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Over the past five years, Copenhagen Fashion Week (CPHFW) has invested heavily in its American relationships, strategically increasing the number of US buyers and press on its hospitality program, to foster US retail growth for its brands and tap into rising demand.
So, when the largest multi-brand luxury retailer in the world, Saks Global — which includes Saks Fifth Avenue, Neiman Marcus, and Bergdorf Goodman — filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on January 14, just two weeks before CPHFW, it sent ripples through the Nordic fashion community, many of whom have come to rely on the US market for growth.
Scandi labels are not alone: many global brands have shifted focus to the US market over the last two years, with destination shows and US retail expansion, as Chinese consumer spending and travel retail revenue softened. But without mono-brand stores and robust US operations, most Scandi labels are beholden to ailing American retailers to aid their market growth. This is becoming increasingly risky following Trump’s tariffs, Saks Global’s bankruptcy, and North American retailer Ssense’s filing last year.
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Sofie Dolva, director of Copenhagen International Fashion Fair (CIFF), which takes place alongside CPHFW, says she’s heard much discussion about the challenging US retail climate, and how brands are pivoting away from the market in response. “What we see with a lot of the brands is that they are then trying to look into new business opportunities in Canada, the Middle East, and Eastern Europe,” she says. CIFF — where labels like Forza Collective and OpéraSport claimed booths — did the same thing this season. Dolva says the organization reduced its budget for US press and buyers to invest in guests from the aforementioned emerging markets.
“So many of our [Scandi] brands have outstanding money with some of the big retailers, and it’s hurting their cash flows on top of a challenging market,” Dolva adds of what she’s seeing through CIFF, which hosted more than a thousand brands from various geographies this year.
Copenhagen label OpéraSport, which presented its Fall/Winter 2026 collection last Tuesday, does about 70% of its business via wholesale. It’s stocked at 15 US retailers, including Revolve and ViaVia, plus smaller boutiques including Marmalade, Mr. Larkin and Aria. In recent years, the US has become one of the brand’s fastest-growing markets. But on top of retail challenges, tariffs have created further challenges. “The US is positive for us, but there’s also a lot of uncertainty,” says OpéraSport co-founder Awa Malina Stelter. “Not only with the wholesale business, but also with the politics [there]. Every time we ship something [wholesale], there’s a risk whether we’re going to get our money. The payment terms with big retailers are not the best for a small brand.”
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To soften the tariff impact and wholesale challenges, OpéraSport opened a warehouse in the States in November 2025, which “significantly reduces last-mile shipping costs, shortens delivery times, and lowers the risk of failed deliveries and returns”, Stelter says. “This improves conversion rates and customer satisfaction, which ultimately offsets the upfront tariff costs.”
In addition, having inventory closer to the customer allows OpéraSport to scale in the US market more efficiently, she adds. “We can support wholesale and [direct-to-consumer] DTC growth, and operate with more predictable logistics and pricing,” Stelter says. “For us, it’s a strategic investment rather than just a cost-saving measure.”
Without this investment, the current trade setup makes the US a difficult prospect, if you’re not established. “[The US] is such a challenging market to be profitable [in],” says Tina Raasteen, co-CEO of Copenhagen womenswear label Herskind, which has around 10 US stockists, but still does most of its business in Europe. “I think all brands, including us, need to take case by case what accounts we can afford to work with. In the wholesale model, the big players are pushing back the risk on brands, and few brands can afford it.”
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Some of Copenhagen’s smaller labels were less exposed to major US retail, and so they’ve managed to swerve tariff setbacks and unfulfilled payments. “It feels like retailers are holding back money, but in a way, since we’re still a quite small brand, we’re not as affected as I hear other brands [are],” Copenhagen rising star Nicklas Skovgaard told Vogue Business backstage after his FW26 show. The LVMH Prize finalist, who launched his eponymous label in 2020, sells on Ssense, as well as at US boutiques like Maimoun, Café Forgot, and Mr. Larkin.
“The Ssense [bankruptcy] filing did not directly affect the health of my business, and they do not owe me any outstanding payments,” Skovgaard says. “However, it did highlight the broader uncertainty within the wholesale market at the moment. Seeing a major platform navigate challenges naturally prompted me to reflect more strategically on how to move forward — particularly around diversification, pacing growth, and being thoughtful about which partners truly align with the long-term vision of the brand.”
The Canadian e-tailer, which laid off 100 employees in May, is facing a new trade reality with high tariffs and the end of a free shipping exemption law in the US.
Other Copenhagen brands still see potential, with the correct positioning. “All different countries have their own issues that are going on, but I do feel there are more stable economies to look to than [the US economy] at this time,” says Ariana Milton, who heads up commercial strategy for Copenhagen-based brand Forza Collective. Founded and creatively led by designer Kristoffer Kongshaug, the brand does about 80% of its business DTC with a “very small footprint in the US” for now, Milton says.
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The brand sees potential in the US market in the long term, if it can avoid depending on wholesale. Forza Collective has a fast-growing digital audience in America, creating potential to scale the DTC business, Milton says. “Strategically, the US represents our largest, long-term commercial opportunity — particularly across DTC, select wholesale partnerships, and future community-driven activations,” she says. To expand, the brand will lean on levers like “strengthening DTC infrastructure, aligning PR with commercial strategy, and actively developing the US alongside Europe through targeted wholesale conversations, market weeks, and brand moments like CIFF”.
The key is to avoid overexposure in any given market, to weather retail turbulence. “I feel like it’s part of a broader recalibration happening across premium and luxury retail,” Stephanie Gundelach, OpéraSport’s co-founder, says. “It reinforces not being overexposed to any single partner or market, but building a more balanced ecosystem between wholesale, DTC, and community-driven platforms.”
Fashion’s world order, it seems, is on the cusp of a shift, as relationships are newly deepened across regions. The US, at least to Scandinavia, is emblematic of a retail dream — but it is falling out of focus. But it is falling out of focus. “We’re in a very little bit of a weird transition, almost like a twilight zone,” Forza Collective’s Kongshaug says. “Everyone is kind of scrambling to find or come up with the right answer of how to do things, because clearly the old system is not progressive enough.”
