Responsible Fashion - How Sustainability Approaches are Changing the Fashion Industries

Abstract

Fashion is a complex field of research where innovation could be made both of deeper aspects such as production chain and of “superficial” aspects. Today fashion is not just synonymous with clothes or accessories; seen from another point of view, it playsan important role in the evolution of the culture of a given context. Poetry and attention to detail characterize the context where all Italian products are created. Due to the lack of important raw materials, Italians have since the dawn of time transformed their “know-how” and the care of know-how into a precious resource. In this sense, Italian design is full of examples, starting from small everyday life objects, perhaps of little significance, which stand out for their design, shape, and color, and which have become iconic.

The cultural context plays a crucial role today. While “global fashion” might not exist, a global issue impacting different cultures does instead - and this is precisely sustainability.

If sustainable fashion and ethical luxury, exactly antithetical to the concept of fast fashion, are now the center of a design way closer to man– worker, customer, etc. -, then we can say that the Made in Italy has always had the characteristics for fashion ethics. We believe that today, especially in Italy, much more attention is paid to the way a product is made: “fashion products”, as most products addressed to common people are usually defined, must prove a high level of care along their entire production chain: care to resources, care to their makers, care to their buyers.