Good News: More sustainable Nordic fashion

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Nordic fashion is a true smörgåsbord (yes, that’s how it’s spelled!)  of upscale designers, minimalism, and androgynous style mixed with more wallet-friendly fashion pieces. The Nordic countries are home to an unprecedented number of accomplished designers such as Acne, Dagmar, Filippa K, Won Hundred, Carin Wester, Wood Wood and the more affordable fashion houses H&M, COS, Samsø & Samsø and Cheap Monday.

However, with the consumption rates steadily rising, each Nordic citizen buys textiles every year that emits carbon dioxide equivalent to a drive from the far north of Norway to Denmark – which, according to Google Maps, is quite far.  The fashion industry has a tremendous impact on the environment with its large need for water, energy, chemicals and pesticides. Now, the Nordic Ministers for the Environment have teamed up in order to make the Nordic fashion and textile industry the most sustainable one in the world. A few weeks ago, the ministers presented their action plan which includes a goal to extend the products’ lifetime and to reuse textile fibres.

“We want to develop a Nordic academy for sustainable fashion and design to educate designers throughout the Region in sustainability. There’s also a range of new business opportunities within green fashion – the Region can contribute to solving global environmental problems while creating growth and jobs,” says Denmark’s Minister for the Environment Kirsten Brosbøl.

Brosbøl also said that there is a plan to start a Nordic academy for sustainable fashion and design that will educate designers in the region in sustainability.

With Denmark being the world’s largest producer of mink fur, an industry which has devastating impact on the environment, it will be interesting to see how this initiative tackles the use of fur and leather (another enemy to the environment) in the Nordic fashion industry of the future. Hopefully, we will see more green, truly sustainable quality materials from the Nordic designers.

Top photo by Jesper Yu/Flickr Creative Commons

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Anja Elle

Beauty & Marketing Coordinator

Anja has a background as hairstylist and makeupartist and works with marketing. She is a Swede living in Copenhagen with her two cats. Anja lives to travel, is a vegetarian, a bit of a crazy cat lady, and would go far for a good truffle pasta and Italian wine. She blogs at liveandletsgo.com

1 Comment
  1. This surprises me a lot! I live in Denmark, and even though few people wear fur (mostly 20-something women or 80-something women, ha ha), it seems to be acceptable in especially the Northern part of Sealand and around Copenhagen. I know people who have lived in London, but didn’t dare to wear fur because of a general negative feedback. These people wear fur in Denmark, because people are mostly proud of our ‘great agriculture’ – both mink farms, pig farms and dairy farms are popular. But I am looking forward to see where this is going… also real leather is the biggest trend in Denmark. Every man and woman between the age of 15 and 50 owns at least one real leather jacket and leather trousers…

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