More than a fashion week, Oslo Runway 2025 was a stage for Norwegian culture. The shows took place in the most beautiful places in the city. Models of Pearl Octopuss.y walked through the Munch Museum and paused en route to view the art. The jewels of Josephine Studio were presented on a boat, with the blue water and the fjords as a backdrop. Oslo’s fashion scene showed herself from her artistic side: with live musicians, modern dance in the National Theater (Pia Tjelta Studio) and an anti-consumption performance of Livid. Visits to the International Library of Fashion and Europe’s oldest department store Steen & Strøm (1797) had to show that everything that was seen was firmly on a rich history.
Elin Carlsen, CEO of Oslo Runway: “This season we have paid a lot of attention to the interweaving of fashion with culture, art and music, and tried to put the Norwegian heritage – and in particular knitters – in a modern jacket and to lift it to a higher level.”
In the field of sustainability, Oslo Runway follows the course of other fashion cities, with the introduction of social and ecological minimum requirements for the design and presentation of collections. Your own addition is an extensive diversity guide that encourages brands to an inclusive casting. Models of different ages, body shapes and backgrounds could be seen on the catwalk for SS26.
Norwegian market is growing and internationizes
The turnover of Norwegian fashion and design brands is growing fast. In 2020, the joint turnover of the ten largest Norwegian fashion companies amounted to 63 million euros. Three years later, in 2023, that amount had doubled to 119 million euros. Important export markets include Germany, Japan and South Korea. Tourists mainly come from Asia and the Gulf States.
According to Carlsen, internationalization and professionalization are at the basis of this growth. “With only 5.6 million inhabitants, the Norwegian home market is too small for substantial growth. For comparison: London has almost twice as much market potential with 10 million inhabitants as Norway. If Norwegian fashion wants to make a serious contribution as a sector, she has to break through internationally.”
In 2023, Holzweiler made his debut on London Fashion Week. For Tom Wood’s Flagshipstore in Tokyo – located in the same neighborhood as Prada, Comme des Garçons and Stella McCartney – there are rows for several days a week, says Carlsen. The flowery designs of Bytimo hang in the cupboard worldwide. And in 2024, LVMH’s Luxury Ventures Fund invested in the Norwegian travel and luggage brand DB, the first investment of LVMH in Norway, intended to support DB’s worldwide expansion.
With support from Innovation Norway and Norwegian Fashion Hub, Oslo Runway organized showrooms in both London and Copenhagen this year. In addition, the fashion and lifestyle segments are designated as important sectors in the new National Export Initiative on Norwegian Manufacturing and Design, a recently launched government program that is aiming for an export increase of 50 percent in 2030.
Consumer shows more guts
The Norwegian fashion world has been professionalized in recent years, says David Wilkinson, director of Steen & Strøm. “Show the gap between what designers on the catwalk and what consumers actually buy is largely poem. As Steen & Strøm, we want to form a bridge between designers and the public. For many designers, our own store is simply too expensive, so we offer them the opportunity to show their work to a wide audience. At the same time we give consumers to the Norwegian design from close by from close by from close by. Norwegian labels, where it was still unthinkable six years ago.
Kaia Kongsli, head of marketing at the luxury shopping street, promenades Fashion District, also sees a change in mentality. “Norwegian designers have long searched for their identity in addition to Scandinavian fashion cities that have been developed further, in particular Copenhagen. They have had the feeling that they had to be ‘fancy’ for a long time – with a lot of gold and black. In recent years I see more self -confidence in their design. We have noticed that consumers are more curious about those new styles.”
Avant-Garde Norwegian Design
Fashion professionals on Oslo Runway mention 2015 as a turning point in Norwegian fashion. “Before that time, fashion in Norway was mainly associated with a kind of celebrity glam culture,” says Sunniva Hartgen, Head of Fashion at Oslo Runway. “It was more about who was wearing it and the fashion itself felt little connected to culture.”
With the arrival of avant-garde designers such as Haik, Anne Karine Thorbjørnsen and Michael Olestad, that changed. They heralded a new, rawer style that forms the basis for the aesthetics that is now being formed, such as the cold, bunker-like appearance of envelope1976, led by fashion icon Celina Aagaard; Or the anonymous uniforms of 1313 Selah, the Streetstyle label from Tomas Silva, Duy NGO and Erik Spanne, which takes depression as a starting point and organizes sample sales in techno clubs.
