MILAN - "Stem's mission is really to reduce waste in fashion and open people's eyes to the production process," said the brand's founder and textile designer, Sarah Brunnhuber.
As for her own eyes, they were teary when she tuned into a video call Thursday evening, moments after learning she had won the annual Wessel & Vett Fashion Prize. Designed as Denmark's answer to the LVMH Prize, the prize previously awarded to Anne Sofie Madsen, Cecilie Bahnsen, A. Roege Hove and Saks Potts, among others, aims to promote sustainable brands and support local and international growth of the most promising fashion talents in Scandinavia.
More from WWDBrunnhuber beat three other finalists - Skall Studio, OpéraSport and Sunflower - with her unique fashion proposal and the quiet rebellion of her vision.
Committed to transformative changes in the fashion industry, her brand Stem offers smart garments with striking asymmetrical fringes developed through advanced weaving, efficient cutting and meticulous sewing to reduce waste. The brand abandons the seasonality of fashion and follows a slow production approach, focusing on creating designs and shapes that can stand the test of time, ranging from fringed shirts to textured dresses.
Brunnhuber presented her zero-waste woven work, business strategy and overall vision to a jury at Henrik Vibskov's studio in Copenhagen. In addition to the Danish designer, the panel included the prize's founder, Nina Wedell-Wedellsborg; Cecilie Thorsmark, CEO of Copenhagen Fashion Week; Ganni co-founder Nicolaj Reffstrup; This includes Marimekko's creative director Rebekka Bay and creative advisors Silas Adler and Shila Gaonkar.
"Sarah's innovative zero-waste textile system is a groundbreaking achievement in sustainable fashion," read a chorus statement from the panelists. "Stem, based in Copenhagen, focuses on transparency and the use of environmentally friendly materials to minimize waste. It is a perfect example of how fashion is evolving, where production, design and branding come together to create a future-oriented company. For us in the jury, Stem is more than just a brand; it represents the future of the fashion industry."
"Sarah's commitment to sustainability and creativity makes her work truly stand out, and this award recognizes her visionary approach. We look forward to seeing how Stem continues to shape the industry in the years to come," continued the statement, which ended with Brunnhuber being recognized "as a true pioneer" and with the judges offering her "support as you move forward."
"This means so much, it's a huge endorsement for my work: it gives me so much enthusiasm for the future of Stem and also for the future of the fashion industry. I just feel very encouraged and proud of myself," Brunnhuber told WWD.
As the winner of the award, which was previously known as the Magasin du Nord Fashion Prize and has the support of Crown Princess Mary of Denmark, the designer will receive a cash prize of 500,000 Danish Krone (or 67,000 euros) and, as part of the ongoing sponsorship and collaboration with Copenhagen Fashion Week, free slots at the official show and presentation schedule for the fashion event's Fall 2025 and Spring 2026 seasons. She will also be able to participate in the Copenhagen Fashion Week symposium in London during London Fashion Week in June 2025.
Brunnhuber has a clear vision of how she wants to invest the prize money.
"For the past eight months I have been working on starting my own weaving business here in Denmark... which is a huge task to take on, but also quite exciting," she said. She shared the concept with the jury as part of her presentation, which also featured key pieces from the three collections the designer has developed since 2021; fabrics and handwoven samples that inspired these garments, as well as boxes of samples from the past five years and a book chronicling the brand's journey.
"[The mill] has always been in the back of my mind. It would be the absolute dream to have my own production," she said. "Over the last few years of working with the current production system, I have realized how much needs to change: as an industry we need to produce around 75 percent less to achieve our climate goals, but the systems are not in place for it. do this. So the idea with the factory is that we will try to produce less efficiently and work towards more circular practices locally here in Denmark."
The designer noted that there are currently no weaving mills for the fashion industry in the country. "It wasn't until the 60s and 70s that there was a thriving textile production culture here, which completely disappeared, so it's very exciting to try to bring that back," she said, underlining that the mission is to try " systemic change across the sector and really locally to create that infrastructure here."
She added that an educational aspect will flank the project to "work with students, brands and anyone who wants to learn more about technical manufacturing and make manufacturing more accessible," as the overarching goal "is really to help others become more responsible." produce."
The project will be an expansion for Stem, which Brunnhuber wants to further strengthen by investing part of the prize money in expanding the team. "Now it's mostly me and I have some help, but the thought of someone else working full-time on the same goal is a huge opportunity," she said. "That will allow a lot of the other research projects I'm doing and other techniques I'm working on to flourish while I develop that mill project, so I can split my time between the two."
Experimentation is at the heart of the brand's ethos. Stem emerged from Brunnhuber's innovative work at the Design Academy Eindhoven, where she started weaving in her first semester and hasn't stopped since.
Her big revelation was when she watched the 2015 documentary 'The True Cost' about fast fashion. "I know it was a big turning point for a lot of people but for me it really had a huge impact and when I looked at it I couldn't see what I had seen and it made it very clear to me that I wanted to dedicate my career to improve this industry."
She developed her zero-waste production technique during her graduate semester and then industrialized it. She progressed through collaborations in London and Prato, Italy, before finally settling in Copenhagen.
Today, she takes time throughout the year to weave and explore new techniques and materials, such as elastic wool, which help her 'justify the development of new collections'.
But the biggest challenge in running her indie label is still dealing with the status quo in general. "It's very difficult to try to do things differently when there are only very old systems in play and you know this applies across the industry. It's not just about production, it's also about the way the wholesale system works, how the retail system works, how the calendar of the year works, like there's so many systems that need to be dismantled a little bit and we're trying to do that while we make worthwhile clothes," she said.
"It's difficult. I guess I'm having a hard time justifying anything new at all. So that's a challenge because there's so much being produced," she continued.
Although distribution is still in the early stages, Stem's collections are primarily available online through the brand's e-commerce. Brunnhuber also revealed that she will open a showroom right next to her Copenhagen studio next week, allowing local customers to experience the brand and fabrics and try on the collections by appointment.
The competition's four finalists, who all have different approaches to fashion, were announced during Copenhagen Fashion Week in August and selected based on criteria such as design talent, sustainable credentials and a viable business strategy.
Led by the Wessel & Vett Foundation and now in its twelfth year, the award maintained its recent focus on integrating more established brands and experienced designers with emerging talent, which was introduced last year. Skall Studio by sisters Julie and Marie Skall and OpéraSport's design duo Stephanie Gundelach and Awa Malina Stelter are now regular guests on the Copenhagen fashion calendar and in the Danish fashion scene. As for Sunflower, the contemporary menswear brand was founded in 2018 by Ulrik Pedersen and Alan Blond.
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