Copenhagen Fashion Week inks sustainable accord with Zalando

By

Godfrey Deeny

Published
Nov 5, 2020

Copenhagen Fashion Week has inked an accord with online fashion platform Zalando to accelerate sustainable transformation in the fashion industry.

Their goal in their three-year partnership: to guarantee the fashion week and the online retailer both have net-positive impacts on people and the planet aligning both parties with their respective plans - Copenhagen Fashion Week's Sustainability Action Plan, announced in early 2020, and Zalando's Do.More strategy, revealed in October 2019. A key element is continuous increases in ethical standards and the promise that by end 2023 they will only work with partners who align with them.

Zalando has already made sustainability assessments mandatory for both its private labels and partner brands as part of its Do.More strategy. While Copenhagen Fashion Week's Sustainability Action Plan established its ambition to transition and develop into a pioneering, sustainable industry platform, setting minimum sustainability requirements for all participating brands by 2023 and pushing the fashion industry to implement necessary and comprehensive positive change.  

"Copenhagen Fashion Week is incredibly pleased to announce our new partnership with a pioneering player like Zalando that shares our level of commitment to sustainability. Together with Zalando, we hope to send a powerful signal to the fashion industry, that it is possible to drive positive change if we dare to demand a high level of sustainability as a prerequisite for working together," said Cecilie Thorsmark, CEO of Copenhagen Fashion Week.

 
"We are very proud to enter into a partnership with Copenhagen Fashion Week - a partner that shares our ambition to drive collective change towards sustainability in the fashion industry. Collaboration is in the DNA of Zalando and with more than 35 million customers in 17 markets across Europe and more than 3.000 brand partners on our platform, we want to use our scale and innovative technology to raise the bar and with Copenhagen Fashion Week, we have a strong partner in the European fashion ecosystem," said David Schneider, co-CEO of Zalando, a Berlin-bsaed group founded in 2008.
 
The new partnership commences as Copenhagen Fashion Week prepares for the next edition of fashion week taking place 2-5 February 2021.
 
Copenhagen  Fashion Week is the leading fashion event in the Nordic region, held biannually in the Danish capital.