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Copenhagen Fashion Week kicks off today, and this season, there’s a swathe of young talent joining the schedule for the first time, as part of CPHFW’s new One to Watch scheme.
As a precursor to joining the CPHFW New Talent programme (which includes funding and mentorship), One to Watch selects fledgling labels who are just finding their start in business, and provides them with support and guidance to do a presentation during CPHFW, but doesn’t provide financial backing.
From innovative zero-waste weaving, to reconstructing secondhand menswear for women, each brand wants to bring a fresh perspective to Scandinavian fashion. For each of them, it’s their first major brand moment in front of press and buyers. But, as they’re learning, launching a fashion business today is no mean feat. Amid the current retail climate, they’re relying on new small-scale business models and shrewd use of government funding and sponsorship, in order to get off the ground.
“We are seeing businesses look to new methods and models for their companies, as we see the traditional wholesale model becoming more and more flawed,” says Cecilie Thorsmark, CEO of CPHFW. “This can both come as an opportunity for brands, but it certainly also comes with its own new set of obstacles to overcome.”
Vogue Business sat down with the next-generation of Scandi labels, ahead of their CPHFW One to Watch debuts, to understand their next moves.
Sól Hansdóttir: ‘Anti-disciplinary’ low-waste fashion
“When I have to make it work, I make it work,” says London-based designer Sól Hansdóttir, who launched her eponymous brand from her native Iceland in 2021, during the pandemic. She creates intricate, structurally surprising and colourful knits and separates, using 100 per cent deadstock, sourced from the Red Cross and a supplier in London’s Wood Green. They’re all cut with zero-waste and offcuts.
“It’s really nice to be in Iceland and I work well there. But, it’s too isolated in my opinion to be a part of the fashion conversation, which is so important. Now, [with CPHFW] I’m finally, finally stepping into the ring,” the designer says from her London studio, three days out from her first presentation (featuring a small runway show) as part of the One to Watch scheme today, in outdoor community space Blox.
To kick start her label, Hansdóttir secured an undisclosed arts grant from governmental organisation The Icelandic Foundation, in order to develop her early work. Now, she’s ready to show buyers and press the fruits of her labour, and start selling her pieces. “Up until now I’ve been doing made-to-order, so I didn’t have to commit to any production minimums, sit on stock or front a lot of money for materials. But now, I’m consciously moving into scaling. So, I need to figure out how to make the garments more accessible,” she says, “I don’t like the word commercial. But, I want pieces people recognise instantly.”
Hansdóttir only wants to gain a couple of stockists after CPHFW, and produce limited runs, based on how many metres of fabric she can get from deadstock. The plan is to narrow the price range to bring the average price down (currently pieces range from £200-£2,000) and create pieces that retail from £250-£450, to strike a balance between revenue-driving accessible reconstructed old T-shirts, which are scalable due to “unlimited supply”, and intricate showpieces that garner press attention, produced in more limited runs. Still, she’s keen to invest in direct-to-consumer, rather than relying on retailers. The goal, she says, is to “stay rebellious”. “I m still learning a lot about business, but I think that means I look at things without assumptions, and don’t always consider how you should do stuff,” she says.
Stem: Zero-waste knitwear
“The nerves are kicking in,” says weaver and textile designer Sarah Brunnhuber, who launched her zero-waste knitwear label Stem in September 2021 and is preparing for her first small presentation today at CPHFW. “We had the lookbook shoot on Saturday, that was a good deadline. But then of course, there’s plenty of little fires that I’m trying to put out.” This includes confirming music, makeup artists and a drinks sponsorship (the sponsor pulled out last minute).
Brunnhuber grew up in London, before studying textile design at Design Academy Eindhoven in the Netherlands. Upon moving to Copenhagen for love five years ago, she secured two-year funding from Danish Art Foundation Statens Kunstfond, plus additional funding from the national bank Nationalbankens Jubilæumsfond and the Danish Innovation Fund (Innovationsfonden). This funding bought Brunnhuber time to develop her unique weaving technique, without the pressure of driving sales (she declined to share the funding amount).
