion Week. The award aims to encourage fashion brands to explore sustainable alternatives and recognise strategies that contribute to a more sustainable industry and all brands showing at CPHFW are invited to apply for the competition.

Each of the finalists was judged by a jury of industry experts, including Cecilie Thorsmark, chief executive officer at Copenhagen Fashion Week, President & CEO of WGSN, Carla Buzasi, sustainability and brand advisor Dio Kurazawa, and model and environmental activist Arizona Muse. The jury members closely reviewed each brands’ sustainability strategies and level of dedication to more sustainable advancements and innovation.

Sustainable streetwear brand Nikolaj Storm, based in Copenhagen, was named 2021's winner ahead of London-based finalists Teatum Jones and Mother of Pearl, for his varied use of sustainable materials.

Related: Nikolaj Storm Copenhagen wins Zalando Sustainability Award at CPHFW

Zalando crowned House of Dagmar as the inaugural winner in 2020, with the award including a prize of €20,000 and the opportunity to develop an exclusive capsule collection, representing sustainable advancements and innovation, in partnership with Zalando.

The collection launched in November 2021, including a fully-funded fibre impact report for House of Dagmar to quantify the environmental impacts of the collection and provide a sustainability framework for future collections. The three key focus areas for the autumn/winter collection were to minimise carbon emissions, water consumption and waste through material choices.

Both Zalando and House of Dagmar strongly state their support for the UN Paris Agreement and are making progress to reduce their carbon emissions. In 2020, Zalando set science-based Targets in line with a 1.5C pathway set out by the Paris Agreement. Through their membership of the Swedish Textile Initiative for Climate Action (STICA), House of Dagmar is working towards setting science-based targets to reduce greenhouse gases and will be focussing on this heavily in their 2022 seasonal collections.

Expect to see this scientific approach to sustainability dominate the industry in 2022.

Louise Xin entered the year with an offer of luxury couture for Scandinavians looking to reduce their carbon footprint and their wardrobe space.

In November 2020 Louise launched the brand as the first Rental-only none sale couture brand in Scandinavia and the world. Focusing on working with as many upcycled fabrics as possible. The designer’s goal is to create wearable art for every woman in a sustainable way. With many fashion week attendees renting their front row outfits, expect to see Louise Xin dominating the credits of Copenhagen Fashion Week street style shots.

Related: Louise Xin is changing the world one dress at a time

Chloé became the first luxury brand to achieve B Corp certification earlier this year, with creative director Gabriela Hearst pioneering the brands eco-friendly status, stating in an interview that she keeps every article she reads on the climate in a notebook.

B Corp assesses a company’s impact in five key areas – governance, workers, community, environment and customers – with brands required to meet a minimum standard based on their answers to 300 questions in order to get the certification.

In the four collections under Hearst’s helm, she has certainly rocked the boat; eliminating the use of cotton (a water-intensive monoculture) to be replaced with more eco-friendly linen; converting to circular denim; retooling trainers to produce 35 per cent less greenhouse gases than previous collections; and introducing Chloé Craft, handbags and leather goods made by independent artisans.

Emma Watson wore a gown made from recycled wedding dresses, designed by 2021 breakout star Harris Reed, in collaboration with Oxfam for the Earthshot Awards this year.

Although the design was custom-made for the actress, the concept was similar to Reed's SS22 collection, the pieces were made almost entirely from secondhand wedding dresses.

Announced at COP26, the charter called for the industry to “align” its marketing and promotional efforts to take their customers on a journey to leading lives that help keep the all important 1.5 degree warming level goal alive.

The guidance for the industry is to commit to “accurate reporting and transparent communication efforts; avoid exaggeration or omission to appear more environmentally or socially friendly; and focus on inclusive marketing and storytelling that encourages a more equitable industry”.

This year Burberry committed to tackling climate crisis with a brand new biodiversity strategy following on from COP26.

Burberry’s new biodiversity strategy encompasses three focus areas. The first, “Protecting and restoring nature within and beyond Burberry’s own value chain through projects supported via the Burberry Regeneration Fund.” The second, “Expanding support for farming communities, intensifying existing efforts around farm-level certifications and training where Burberry sources raw materials” and the third, “developing regenerative supply chains, applying regenerative and holistic land management practices to grazing or farming systems.”

Expect to see more radical commitments from other brands as we head into the new year in the lead up to COP27 in November.

This year saw the launch of the first Vogue Scandinavia. Our launch issue featured climate activist Greta Thunberg on the cover as a clear message that the fashion world needs to do better when it comes to sustainability. As a publication we aspire to become the most sustainable media organisation in existence. While we appreciate that no print publication can ever be completely sustainable, we have taken every measure to ensure the materials we use and the 450 tonnes of carbon dioxide that we offset over the course of our first year leaves the lowest impact possible on our planet.

Disrupting the traditional media landscape is quite a lofty goal, so, we partnered with Stora Enso, a Helsinki-based company leading the change towards renewable paper and packaging. Removing plastics from our packaging and replacing them with renewable, carbon neutral, wood fibre packaging was the first step. The next was ensuring that the paper we print on is also renewable with two seedlings planted for every tree harvested. And that any remaining emissions from our energy efficient production is offset. Facilitated by our compensation partner, South Pole, the offsetting programme we have chosen builds fuel-efficient stoves for families in Rwanda. The result is a magazine that is certified carbon neutral.

To reduce unnecessary waste from overprinting, Vogue Scandinavia isn't available on newsstands. Instead, it can only be purchased from our online flagship store, in limited quantities.

Read more about our sustainability plan here