After several seasons of canceled and virtual shows, Copenhagen Fashion Week returned to the Danish capital last week and the most sustainable fashion week in the industry made up for lost time with a packed calendar of shows, presentations and parties. .
As well as the return of Scandi street style, SS23 saw the latest edition of the Zalando Sustainability Award. Created in 2019 to help accelerate sustainability in the fashion industry, MWorks award finalists and British designer Raeburn were presented as scheduled, with London and Reykjavík-based designer Ranra announced as the winner at a ceremony on the last exhibition day of the week.
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After accepting their award, Ranra founders Arnar Mar Jonsson and Luke Stevens told ELLE UK: “We work quite differently in terms of ways that are widely recognized as sustainable and a lot of times these things happen in the background and quite often they slip.” under the radar, so to see those things recognized and rewarded is really inspiring and encouraging to continue the way we’re working.
‘The Sustainability Award broadens the understanding of what we mean by sustainability and how we approach it.’
Ranra stated in her show notes that her SS23 collection highlighted the “use of natural materials and finishes that are at the core of the label’s ongoing design ethos.” Jonsson explained his unique dyeing process, noting: “I came back to Iceland two years ago and our first idea was how can we use the land because we don’t have any textile history apart from a wool that can be knitted, we wanted to find a way to use the earth.
SS23 Slot
James Cochrane
“I had recently bought a house and I just took all the heather from around the house and we figured out a way to use it for dyeing – we literally just wanted to get the landscape onto the clothes.”
Ranra follows previous winners House of Dagmar, Nikolaj Storm and Iso.Poetism, and will receive £18,000 in prize money along with the opportunity to partner with Zalando in developing an exclusive capsule collection with a focus on sustainability.
East London-based designer Christopher Raeburn said of being a finalist for this year’s award: ‘Most of what we do at Raeburn is common sense; make the most of what you have and be respectful and resourceful to the planet, so in theory you should have good traction in Scandinavia.
Raeburn SS23
Andrea Adriani
‘The way we work has been embedded in the company from the beginning. We are very clear about our spirit and I think that gives the whole team a very good structure.”
Copenhagen Fashion Week has long been a pioneer in sustainability, and in 2020 introduced its Sustainability Action Plan, which outlined a minimum set of standards that all show programming brands must meet by AW23.
The Zalando Sustainability Award, which is open to international applicants, aims to encourage fashion brands to explore sustainable alternatives and recognize strategies that contribute to a more sustainable industry. This year, the winner was chosen by a panel of expert judges that included activist Arizona Muse and Cecilie Thorsmark, CEO of Copenhagen Fashion Week.