Best Practice: Copenhagen Fashion Week Action Plan

• Copenhagen Fashion Week strives to be at the forefront of sustainability
• Action plan 2023-2025 sets goals in the areas of education, reduction and acceleration
• Holistic sustainability through environmental, social, cultural and behavioral aspects

The Copenhagen Fashion Week (CFW) is taking on an international pioneering role when it comes to sustainability: With action plans, it wants to ensure that brands take the situation seriously enough. "We're in the middle of a climate crisis, so we need to act now, and urgently," Copenhagen Fashion Week CEO Cecilie Thorsmark told Vogue.

What is the vision of the CFW?

CFW aims to be a leading platform that advocates for sustainable practices in the fashion industry. It takes a holistic approach to tackle ecological and social challenges, while also considering cultural and behavioural aspects. By doing so, CFW strives to create new business models that drive innovation and progress

Make the fashion industry greener

Even though most labels today deal with the topic of sustainability, it is important for Copenhagen Fashion Week that brands take a 360-degree approach. For this purpose, the CFW created an initial action plan with minimum standards for sustainability in 2020, which exhibiting designers should comply with by 2023.

To date, out of the 37 goals, 35 have been implemented. This included ensuring that at least 50% certified organic, upcycled or recycled textiles were used in all collections and that only sustainable packaging and zero-waste backdrops were used at the shows. This has reduced the carbon footprint and waste generation, and encouraged the community to meet minimum standards that are part of the CFW's eligibility criteria.

Action Plan 2023-2025

After the successful implementation of the first action plan, another one is now following. In the meantime, CFW has managed to build up robust processes, structures and partnerships that will be continued in the coming years. The Action Plan 2023–2025 marks the progress of Copenhagen Fashion Week for the next three years, building on the first Action Plan and expanding areas of potential and setting new goals. The action plan should therefore not be seen as a new strategy, but as a continuation of the work that CFW has done so far and which must be continued.