Stockholm Fashion Week relaunches digitally and fur-free

Stockholm Fashion Week has shifted its focus towards sustainability inrecent years and actively sought ways to reduce its carbon footprint. In2019, the Swedish Fashion Council cancelled Stockholm FashionWeek due to facing major challenges to meet the demands forsustainability and innovation. Maybe as a result of global fashion weeksforced to digitize due to the impact of Covid-19, this week, StockholmFashion Week relaunched from August 25 to 27 as a digital event. Along withthe campaign efforts of Peta, Swedish Fashion Association-the event’s neworganiser-also announced that this year’s virtual fashion week is entirelyfur and exotic skins-free.

Virtual fashion week

Swedish fashion brands and designers united for three days on a digitalplatform to showcase their brands and interact with media, influencers,buyers, followers, and consumers. The new fashion week embraced a360-degree format, setting the stage for SS21 presentations and shows,live-streamed Q&A sessions with designers, interviews and paneldiscussions, wholesale showrooms, consumer activities focusing on thecurrent season’s collections.

Fur and exotic skins-free runways

Fashion weeks in Europe and Australia have been spearheading fur-freeand eco-friendly runways. Amsterdam, Helsinki, and Oslo fashion weeks aswell as Melbourne Fashion Festival have official policies against fur. Aswell as being fur and exotic skins-free, Helsinki Fashion Week removedleather all together from its catwalks. London Fashion Week hasn’tshowcased any fur since 2018.

Covid-19 concerns and closure of fur farms

The impact of fur production causes immense environmental issues – suchas the climate crisis, ozone pollution, and water and land use according toPeta and a recent study of mink European farms conducted by scientists andWHO (World Health Organization). Producing 1 kilogram of fur has a carbondioxide equivalent (CO2e) factor of about 130 to 140 kilograms, compared toaround 6 to 7 kilograms of CO2e for 1 kilogram of faux fur. Fur farms arebreeding grounds for disease, and facilities in the Netherlands, Spain, andDenmark have seen immense outbreaks of Covid-19 amongst animals andworkers. The situation became so dire that the Dutch Parliament voted toclose the nation’s last remaining fur farms this year.

Rob Schoenbaum / NurPhoto / NurPhoto via AFP