Stab-off-mentality
Designer Tarinii Martinsen: “Norwegian culture is originally introverted and strongly assumes that everyone is the same. With Norwegian fashion you think of Utility and Clean – but that changes in the past decade, you see designers using the Norwegian heritage, less minimalist and expressive.” That change is also visible in fashion entrepreneurship, says designer Julie Josephine. She sees more and more healthy and ambitious fashion companies: “The traditional Norwegian way is: don’t think you’re better than someone else, don’t stick your neck out. But more and more brands move away from it, direction: we are going to try to be the best and to build a strong brand. It’s ok to be successful.”
Ecosystem
According to Hartgen, a sign of progress is that successful labels such as Woodling and Pearl Octopuss. You no longer move to fashion cities such as Copenhagen and Paris, but continue to actively participate in the Norwegian fashion sector. They show collections on Oslo Runway and present themselves to a young, fashion -conscious generation through concept stores such as F5 and Moniker.
“It has been a slow process, but now I see that the fashion sector is starting to flourish and gets intertwined with the broader culture. Every brand has its own community, creating an ecosystem. It is meaningful that great cultural institutions now realize that the Norwegian fashion industry is relevant. That is why we can enter into a peaking collaborations with, for example, the Munich.”
Stylist and former Deputy Director of Oslo Runway, Adam Duong, looks critically at the developments: “It took a long time before Norway really got a place on the fashion map, and just before the Coronapandemie we were in good shape. Much of those larger, established Norwegian brands are no longer so involved. The Norwegian talents, but compared to their scale and identity, we still have a lot of work to do to settle in Scandinavia. ”
Made in Norway
Unique to the Norwegian fashion sector is the network of local producers: many brands choose to have their products made in Norway and measure their craftsmanship to the standards of the luxury sector.
According to Gerda Sørhus Fuglerud, CEO of Breimerk Oleana, Norwegian companies are proud of their craftsmanship, which has been dealing with a recently chapter from Norwegian history. “Norway was a poor country in the 1970s. Textiles was one of the most important sources of income, especially wool, because there was so much available of it. In recent years, innovation has been giving a new twist to that story. Thanks to investments in 3D machines, we can return working hours. Our own factory in Bergen offers all kinds of advantages: we can still guarantee that we have a study of the long-standing school. Thanks to generous government support, I see it rosy. “
According to Elisabeth Pedersen of the ESP label, local use of materials also makes the Norwegian industry special. Dozens of producers process wool from white crossbred shelves into high-quality products, for example by combing it, pressing or combining it with a softer species on the inside. “Norwegian wool is ideally suited for Outerwear: the fibers are quite long and do not break quickly, so that such a sweater ends again and wind. Norwegian wool keeps you warm, even if you get wet and it contains more lanoline than other European cross-bred shelf, because the animals walk around in the highlands. Lanoline works a beautiful coating: the punch: the punch is a natural coating:” the shot: the punch the punch: the punch the punch: the punch the punch: the punch the bump: “the pumps of a natural coating:” “
Local craftsmanship at the fashion school
At Norwegian fashion schools, those techniques and the appreciation for natural materials are taught, says Kari Søreide, teacher of design at Esmod. “In het eerste jaar zit een vast vak over natuurlijke vezels, zodat alle studenten ermee leren werken. Meestal willen ze dat ook, omdat ze zijn opgegroeid met materialen als wol. Van jongs af aan kleden ze zich in laagjes – een baby wordt meteen in wol gewikkeld – en handwerk wordt jong aangeleerd. Bovendien kun je de wol in allerlei variaties bewerken, van delicaat tot grof, en het heeft enorme functionaliteit. In een land als Noorwegen, waar het flink koud wordt, raak je als Opforming designer quickly in love with such a material. ”
Line Møller-Stay Nissen just finished the popular Fashion & Production course on Esmod and talks about it on Oslo Runway: “Not everyone wants to go into Norwegian fashion-about half of my former classmates want to go to Paris-but the love for craftsmanship knows everyone. I am passionate about the outsour of oututscing and outscing Crafts.
Financing of Oslo Runway
Oslo Runway requests annual government financing and receives no structural financial support. This year the financing consists of half of government contributions and 40 percent comes from commercial collaborations. The brands that participate in Oslo Runway pay a symbolic fee based on their turnover; That covers around 10 percent of the income. Oslo Runway also receives support from Innovation Norway, the municipality of Oslo, Visit Oslo, Visit Norway, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Norwegian embassies worldwide.
