Kink-band formation is an important mechanism limiting the compressive strength of high strength composites. A cohesive zone model is used to model the material in a unidirectional carbon fibre composite that forms the kink-band. Equilibrium of configurational forces is used to design and evaluate the experiments. Microscopic studies show that a kink-band is formed with the height of about 200 μm. The corresponding cohesive law has a peak stress of about 1.5 GPa, a compression at failure of about 50 μm and a fracture energy of about 25 kJ/m².