About

CPHFW NEWTALENT supported by Circulose® is a talent support scheme for Nordic emerging brands with less than five years in business.

CPHFW NEWTALENT supported by Circulose® is established by Copenhagen Fashion Week to nurture, develop, and promote emerging Nordic talent on a global scale. The scheme creates new opportunities for three to four emerging designers per season via monetary support, mentorships, partnership offerings, professional advisors, onboarding to the official Copenhagen Fashion Week show schedule, event participation, showroom activations, alumni network, and extensive PR through Copenhagen Fashion Week’s international community and channels.

CPHFW NEWTALENT brands will be supported for three consecutive seasons within the CPHFW NEWTALENT scheme. Subsequently each designer will graduate on to the alumni scheme, that will continue supporting the graduates of the CPHFW NEWTALENT scheme across showcasing, events, networking, business support, communication, and sponsorship opportunities.

For every Autumn/Winter edition of Copenhagen Fashion Week, we will be hosting an Official Talent Dinner at a central location in Copenhagen to celebrate the emerging designers of the Nordics. CPHFW NEWTALENT brands, other selected emerging brands, as well as a curated group of international press and buyers will be invited to the dinner. The dinner is set in place to celebrate talent and facilitate networking. For the AW23 edition, we co-hosted the dinner at and with Copenhagen Contemporary, and invited 120 guests to celebrate emerging talent in the fashion and art world.

During each Spring/Summer showcase CPHFW NEWTALENT will host a showroom supported by Circulose® for the partaking brands. The purpose of the showroom is to introduce the Nordic and international press and buyer community to a selection of leading emerging designers of the Nordics. For the SS23 edition, the CPHFW NEWTALENT showroom hosted the 3 emerging designers part of CPHFW NEWTALENT, counting A. Roege Hove, who was awarded winner of the Wessel & Vetts' Fashion Prize 2021, P.L.N., and Latimmier. Alongside the designers of the CPHFW NEWTALENT scheme, the showroom included Main Nué and Diemonde represented by Swedish Fashion Council and the winner of ALPHA 2015, Rolf Ekroth.

NEWTALENT One To Watch

CPHFW NEWTALENT One To Watch is a recognition spotlight granted to a designer or brand with an exceptional creative vision. CPHFW NEWTALENT One To Watch is awarded at the discretion of the Show Committee if they feel a CPHFW NEWTALENT applicant is not fully ready to be enrolled in the CPHFW NEWTALENT scheme but should be supported in their planned activation and brand progression.

Alongside extensive communication by CPHFW, the brand is provided a free slot on the official Presentation & Event schedule for showcasing of their collection as a presentation during fashion week. They are highlighted as a key brand within the CPHFW edition that are representative of the next generation of creative talent.

CPHFW NEWTALENT One To Watch is not a mandatory slot assigned each season - it is dependant upon the level of applications and at the discretion of the Show Committee and CPHFW.For AW23, CPHFW NEWTALENT’s One to Watch was Alectra Rotchschild, who held a presentation as part of the February 2023 edition.

Mentorship Opportunities

Each of the brands admitted to CPHFW NEWTALENT will be provided sessions with mentors of their own choice. The sessions can be used across all mentors listed below, at the convenience of the brand, and the respective mentor.

Partners & Collaborators For The Scheme

Main Bursary Partner

Wessel & Vetts Foundation

Show Advisors

In Futurum

Purple PR

Studio Boum

inter.agcy

Special Advisors

Ane Lynge-Jorlén, Director, ALPHA

Julie Gilhart, CDO & President, Tomorrow Ltd & Tomorrow Projects

Sponsors

Circulose®

PR Agencies

Noise PR

SPALT PR

SVPR

Service Partners

Dansk Fashion & Textile

Finnish Textile & Fashion

Quotes From Our Mentors

Julie Gilhart
“I am honored to serve as a Copenhagen Fashion Week Mentor for another year and be given the opportunity to help discover the next generation of talent. I am continually inspired and propelled by the search and have always believed that the best talent has yet to be discovered. One of my greatest passions lies in fostering new talent, and it’s a privilege to utilize this platform to mentor the next generation of designers in Copenhagen.”

Ida Petersson
“I’ve been so lucky in my career to have had some incredible mentors who, like me, have recognised early on the importance of giving back to our community. These days, my favourite part of my job is the time I get to spend interacting with emerging talent, and helping them on their journey. Having grown up in the south of Sweden—where my love for fashion first began—I went on regular trips to Copenhagen, so it’s extremely rewarding to now play a part in the CPHFW talent support scheme. It feels like I’ve come full circle being here today.”

Clara Cornet
“From the day it launched, Instagram has been the home for fashion and a supporter of emerging designers. Instagram is especially proud to join CPHFW talent support scheme to show our commitment to the future voices of the industry. Finalists will receive dedicated mentorship, so that they may learn how to make the most of Instagram and Meta family of apps.”

Bruce Pask
“It is vital and also inspiring to me personally as well as professionally to support and mentor new and emerging designers and creators. To create and found businesses, collections, and design studios requires numerous and widely varied skill sets in addition to creativity and imagination. It is imperative that those of us with knowledge and experience in any of the areas of the business that can prove to be useful and helpful to those starting ventures are generous with our information and advisement. Creators need to be able to create, and to be able to have as much assistance and information as desired and needed is a great help toward a path of success.”

Christopher Morency
“After years of standing in the shadow of big traditional fashion capitals, Copenhagen - and Scandinavia at large - has cemented itself as a birthplace of creative, innovative and sustainable talent. Along with a better knack for business than many of its European counterparts, the region’s talent is on to something big. CPHFW’s talent support scheme will prove just that.”

Anders Sølvsteen Thomsen
“I am extremely honoured to have been asked to be part of the CPHFW talent support scheme. There is so much talent in Scandinavia at the moment and I am excited to be able to collaborate with young designers, and hopefully be able to guide them through my own experiences working in the industry. Everything in fashion is based around collaboration. You can’t create without a strong team of collaborators. The industry is constantly evolving and I look at this as an opportunity for a collaboration rather than just a one-way support system.”

Nabil Aliffi
“I find it a great privilege to be a part of the CPHFW talent support scheme, where so many young bold designers have emerged. For many years, CPHFW has challenged our ways of working and thinking, specifically, when it comes to sustainability. I am beyond excited to share my learnings with the next generation of designers who are going to shape fashion’s future.”

Mahoro Seward
“Being part of the talent support scheme is a privilege — the Nordic region has such a rich tradition of innovative yet applicable design, and it’s truly exciting to see how that tradition is being interpreted by a generation imbued with perspectives, approaches and values. I strongly believe that, especially in fashion, young designers are where the real potential for the changes we need to see in fashion can be actualised — playing a part in guiding potentially industry-shaping ideas and visions makes my job worth doing.”