Première Vision discusses responsible textile creation

Nearly 200 people packed the conference room to hear the panel of fashion and textile industry experts discuss the new issues of responsibility in the textile industry.

The conference, organised in collaboration with the Italian forum C.L.A.S.S. (Creativity Lifestyle and Sustainable Synergy), specialised in consulting on sustainable innovation for textiles, fashion and design, marked the beginning of a series of actions and meetings on the subject.

A second session of the roundtable will actually be held at Première Vision Shanghai next October 22nd. If you’re there, join us in Shanghai mart at 5 pm in the seminar room!

Outside of the roundtable, C.L.A.S.S. also mounted a showroom at the show, where a selection of innovative, creative and responsible fabrics and technologies were presented.

A number of prestigious and well-known personalities took part in the discussion, moderated by journalist Michael Day (The Independent):

- Luca Barneschi, RTW Buy Production Director - GUCCIO GUCCI

- Giusy Bettoni, CEO – C.L.A.S.S.

- Sass Brown, Writer, researcher & Assistant Dean of the School of Art and Design - F.I.T. New York

- Jonas Eder-Hansen, Program Director, NICE - Nordic Initiative Clean and Ethical

- Nicola Giuggioli, CEO - ECO AGE

- Laura Lusuardi, Fashion Director - MAX MARA GROUP

- Rossella Ravagli, Head of CSR – GUCCI

A look back at a unifying debate

Is the impetus to produce sustainably motivated by commercial incentives, or is it driven by the consumer? This is how Michael Day, a journalist with the English daily paper The Independent, and moderator of the roundtable, opened the debate. Nicola Giuggioli, CEO of Eco-Age, noted that responsibility was “mostly about the necessity for product differentiation.” Sass Brown, Assistant Dean of the School of Art and Design of FIT, New York, emphasized that,

“Fashion is at a tipping point. After the growth of the Slow Food movement, sustainable fashion is emerging, slowly but surely. Innovative designers are working on it. This philosophy is not meeting with mass demand, but we’ll get there.”

In terms of luxury companies, Rossella Ravagli and Luca Barneschi, respectively Head of Corporate Social Responsibility and Sustainability, and Director of Ready-to-Wear Production at Gucci, noted that, "Luxury customers are more interested in the 'how'" (i.e. the origins and manufacturing of consumer products: Ed.), just as a product's traceability and history are of growing importance in their choices.

They also show that the desire to produce more responsibly offers new creative opportunities thanks to research and innovation in this domain. Thus, as Luca Barneschi underlined, "replacing denim blasting with laser technology allows us to develop new designs and styles in jeans."

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Creativity Lifestyle and Sustainable Synergy (C.L.A.S.S)