Marino Vago has underlined this since the beginning of his mandate as president of Sistema Moda Italia, in 2018: the textile-fashion-clothing supply chain and in particular the upstream part, the manufacturing one, has been working on environmental sustainability for at least ten years. It almost always does so away from the spotlight and as a strategic and social responsibility choice: textile companies are typically SMEs rooted in the territory, which have every interest in respecting and protecting.
Thanks to the path undertaken, the supply chain is ready for the next challenge: from 1 January 2022 it will be mandatory to recover and recycle the textile fraction of urban and commercial waste. Smi’s commitment is guaranteed: Vago will be succeeded by Sergio Tamborini, who as CEO of the Ratti group has orchestrated the company’s sustainable strategy.
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Production and consumption together for a new model
At the same time there is the push of the downstream part of the supply chain, companies and groups that face the final market with their clothing and accessories brands and which often have the Milan and Paris fashion weeks as their stage. This favorable combination, the know-how of the upstream side and the market demands intercepted by the downstream side, could make fashion an example to follow for the change from a linear model of economy to a circular one. In everyone’s interest, because younger consumers take sustainability for granted. They demand it from companies and brands and ask for its demonstration and certification, through smart labels or, in many cases, thanks to the use of blockchain.
From fashion shows to shops, new approaches to sustainability
Fashion shows Since fashion (also) lives on image (which is different from simple marketing) and dreams, fashion shows and presentations have an important role in communicating sustainability: in this the National Chamber of Italian fashion is a step ahead of associations of France, London and New York. He created the Green Carpet Fashion Awards, which were also held in the year of the pandemic, with a digital formula that had La Scala in Milan as a virtual stage, transformed into a garden for the occasion, thanks to computer graphic techniques.
In addition, retail projects conceived and built from a sustainable perspective are multiplying: even in this case, one of the most innovative initiatives is Italian, almost certainly destined to teach school, Green Pea, a “different twin” of Eataly (both born from an idea by Oscar Farinetti): the first Green Pea opened in Turin in autumn and is dedicated to non-food brands and their respective collections or sustainable products.