Copenhagen Fashion Week Challenges Luxury’s Slowdown

COPENHAGEN — Copenhagen Fashion Week has built a reputation as the fifth fashion capital — the sustainable one — but even it isn’t immune from brand closures and the luxury slowdown.

The country’s oldest clothing brand Brandtex from 1935 folded this year and was then quickly rescued by Godske Group A/S. Two other major Danish fashion companies — Ganni and Birger Christensen Collective — also have stepped in to either rescue or lend a helping hand to struggling local brands.

Still, the overall mood around town during the spring 2025 season remained one of optimism, as some companies reported continued strong growth.

For the jewelry brands, everything that glitters was gold, or diamonds.

Sophie Bille Brahe, famed for her cluster of diamond pieces, charmed guests at her showroom with a collection focusing on the minimalism and cleanliness of pearls.

“Our channels are growing strong. More and more we see customers who wish to invest in special pieces, jewelry that can tell a story and be passed on from generation to generation,” she said in an interview, hinting at the prospect of oversea expansion, which will be unveiled later this year.

The bold silver and gold rings of Tom Wood were softened this season with strings of diamonds across rings, while bracelets and necklaces got chunkier and heavier.

“Since our inception in 2013, we have operated profitably every single year and are proud to have never needed loans or credits. We are experiencing significant growth in our own retail and e-commerce business,” said creative director Mona Jensen.

The brand experienced a decline in the wholesale market in 2023, but things are improving.

“Consequently, we estimate a turnover growth of approximately 25 percent in 2024,” Jensen added.

She believes strongly in staying in a price bracket that doesn’t become too aspirational for their customers. Tom Wood jewelry ranges from 69 British pounds for a silver ear cuff to 9,939 British pounds for a recycled 9-karat gold ring handset with diamonds.

Tom Wood is experiencing a boon in the Japanese market, too, as are many other luxury and designer brands. The brand is stocked at more than 70 retailers in the region.

The company opened a retail space at Dover Street Market in Ginza last week following the success of its flagship store in Aoyama.

Adding a sliver of silver or gold to Copenhagen’s sunny outdoor runways was Pandora. The Danish jewelry company teamed with Rotate, the brand that’s synonymous with flirty part clothes — and for consecutive seasons has hosted the best fashion week party.

Pandora ambassador Pamela Anderson was sitting front row to witness a dress featuring 2,000 silver tennis bracelets and handmade belts using more than 300 14-karat gold necklaces from Pandora.

There’s much to celebrate for Rotate’s designers, Jeanette Madsen and Thora Valdimarsdottir.

“Despite the slowdown of luxury retail, we have found that Rotate has maintained its growth momentum. Whilst certain markets have been affected by the current challenges in the retail landscape, others have been increasing, such as the Middle East, where the brand continues to grow a strong customer base,” Madsen said.

“We are delighted to have opened our first flagship store in Copenhagen [coinciding with fashion week]. It is a huge moment for the brand,” Valdimarsdottir added.

In a city as small as Copenhagen, retail isn’t just an exercise in brand building, but rather growing a community organically. That includes inside airports as most Danes travel to neighboring countries on a frequent basis. 

That’s one reason the Iceland-based sustainable outerwear brand 66°North has opened its second store inside Copenhagen Airport.

The brand is putting a lot of effort into Copenhagen. They’ve just moved into their first headquarters outside of Iceland in Copenhagen that will be used partly as an office for 66°North’s international teams, as well as a showroom and space to host events and activations.

“We finished 2023 with an 18 percent growth, which I am satisfied with considering the challenging environment. During the first six months of 2024, we experienced slower growth but picked up again, with July sales showing strong double-digit growth,” said Helgi Oskarsson, the brand’s chief executive officer.

His next goal is to improve 66°North’s global wholesale business.

Even as many brands continue to grow, there’s a candidness when it comes to discussing business during Copenhagen Fashion Week — brands big and small are willing to share their struggles, offer up their solutions and lend a helping hand.

