The temple of fashion, cradle of innovation and historical research archive Fri-Fashion Research Italy becomes a forge of sustainability: this could be summarized as the leap that the Bolognese “technopole” created in 2015 by the homonymous Foundation commissioned by the philanthropist entrepreneur Aberto Masotti ( founder of the lingerie house La Perla) has accomplished by inaugurating the Sustainability Point within it. A physical and digital showroom, open to all, which debuts with 1,500 references – already industrialized and available on the market – including textile materials, accessories, packaging with certified sustainable characteristics, including wool, silk, recycled metals, but also paper fibers, organic materials, coming from a hundred companies throughout the national territory.
A further piece of a heritage that is available to SMEs, stylists, researchers, to push the green turn everyone talks about, “but which still arouses a lot of distrust among the small businesses that represent the backbone of the Made in Italy fashion chain” underlines Cavalier Masotti, recalling the genesis of the project that led him to build in the first outskirts of Bologna, there where the La Perla factory stood, a 7 thousand square meter facility where to offer the fashion community the innovation, digitization and training necessary to protect the fourth Italian manufacturing for industrial added value (and the second for employment) from decline linked to competition from Asian low cost and major international brands. By bringing together the academic world, research, institutions, businesses, also protagonists of this new project dedicated to sustainability.
«Fashion is also one of the most polluting industries, but has made enormous strides on the subject of product certifications, especially compliance with chemical safety requirements, respect for work and human rights and is also accelerating on the circular economy, but it still has a long way to go on the subject ” climate action “, in particular on actions to compensate for polluting emissions and the use of biomass polymers” explains Fabio Guenza, co-founder of Blumine, scientific partner of the Sustainability Point of the Fri Foundation, a company that since 2010 has had the mission of disseminating the principles of sustainability in the fashion supply chains.
“What we are inaugurating will not be just a new archive that joins the Innovation Point and the 30 thousand samples, including fabrics and designs, and the 5 thousand books of the Renzi Brandone archive – explains Claudia D’Angelo, head of the archives of the Fri Foundation and Sustainability point – but the first step of a path with which we want to become ambassadors and partners of Italian SMEs of a new fashion paradigm, respectful of the planet and people, also through a new course on green fashion for the updating of human resources. And we hope to gradually enrich our heritage of sustainable proposals for those who make packaging, to create and share culture ».
“What we have in front of us should be considered a Unesco heritage of fashion because history and heritage are secured here to build our future” remarked Vincenzo Colla, councilor for economic development and training of the Emilia-Romagna Region, who financed the new green pole in via del Fonditore in Bologna and which is planning “a doubling of resources to support the fashion supply chain, compared to the past, about 100 million euros every year” anticipates Colla, who on July 15 kicked off a table permanent fashion in the Region and through thematic tables on circularity, traceability, digitization, internationalization, distribution and skills, is catalyzing all the links of the supply chain around a major Emilia-Romagna relaunch project, given that between Piacenza and Rimini fashion employs 87 thousand employees and represents the third sector for exports with 7.7 billion euros.