How the Copenhagen Fashion Summit 2020 placed the focus on redesigning value in the industry

The current pandemic has brought upon several existential questions. How much of what we desire do we really need? Where does the human pursuit for the impossible stop? And what are we willing to do to never be in a situation like the current one? The fashion industry has a bad rep for disregarding the needs of the communities that support the system and flouting environmental concerns in a nutshell. The Copenhagen Fashion Summit-an annual convention by the Global Fashion Agenda-aims to address these concerns by opening up dialogue.

This year, the Royal Concert Hall in the Danish capital was empty save for Eva Kruse, CEO Global Agenda and Mary, Crown Princess of Denmark, patron of the summit who recorded their videos from the original venue. For the first-ever digital only CFS+, conversations revolved around rethinking what it is we value in the product life cycle. Fashion is a reflection of the times we live in and responding to the current needs, designers, senior management, activists and catalysts came forth with their perspectives.

Co-founder of NorBlack NorWhite Mriga Kapadiya′s video was a succinct summarisation of what needs to change with regards to smaller independent labels in the industry. "People finally seem to be waking up with a sense of urgency around sustainable living and practises. Before the value system needs to be designed, we believe it needs to be redefined. What is the current definition of success? Rapid growth seems to be the contemporary capitalist model that has been driving this idea of success that has taken too long to realise that it′s simply not working or true," said Kapadiya in her segment. Elaborating further on the subject of redefining value, she brought up the job cuts faced by garment workers whose companies lost contracts due to the pandemic. Challenges were the same for brands across the globe-limited supply of raw materials, difficulties in transportation and the severe lockdowns in many countries. Even then NorBlack NorWhite′s customer base was largely patient through these times. "We realised that it isn′t that customers aren′t willing to wait, it′s the companies that are creating false expectations of faster being better, cheaper being better," she added.

To be noticed and rewarded in a largely Westernised industry is another challenge the label experienced. Oftentimes, Kapadiya and co-founder Amrit Kumar bore the brunt of racist commentary on the show circuit whether it was asking them to model their clothes on lighter skinned models or to tone down the ethnic patterns in their textiles. "It was these lessons that we learnt that truly carved out why we are here and what we are here to do,"she concluded triumphantly.

This year′s LVMH Prize finalist Priya Ahluwalia was one of the designers who took part in the CFS+ design challenge. The founder of Ahluwalia who has Indian and Nigerian heritage, has built her brand Ahluwalia on the tenets of conscious practises in design. "For a long time we have had, maybe Asian, African stories told by European designers and I think it′s really important they are not told like that anymore," she starts off by dismantling colonialism.

Priya Ahluwalia′s journey of travelling to Panipat, the recycling capital of India prompted her even more to keep upcycling at the core of her design philosophy. "Sometimes I question whether this job is actually helpful or doing any good? But I think at the end of the day, everyone on the planet wears clothes." Ahluwalia′s challenge was to integrate Avery Dennison′s label in one of their styles that helps the wearer track down the origins of the garment. The label will also provide information on garment care and how to return it to the label in case they mean to dispose of it.

"I think there′s more visibility now for Black designers, Asian designers than there ever has been and I think that′s good and it′s needed. Because we are allowed to tell our own stories now rather than letting a Paris fashion house do an Africa collection or something that drives me mad," Ahluwalia ended her segment. The industry is changing for the good whether it′s for the sake of the environment or to protect and champion talent democratically and this new wave of designers will be able to speak up for that.

Anita Dongre, a veteran and an enduring fixture in the summit shared a short message reinforcing her belief that "Fashion today should be measured by a company′s carbon footprint and its positive impact on its community," she shared.

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