Copenhagen Fashion Week (CPHFW) turns 20 this year. Over the two decades since its launch, CEO Cecilie Thorsmark and her predecessors have managed to do what many smaller fashion councils struggle to achieve: build a ‘fifth fashion week’ that’s able to stand up alongside the big four fashion cities — New York, London, Milan and Paris.
In its 20-year history, CPHFW has launched some of Scandinavia’s best-known names, from Saks Potts to Cecilie Bahnsen, and, of course, Danish megabrand Ganni, whose revenues hit DKK 900 million ($130 million) in 2024. While the former has now closed and the latter two have decamped to Paris, CPHFW has scaled considerably since they burst onto the scene almost a decade ago, defining Scandi style as a covetable aesthetic bolstered by Copenhagen street style, which drew global interest as the fashion week began to grow.
But many will agree, CPHFW’s influence goes beyond the runway. In 2020, it became the first fashion week to implement minimum sustainability standards for all brands on the official schedule. Introduced in 2020 and enforced from 2023, these standards uphold responsibility across strategic direction, design, smart material choices, working conditions, consumer engagement, and show production. Since, similar initiatives have been implemented at Oslo Runway, Berlin Fashion Week and even London Fashion Week, as more organizers take note of the positive influence fashion councils can have on brand responsibility. But for Thorsmark and CPHFW, there’s still a long way to go to make fashion week a vehicle for good.
Just days before the Fall/Winter 2026 season, I sat down with the Copenhagen Fashion Week CEO to unpack how she scaled and developed a new kind of fashion week — and what lies ahead.
Vogue: Hi Cecilie, we are a couple of days out from CPHFW FW26, how are the preparations going?
It’s an anniversary edition, so it’s sort of like planning a fashion week with a fashion week on top. We are busy, but I’m excited.
Vogue: I’d like to take it right back to the beginning. CPHFW is 20 years old. When did you become involved with the event?
I actually joined Copenhagen Fashion Week in the very early stages, long before becoming the CEO. To be exact, it was in 2010 that I joined as former CEO Eva Kruse’s personal assistant. Eva Kruse was the founder of Copenhagen Fashion Week. She asked me to apply for the assistant role because I had just written my masters thesis from Copenhagen Business School about CPHFW, and I’d interviewed her for the [project]. Working closely under Eva gave me a very hands-on, practical understanding of how the organization and the event functioned. So being a part of that journey was incredible. It really shaped my understanding of the potential of the platform, but also the fragility and challenges that exist around a fashion week.
That’s what motivated me to apply for the position as CEO in 2018, taking over from Eva’s successor [Camilla Frank], who was there for two years.
Vogue: When you became CEO, you already had such experience and knowledge of the fashion week. What were your priorities?
I was conscious of the fact that Copenhagen Fashion Week had entered its second decade. How could I lift the organization and the event to a new level, both financially and strategically? I inherited an incredibly strong platform, but I saw the potential in making it internationally relevant for Nordic fashion. So to start with, it was very much about looking into financial and strategic partnerships, because that would ultimately allow us to invest in all these formats I had in mind.
Vogue: How did securing more partners and sponsors benefit the organization?
Having a financial foundation allows you to grow in many other areas. When I inherited the platform, I deeply loved and respected the brands, designers and individuals in our industry, as well as the creativity, beauty and craft involved in creating. At the same time, though, I felt that fashion weeks were increasingly out of sync with the world around us. So I had a strong ambition to challenge the status quo and to take our fashion week from being a showcase event to a platform and catalyst for change.
I had very clear ideas about how to do this and what concrete structures were needed — I didn’t want just new manifestos or guidelines. Ultimately, what we introduced was the idea of sustainability requirements.
Vogue: Can you explain that project?
The sustainability requirements are a framework we developed and implemented in 2023 as part of our admission criteria. All brands on the official schedule must comply with 19 minimum standards, covering sustainability actions across their entire value chain, and are screened by an external committee who assesses whether or not a brand is eligible. When I became CEO — and drawing on my background from the Global Fashion Agenda — it was clear to me that large industry platforms like ours have both the ability and the responsibility to set standards and push the industry forward.
Sustainability is a broad and complex topic, and actions can take many different forms. So with the framework, we not only defined a baseline of minimum standards for screening purposes, but it has become a shared direction for our brand network.
Vogue: It’s definitely influencing other markets. What do you think is the responsibility of the fashion week organizers and fashion councils today?
It is twofold. On the one hand, it’s about the industry and creating the best possible platform to provide long-term value for brands, guests and the wider ecosystem around fashion week, to elevate creativity and help businesses thrive. On the other hand, the responsibility of a fashion week is to use such a visible and influential platform to push for greater responsibility in the industry. That responsibility can take many forms, from sustainability to diversity and inclusivity, and it should help move fashion forward in ways that are both ambitious and tangible. Again, this is not only through manifestos, but by working with concrete structures that drive real progress.
