The Copenhagen Fashion Week and the anti-fashion manifesto

The Danish brand Carcel has opened the Copenhagen Fashion Week FW20 igniting the debate on eco-sustainability.

No model to parade, no pressing soundtrack, no collection. Spectators watched a documentary on green fashion with the aim of activating and disturbing their awareness of sustainability. "I want to create a business model that has a social impact and reduces our environmental footprint," says Veronica D’Souza, co-founder of Carcel. The brand works on multiple levels of eco-sustainability and social awareness, starting with the production of garments. Their garments are made in Thailand and Peru with natural and local materials, reducing transportation costs for production; and although their carbon footprint can be further reduced by moving factories to Denmark, they choose to employ women detained in areas with high levels of illegality, such as in Latin America and Southeast Asia. The names of the workers who make each garment are placed under the brand logo. For example, Rocio, from Cusco, Peru, explained in the video shown at the parade, how she entered drug trafficking to provide for her family and how she is now serving a sentence of almost 13 years.

Carcel also highlights the huge problem of overproduction of fashion, which contributes to over 15 million tons of waste per year and offers a solution: no new seasons and no sales. If there are no new lots of clothing arriving at regular intervals, there is no need to eliminate old stocks with low prices, thus encouraging customers to buy more. "It takes time to do it this way, but we have to slow down, we have to produce less, buy less and design better quality that lasts over time," says D’Souza. At the end of the presentation, Carcel invited guests to "walk along the catwalk" together as an act of reflection and protest. These days, activist groups like Extinction Rebellion are protesting around the world to end fashion week because of growing global warming. Carcel pointed out that it approves and supports the importance of the fashion weeks, but only as a showcase for brands to present ideas and solutions for the environment.