Fashion and sustainability met in Milan: the event “Creating Shared Value in Fashion” was held last week at Bocconi University at via Roentgen 1. The occasion, aimed at starting a common multi-stakeholder agenda for sustainable fashion, saw the participation of representatives of organizations from the sector invited by the university. Francesca Romana Rinaldi, CRS in Fashion & Luxury Coordinator for MAFED SDA Bocconi, explained: “To create a shared value, we have to implement a partnership involving universities, start-ups, fashion companies, press and associations; everybody must collaborate to achieve this final objective. Managers and consumers take better decisions when they are aware of what’s behind a product: universities must assume the responsibility to educate consumers and future managers more thoroughly”.

The last part of the day, reserved for the associations, saw Paolo Naldini, director of Cittadellarte, participating in the debate. The question around which the speeches of the guests were articulated was: “What do you see as the role of your organization in activating the virtuous circle of sustainable fashion?”.
To which Naldini replied: “The role of Cittadellarte, as an artistic institution, is to generate myths and rituals linked to the narrative and symbol of the Third Paradise. The objective is also to create spaces in which to conceive, produce and experiment with fashion in line with the research which involves and relates to all of us as executors of values. It is time to look at clothes produced in the name of sustainability as the costumes of a new superhero, who, wearing them, acquires the superpower to operate in a more and more responsible and sustainable way in their daily life”.

Maria Teresa Pisani, acting head of Sustainable Trade UNECE, talked about the role of institutions instead (in reference to UNECE itself): “We have to share a commitment with governments, companies and consumers to facilitate and strengthen responsible choices of production and consumption; all in order to achieve a more sustainable fashion and footwear sector.”