The Stockholm-based brand Deadwood, for instance, has witnessed its first decline in years. “We saw sales go down by minus 13 percent year-on-year,” said Felix von Bahder, the brand’s cofounder and creative director.

“We had put too many eggs in too few baskets when it came to wholesale, placing our bets on a handful of online giants. When their sales started to decline that instantly resulted in budget cuts and canceled orders,” he added.

The brand’s direct-to-consumer sales absorbed some of that gut punch, but it wasn’t enough to adjust. 

In March, things looked even more grim than before.

“But to channel my inner Tony Robbins, resourcefulness is the ultimate resource. We gathered our last energy and with the help of a community-led investment round we pulled Deadwood up from out of the ditch and turned things around,” von Bahder said.

Helle Hestehave, who codesigns Baum und Pferdgarten with Rikke Baumgarten, revealed that with the rise of inflation and interest rates in 2022, the brand saw a decrease that affected its 2023 results, which totaled 11 million Danish kroner, or 1.47 million euros.

Then there is Copenhagen’s hot ticket, Ganni, which sat out another season and instead boosted the city’s talent by supporting them financially along with Birger Christensen Collective, the parent company of Rotate and Remain.

Remain is in a state of change as its creative director, Martin Asbjørn, solidifies the brand’s voice and message, according to Denise Christensen, CEO of Birger Christensen Collective.

“Naturally the luxury slowdown has had an effect on global businesses. However, within 2024 Remain has still expanded the number of retail partners to 120 partners in total. Whilst we do not currently have plans to open a permanent retail space, this is certainly something we look towards in the future,” she added.

It was a comeback season for Denmark’s rebellious sibling designers Nana and Simon Wick of (Di)vision — they’ve paused their runways shows for the last two seasons.

“We are doing better and better each month, but have a decrease in revenue from 2023 to 2024. This is the result of us focusing on direct-to-consumer and stopping selling wholesale to focus on our core business and community,” Simon said.

Their show was made possible this season by collaborating with The Ordinary; the design duo showed a dress made completely from the beauty brand’s packaging.

Even with the demanding market, some brands have grown up quickly and are now determining where to go from here.

Another Aspect, which specializes in modernizing the 9-to-5 uniform, is one of them as they near five years in business. 

“We are better than ever with a well-functioning physical store and online and retail network. We have grown 60 percent in the first seven months in 2024. We are about to grow up and are no longer in the early stages. The last year has been a wild journey, and we have felt a completely crazy demand in Denmark and the wider world,” said Daniel Brøndt, cofounder of the brand.

Eyewear designer Vincent Catani has taken the luxury slowdown as a cue to also slow down and carefully consider his next steps. Since launching his first collection two years ago, the brand has “grown exponentially,” according to the designer, and it has established a core customer base in Denmark and Finland.

“We have doubled our retail partners in the past year and the sales have been the best to date this spring and summer,” said Catani, who is stocked at Copenhagen concept store Studio Stars.

Another fresh face on the scene, Kristoffer Kongshaug of Forza Collective, presented his sophomore act, an ode to the ‘60s, the haute couture of the ‘70s and ‘90s ready-to-wear.

A previous designer at Raf Simons, Christian Dior Couture, Balmain and Lanvin, he is not surprised by the luxury market’s dip and has “priced strategically to be more affordable than a lot of the very premium luxury brands.”

A Forza Collective nylon T-shirt dress is priced at 6,060 Danish kroner (or 812 euros) while a cotton canvas cocoon coat retails for 9,700 Danish kroner, or 1,300 euros.

“We are off to a good start, and I am so motivated to work toward more wholesale and online channels in the next one to two years, especially expanding our client base in the U.S.,” Kongshaug said.

The brand is opening a pop-up store at Printemps in Paris in October and plans to expand into the knitwear category for next fall.