Vogue: In addition to the minimum standards, how else have you developed CPHFW since becoming CEO?
Other than the sustainability requirements, we have set ourselves apart by growing to become not just a regional showcase, but an international platform. Expanding our international relevance through a higher level of global attendance, as well as international partnerships, has allowed Copenhagen Fashion Week to grow and resonate within the industry. This progress has positioned the week as what is now being referred to as the fifth fashion week, which, for me, has not necessarily been a turning point, but a vision coming true.
Vogue: You mentioned at the start that there ve been major challenges to this journey. What are some of those?
I think the biggest challenge is balancing long-term ambitions for fashion with an industry that operates in the short term and is under significant pressure in the present. Our most important task is to ensure that brands are aligned with our vision and motivated to progress. We have been extremely fortunate to receive strong support from the industry, with many joining us on this journey and accepting the challenge. That said, it requires a great deal of thoughtfulness and sensitivity to where fashion is at.
A recent example is the sustainability requirements. We announced an updated set two years ago and implemented them this season, raising the ambition level of many minimum standards and introducing new ones, such as committing to responsible purchasing practices with suppliers and implementing circularity into operations post-purchase via collection schemes, resell or reuse options, using deadstock materials, making use of recycled content and considering recyclability of products. At a time when many businesses, governments and even political agendas are scaling back on sustainability, it is not easy to move in the opposite direction.
Vogue: You mentioned that Copenhagen feels like a fifth fashion week, I would agree. What do you think it could learn from some of the bigger fashion weeks, and what do you think they should learn from CPHFW?
We have so much to learn from the bigger fashion weeks. They are big institutions with long histories, so there’s a lot that we can learn from them in terms of scale, international outlook and relevance. Even though we are the smaller fashion week, what I hope and what I sense they are learning from us is how to use a platform actively and responsibly.
Vogue: London has implemented its own sustainability requirements, so Copenhagen is definitely having an effect. I’ve been attending CPHFW for quite a few years. In the beginning, it felt like a smaller community event; now, it’s a big international fashion event. How have you tried to maintain that sense of community as you’ve scaled?
I’ve never really considered that the sense of community would be at risk or disappear as we scale, and I don’t think it will. I believe it’s in the DNA not only of our fashion week, but also of our industry — the people involved, the guests who attend. Our community is naturally inclusive, which creates what international guests often describe as a relaxed atmosphere where people feel welcome. I also think it reflects the pride Danish people have in their city, and their eagerness to share its cultural gems. I don’t believe this will disappear, even as we continue to grow.
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Vogue: A fun question, what have been some personal highlights or moments over the last 20 years, where you were like, ‘Wow, this is really something’?
Every fashion week is a moment to celebrate. After each one, we feel a sense of accomplishment, partly because we continue to grow. We always wrap up with the feeling of, ‘Wow, we got even bigger this time’. I don’t think there’s been a single season that’s felt uniquely special; it’s been more of a continuous, progressive journey.
One particularly memorable moment, though, was when Copenhagen Fashion Week went abroad to the V&A Fashion in Motion showcase, in the same halls where Alexander McQueen, Jean Paul Gaultier and Vivienne Westwood had shown. That was a very special moment for us, because it underscored the sentiment that we are growing — not only in Copenhagen, but also globally.
Vogue: Let’s talk about the anniversary plans. Obviously, it’s a big year, so what do you have planned?
This season, we are hosting a very special and celebratory anniversary dinner. We’re gathering the whole community — from designers and guests to creatives — who have helped shape Copenhagen Fashion Week over the past 20 years. This includes people from the early years who may no longer be actively involved, as well as newer stakeholders and profiles. It will be a special moment during this FW26 season.
Vogue: What can you tell me about what will come in the summer?
Looking ahead to the summer season, we’re expecting very high participation from brands, including those returning to CPHFW and new or larger brands joining the schedule. This adds to the celebratory nature of the year, and we hope to present some truly great shows. We’re also working on a beautiful book — a collection of archive imagery, along with chapters offering insights into the last two decades — which will be released later this year.
Vogue: To finish, a big question, what are your ambitions for the next 20 years of CPHFW?
My ambition is to keep growing the week — not necessarily in volume, because I don’t think volume is the most important KPI, but in relevance and significance. At the same time, we will continue our work under the responsibility pillar, focusing on both sustainability and diversity and inclusion. There is still much to be done. We’ve only opened the first chapter of integrating these agendas, so in the coming years, we aim to raise the bar and make much more progress.
