Copenhagen Fashion Week toughens up sustainability rules

Copenhagen Fashion Week is living up to its reputation as the fashion week with the strictest sustainability requirements and has just announced that it’s making its rules stronger after the next edition.

New Minimum Standards have been added along with additional actions that are required for brands that want to take part in the shows.

In the area of smart material choices, for instance, the new minimum standards mean brands must implement circular design principles with a focus on products that can be repaired, recycled and re-used, with recycled content included at the point of manufacture.

And they have to have “concrete criteria in place to ensure the quality and longevity of products and inform customers about the value of longevity”.

Other tweaks mean in-store and online customer service staff must be well informed about a brand’s sustainability strategy with proper training in those subjects. 

The updated rules also move from “commitment” to “action” in many areas such as taking more sustainable actions when it comes to staging fashion shows. This covers areas such as props, packaging and waste sorting.

Brands participating in CFW must also have a formally approved sustainability strategy in place on both the environmental and social front. 

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The approach to improving working conditions has toughened up with brands needing a specific code of conduct in place and having to work with their suppliers to ensure better conditions for employees.

Their own staff must also be able to work “free from harassment and discrimination and where everyone enjoys equal opportunities”.

And in the pursuit of preventing animal suffering, as well as collections having to be virgin fur-free, they must also not feature wild animal skins and feathers.

“Since we first enforced the Sustainability Requirements on the show brands of Copenhagen Fashion Week back in 2023, it has been our ambition to annually amp up the requirements in order to keep pushing the brands and to continue setting the standard for fashion weeks globally,” said event CEO Cecilie Thorsmark. 

“Therefore, we are excited to launch the first edition of updated Sustainability Requirements. With the updates we are not only raising the bar for brands on our schedule, but we are also reflecting industry developments and learnings as well as the upcoming EU policy landscape.”