The second edition of the event, which gathers fashion folk from across the globe in Stockholm, took place last week. In four jam-packed days in Stockholm, guests listened to talks (some in collaboration with Dazed) on diversity, emerging talent support, Gen Z, forestry, and the secondary market. They enjoyed African cuisine and locavore fare (who knew how versatile mushrooms could be?), and viewed, thanks to Market Art Fair, the work of contemporary Swedish artists in SEB’s unused bank vault. Wallets were emptied at Acne Studios Archive, and outerwear brand Klättermusen outfitted guests for a nature hike—all in an effort to put the human back into the fashion system.
According to its official mission statement, the SFC (which is owned by the Swedish Trade Federation) aims to “accelerate the transformation of the global fashion industry” and “establish Sweden as the global leader of the industry’s new era.” As it happens to be the case that Stockholm Fashion Week (organized by Stockholm Fashion Association) is on hiatus, and because Fashion X doesn’t follow the traditional show format, it’s awfully tempting to describe this happening as a Fashion Week alternative; but that’s not really the point. The goal of SFC is broader and more far-reaching. “Fashion weeks support mostly a linear system connected only to sell more products, but if we’re looking into how we’re going to transform the industry, we need to put fewer garments on the markets,” SFC CEO Jennie Rosén told Vogue Runway. And, we need to take more time with things. Fashion X is, essentially, a slow fashion event.
Tired of waiting for endless talk of change to actually spur action, the Swedish Fashion Council (SFC) drew a line in the proverbial sand and took a stand for change in the industry, establishing Fashion X last year as a way to move away from market-centric shows and focus on designers and other ways of understanding the industry. “If we look into Fashion Week, it’s [about] events connected only to fashion, and what we try to do with Fashion X is also connect fashion to culture,” SFC CEO Jennie Rosén told Vogue Runway.
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