Copenhagen Fashion Week: high hopes for next season

This summer’s Copenhagen Fashion Week had barely finished when everybody in the Danish capital’s textile industry turned their eyes to the future. Not surprisingly, as a lot of things will be different from next season onwards. After the recent edition had officially ended on the August 10th,

a new trade fair concept was unveiled that is set to debut in late January, and hopes are high that Copenhagen may profit from the decision of Bread & Butter to move its winter edition from Berlin to Barcelona.

Even though the atmosphere at the two major fairs CIFF and Gallery was vibrant as both fairs managed to attract a higher number of high-calibre foreign buyers, the drawn-out schedule received some criticism from visitors and domestic industry organizations. CIFF and Vision, the third of the Copenhagen fairs, opened from Sunday to Wednesday, whereas Gallery ran from Wednesday to Friday, and the catwalk shows of Copenhagen Fashion Week took place from Tuesday to Thursday, making it difficult for time-strapped foreign visitors to get a good view of all Copenhagen had to offer during the week.

According to the national trade association Dansk Mode+Textil, the organizers of CIFF and Gallery immediately took the critical feedback to heart and agreed to open on the same days next season. Gallery already announced its new dates: the fair is going to run from January 28th to 30th.

Both events offered new brands and features this August. Gallery built on its impressive stock of Scandinavian designer labels and grew by 2.000 square meters, offering additional curated womenswear spaces, whereas CIFF continued its course towards a more progressive and design-orientated brand portfolio that Fashion & Design Director Kristian W. Andersen had set after taking over responsibilities at Bella Center in 2011. Three years ago, Copenhagen’s oldest fashion fair had grown stale, despite its huge size, because of its unspectacular exhibitor portfolio that used to cater mostly for mid-range domestic retailers. With Andersen’s reforms taking shape, CIFF has attracted rising numbers of important foreign buyers and journalists.

After successfully establishing Crystal Hall, a showcase for international cutting-edge labels that signposted the new destination, he took the next step to reshape the fair this season, introducing two new spaces for ambitious designer brands: Sleek for womenswear and LAB for menswear. “More than 200 brands wanted to come into Crystal Hall”, Andersen revealed. But he refused those requests, as he still plans to use that area to explore new creative ideas. So he created LAB and Sleek – large spaces for progressive brands that are more business-orientated than the experimental Crystal Hall. Both areas celebrated successful debuts this summer, garnering praise from international visitors, and are set to grow over the next coming seasons: Andersen expects them to be twice as big next January. And he also has other plans: “We will expand with 5.000 square meters for sportswear and denim”, he said, “but it is going to be premium and fashion-related, not another ‘blue’ denim fair. We already saw that.”

The Copenhagen fairs hope to profit from Bread & Butter’s decision to move back to Barcelona in January

Next season, CIFF and Gallery are going to face a new competitor for the attention of the buyers as Jan Busch Carlsen finally decided to put an end to Vision, the fair he had founded as CPH Vision in 1998. After years of international success, the event suffered from the fallout of the financial crisis and could not keep up with Gallery and CIFF despite several attempts at re-launches. This summer’s edition of Vision saw an improved atmosphere after moving back from Lokomotivværkstedet to its traditional venue, the beautiful Øksnehallen, but a departure from the established concept that focused on traditional mid-range Scandinavian brands still seemed necessary to attract new international buyers. Therefore, Carlsen teamed up with Christian Maibom, who gave up a senior position at Gallery, to create “Revolver”, a new fair to be launched next season. The aim is to present “the best of Scandinavian design-driven fashion”, said Carlsen. According to the announcement, the “Revolver” will use both former venues of Vision, Øksnehallen and Lokomotivværkstedet.

It may be just the right moment to start something new in Copenhagen, as the local fashion industry found reasons for fresh optimism – not only because recent numbers indicate growing sales in the current year. Many Danish fashion professionals also hope to capitalise on recent events in Berlin, Copenhagen’s closest rival as a Northern European fashion destination. With the controversial decision of Bread & Butter, Berlin’s biggest trade fair, to move to Barcelona next January, they see new opportunities for the Danish capital. As a lot of Bread & Butter’s exhibitors are still reluctant to go along to Catalonia, Copenhagen’s fair organisers hope to attract at least some of them – and lure more international visitors to Denmark in the process.

Given the economic framework, this may be crucial for the local brands: During the first quarter of 2014, the Danish textile industry – the fourth largest export business of the country - managed to increase its turnover by 1.3 percent after last year’s decline, but only because of growing trade abroad. Whereas the domestic business slumped once again (-4.5 percent), international sales rose by 4.7 percent with Germany being the most important foreign market by a distance. Given the continuing weakness of the home market, the road to success for the Danish fashion industry still leads abroad.

From our correspondent

Image: CIFF, August 2014