Ganni forgoes CPHFW in favour of ‘Fabrics of the Future’ exhibition

Danish fashion brand Ganni is celebrating its 10th anniversary as a participant in Copenhagen Fashion Week (CPHFW) by foregoing a fashion show. Instead, the sustainability-oriented label is hosting a dedicated exhibition for forward-looking materials, such as Celium from Polybion, a pioneering alternative to synthetic fabrics made from petroleum, and Savian from BioFluff, a plant-based fur alternative.

"This February, Ganni will take a break from the show programme and focus its efforts on supporting emerging talent by making its platform available to up-and-coming creatives while unveiling its in-house innovation platform, Fabrics of The Future," according to a press release issued on Tuesday afternoon.

The ‘Fabrics of The Future’ initiative was launched in 2022 as part of the Global Fashion Summit. Its aim is to research and develop innovative, lower-carbon and preferred materials that are alternatives to conventional materials and "will play a crucial role in making fashion more responsible", according to Ganni.

Seven designers and artists take part

The Danish brand has commissioned work and complete looks from a group of seven creatives, including five designers and two artists, who will create a bespoke design using 'Fabrics of the Future' alongside residual and waste materials.

The designers include Danish CPHFW NewTalent graduate Nicklas Skovgaard, who founded his eponymous luxury womenswear brand in 2020. He already worked with Ganni in June 2022 on a collaboration with BioFluff as part of the Global Fashion Summit activation. For Ganni's exhibition, Skovgaard will design a dress made from Savian by BioFluff, a bio-based Oleatex alternative, and Circulose.

Copenhagen-based designer and CPHFW NewTalent One-to-Watch Alectra Rothschild, whose label Masculina creates "a dramatic, revealing and slightly messy aesthetic" with body-hugging dresses, will be working with Oleatex bio-based leather alternatives and Circulose denim.

The Copenhagen-based knitwear label A. Roege Hove by Danish designer and CPHFW NewTalent alumni Amalie Røge Hove will be utilising Fabrics of The Future, InResST and Circulose. She will also put to use recycled wool yarn from the Omega yarn factory, which Ganni has previously used to make hats, in combination with her own yarn remnants.

Sisse Bjerre, a graduate of the Swedish School of Textiles and Ganni Next-Gen Talent, will explore alternative methods of making garments, using paper as the main medium and experimenting with natural materials such as moss and branches. She will create a design made from paper and cellulose for the exhibition.

Copenhagen-based textile designer and Ganni Next-Gen talent Sarah Brunnhuber developed Stem, a zero-waste production process for clothing. She previously collaborated with Ganni on a three-piece circular collection in June 2022 and will be working with her own yarn scraps for the exhibition in a zero-waste process that gives the wool new capabilities.

Copenhagen-based designer, textile artist and Ganni Next-Gen talent Jens Ole Árnason worked for Stem on the collaboration with Ganni GFA Pop-up in 2022 and has since worked under his own name, including creating sculptures from deadstock materials, as he has done for the upcoming exhibition.

Sahar Jamili is a Danish-Azerbaijani-Iranian visual artist with a BFA from the Royal Academy of Fine Arts who grew up in Copenhagen. For the exhibition, she is designing a sculpture with a cage based on her recent work Insight Out, which was shown at Kunsthal Charlottenborg. However, this version of the sculpture will be filled with Ganni waste, which is usually sent to I:CO, the brand's recycling centre, providing a visual commentary on overconsumption in the fashion industry.