Good friends of INDEX: Design to Improve Life®, Danish Fashion Institute and Nordic Fashion Association are both organizing and hosting Copenhagen Fashion Summit 2012 held in the beautiful Copenhagen Opera in front of a diverse, international audience of more than 1,000 people from all industries.

Moderated by acclaimed actress Connie Nielsen and famous ballet dancer Nikolaj Hübbe, the focus of the summit is "to address the challenges of consumer engagement and sustainable consumption, as well as how the industry can raise consumer awareness on sustainable fashion, engaging them in choosing, buying and making sustainable decisions."

CEO of Danish Fashion Institute and Chairman of Nordic Fashion Association, Eva Kruse, says: "Whatever course fashion decides to plot, it will have an enormous effect on people's mindsets and the way they act", and thereby emphasizing how a united fashion industry can make a big difference.

The summit's program is packed with big-caliber speakers from businesses like H&M, Levi Strauss & Co, Deloitte, CNN,United Nations, Gucci, Greenpeace and supporting partners include INDEX: Award 2009 Winner Better Place, INDEX: Partner Ministry of Business & Growth and INDEX: Partner City Copenhagen. 

Copenhagen Fashion Summit is the world's largest and most important conference on sustainability and CSR in the fashion industry. The biennial Summit gathers 800-1000 key industry stakeholders to identify new opportunities and forward-looking solutions for the global fashion industry to tackle the growing sustainability challenges facing the planet.

Comparatively, the fashion industry is one of the most polluting and socially challenged industries - cotton production alone is the second most polluting crop after corn. The industry has also long outsourced production to low wage countries. While the challenges facing the fashion industry may seem daunting, there is hope and a willingness to pool resources and continue to raise awareness as well as share knowledge towards innovative solutions and an improved sustainability footprint for the global fashion industry.

Building on past successes, the Copenhagen Fashion Summit is a part of a continued venture for a joint commitment from the Scandinavian fashion industry to take a lead on social and environmental issues. The 2012 Summit is determined to once again set innovative new objectives for a sustainable fashion industry towards 2020.