CPHFW Official Talk Program: Exploring Innovation in Design
Our AW26 talk series with Vogue Business as media partner make up a vital element of the official schedule each season, representing an opportunity to dig deeper into wider issues facing fashion.
Copenhagen Fashion Week will bring the AW26 talk program to a live audience, with a dedicated talk being held each day in the Copenhagen Fashion Week Talk hub hosted in Mater, right in the center of the city.
Attendance to the talk program is open to the public and will be on a first come first served basis and will include a 30-minute panel talk followed by a 15-minute Q&A. The talk will activate the global network of Copenhagen Fashion Week, inviting industry leaders from a variety of organisations and practices to speak across the topics at hand.
Furthermore, Copenhagen Fashion Week is excited to announce Vogue Business as an official media partner, who will use their global audience to amplify the reach of the talks that will be launched as podcasts post release.
Exploring Innovation in Design
What innovations are we seeing in fashion today, and how can we learn from the past in order to build a forward-thinking future in design?
To explore the topic, Moderator Emily Chan, Senior Sustainability Editor & Acting Executive Fashion News and Features Editor at British Vogue, brings together Helgi Óskarsson, Chief Executive Officer of 66°North, Sarah Brunnhuber, Founder of Stem, and Trine Young, Founder & CEO of Rodinia Generation. Final panelist to be announced.
Moderator:
Emily Chan, Senior Sustainability Editor & Acting Executive Fashion News and Features Editor, British Vogue
Emily Chan is the Senior Sustainability & Features Editor at British Vogue and covers all things related to sustainability in fashion and beyond, from the designers pushing for change to the climate activists we should be paying attention to.
Panelists:
Helgi Óskarsson, Chief Executive Officer, 66°North
Helgi Oskarsson, CEO and Co-Owner of 66°North, grew up in Iceland as the child of two entrepreneurs. After studying International Business in the United States and building a broad international career, he was encouraged by his wife, Bjarney Harðardóttir (now Co-Owner and CBO), to explore the potential of Icelandic brand 66°North. Together, they acquired the brand and began steering its global growth from 2011 onward. Under Helgi’s leadership, 66°North has opened stores in Denmark and the UK, developed a global wholesale network, secured significant investment from New York-based Mousse Partners, achieved B Corp certification, and is helping bring Icelandic identity to a global audience.
Sarah Brunnhuber, Founder, Stem
Sarah Brunnhuber is a textile designer, weaver, and the founder of Stem: a Copenhagen-based brand launched in 2021. At its heart, Stem is an ongoing experiment in rethinking how garments and textiles are made, what they leave behind, and how stories of production can be made tangible. Sarah was selected in the Dazed 100 list in 2022, joined ‘Den Unge Kunstneriske Elite’ Statens Kunstfond program in 2023, won the Wessel & Vett Fashion Prize in 2024, and joined the CPHFW New Talent program in 2025 for AW26, SS27, AW27. Alongside the brand, Sarah has embarked on opening Stem Mill: a long-term vision to establish a circular woven textile infrastructure in Denmark. Combining micro-spinning, agile production, research, and education, the mill will be both a material facility and a pedagogical experiment: a blueprint for how localised, low-impact textile systems will re-emerge.
Trine Young, Founder & CEO, Rodinia Generation
Recognised by Vogue Business as one of 2024’s 100 Innovators, Trine Young is the founder and driving force behind Rodinia Generation — an ambitious hardtech company developing patented production technology for automatisation of apparel manufacturing. Under her leadership, the company is bringing the O-factory® to market: the world’s first onshore and on-demand production system designed to expand globally. Her journey began with an MA in Design & Technology from the London College of Fashion. First-hand experience in the fashion industry sparked her drive to design systems that help brands produce more responsibly, flexibly, and competitively.
Final panelist to be announced.
