Copenhagen Fashion Week has reported its progress on the second year of its Sustainability Action Plan (2020-2022) in its latest Sustainability Report.

Highlights during the year include reaching most targets set for 2021 (including three targets that were postponed from 2020 to 2021), introducing new initiatives and activities, entering international partnerships around the 2023 Sustainability Requirements, and increasing its focus on social responsibility.

Copenhagen Fashion Week points to a series of milestones during its second year, including the selection of its 2023 Sustainability Requirements by the government-funded programme Fremtidens Tekstiler as the framework to train 50 SMEs in the Danish industry to lead to further action.

In terms of international outcome, Copenhagen Fashion Week says it initiated partnerships around the 2023 Sustainability Requirements which will be implemented in the Norwegian and Icelandic fashion industry. The former through a partnership with the industry organisation Norwegian Fashion Hub and the Norwegian fashion event Oslo Runway, and the latter through the Icelandic Fashion Council.

Next to building new partnerships, Copenhagen Fashion Week says it ensured to deliver on all targets it set, exceeding in most areas while revamping its climate efforts.

“The progress made during the second year of our Sustainability Action Plan shows the potential of our strategy and three-year targets to inspire and push fashion companies to embrace more responsible business practices. We strongly believe that the new Nordic partnerships we entered around the 2023 Sustainability Requirements set a major milestone that fosters stronger industry alignment and we’re very excited to seek out new partnerships internationally during this coming year“, says Cecilie Thorsmark, CEO of Copenhagen Fashion Week.

Copenhagen Fashion Week unveiled its Sustainability Action Plan at the start of 2020, detailing its ambition to transition and develop into a pioneering, sustainable industry platform. The plan includes targets for the event itself and also sets minimum sustainability requirements for all participating brands by 2023, including having zero-waste set designs for their shows.

In October of the same year, Copenhagen Fashion Week struck a three-year partnership with German fashion e-tailer Zalando to accelerate sustainability in the fashion industry.

Copenhagen Fashion Week is the largest fashion week in the Nordic region, held biannually. Running from 1-4  February, more than 35 brands will be appearing at the show next month.