Brunnhuber’s weaving, cutting and sewing system eliminates garment production waste, because no fabric is produced before the final design is made. She digitally designs the pattern pieces in the most efficient arrangement, and loosely weaves in any gaps to fuse them together. Of course, this technique is time consuming and Brunnhuber is considering scale. “There are some pieces that take 12 hours, but there are others where it’s just one hour of knotting or pulling. I’ve made sure that there are some pieces which are more commercial and scalable. And there are some which are just more time consuming and special.”
Brunnhuber picked a small space for her CPHFW debut, expecting a handful of guests. A thousand people requested to attend, so she’s hosting an intimate presentation, followed by a drinks reception to accommodate more of her community. “I don’t have the budget for a PR agency. So, I went through every single name with a friend,” she says. Stem is extremely new, and doesn’t yet have commercial partners. But, she has already collaborated with major labels like Ganni, for the Ganni x CPHFW New Talent: ‘Future, Talent, Fabrics’ exhibition last season.
Alongside Stem the fashion brand, Brunnhuber is developing a small Stem mill, for other brands to use her technique. The mill aims to establish an efficient setup for small-scale, agile production, and foster research and development. While the arts council funding helps, she also wants to get the brand off the ground to fund these projects. “I am really excited to speak to buyers. I’m really excited to see their reaction. That would be a real success if that came from it, but even getting their take on it would already be exciting for me.”
Bonnetje: ‘Unexpected and a bit weird’ reconstructed tailoring
After meeting as teens in Copenhagen, Bonnetje founders Anna Myntekær and Yoko Maja Hansen studied at the same time at Gerrit Rietveld Academie in Amsterdam. The duo then both took up design roles in Paris (the former for Cecilie Bahnsen, the latter Maison Margiela), before moving back to Copenhagen in 2018.
“I had a baby,” Myntekær says. “Then I had a baby,” Hansen echoes. One day while pushing strollers by a lake, they decided to try launching their own fashion label, identifying a gap in the bustling Scandi fashion market for more conceptual, standout garments like those they’d seen in Paris. They experimented, pulling garments apart, and realised men’s suits were the perfect source material. “We love the lining and the horse hair and everything that’s hidden in the suit. All the work that the tailor put into it. Yeah, it tells a story which is so beautiful.”
The duo describe Bonnetje, named after the Danish word for receipt, as “unexpected and imperfect. Imperfect and a bit weird”. In practice this means irregular proportions, asymmetries and subversions, like lapels or waistbands being turned into totally new garments. Bonnetje isn’t as commercial as typical Danish brands, which can be a blessing and a curse, the duo agrees, as it helps them stand out, but poses commercial challenges. “It’s good for us that we haven’t really been in super commercial brands before,” Myntekær says. “Plus, we studied at art school. So, I think it s very natural for us to work more on concepts.”
“It’s good for us, but maybe not for business,” Hansen jokes. “That’s something we are working on.” The duo has recently secured a manufacturer in Lithuania and a local Danish tailor, who can help them reproduce their reconstructed designs for a wider audience, as their first stockists hopefully come in after CPHFW. They are also looking to diversify. “We have talked with some people in the industry and we know that it’s quite normal that a brand for instance makes a T-shirt or a cap, to earn money. But, that doesn’t fit our [aesthetic], so we need to figure out what works for us,” Myntekær says.
For now, they are keen to secure some buyers for Spring Summer 2025, and they’re opening their webshop in September, to sell pieces DTC. “We love when people say we push the boundaries of Scandi fashion, that’s so important to us,” says Myntekær. “But, of course, we both have small kids and families, so our main goal is to be able to eventually live off this and earn some money.”
Bolstered by NGO and government funding, these three brands have been able to gradually build their labels and develop their products without reliance on the turbulent retail market. But, as they enter CPHFW, the organisation is keen to guide them to continue their responsible approaches, even as they start selling to stores. “[While the economic climate is challenging], what we are seeing more and more, in a positive light however, is the ingrained approach to responsible and positively impactful foundations these brands hold,” says CPHFW’s Thorsmark. “By ensuring we are equipping and supporting these designers as much as we can — and also continuing to ensure we, too, evolve as a scheme — we will aspire to help the next generation paving the path for our creative future.”
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