The event that celebrated the philosophy of well-dressed and well-being.
The initiative, open to the public, was held from September 27th to 29th in the beautiful setting of Palazzo Bovara, Circolo del Commercio of Confcommercio Milano. Educating the consumer and sharing beauty, innovation and responsibility. With these premises was created Smart Closet – Sustainability Everyday, an initiative that provided consumers up-to-date information to facilitate a conscious choice, simplifying the values required to make informed product decisions.
The event was an opportunity to reflect on the concept of sustainability intended as a responsibility to be able to properly choose, paying attention to the materials that compose a garment or product. Very often people opt for a certain color or a particular fit, follow trends but do not wonder how the garments were produced, by whom and under what conditions. Transparency of process and supply chain are at the heart of values, and it is important for consumers to know the origin of what they are wearing, whether it is a garment or a perfume.
In order to make these concepts accessible and comprehensible to the contemporary consumer, The InsideOut by C.L.A.S.S Value System was unveiled, which expresses through ten points the philosophy of well-dressed, defined as the perfect harmony between aesthetics and responsibility that shows in full transparency the journey and values behind each product.
Artist and illustrator Gianluca Cannizzo created ten icons that creatively and originally represent these important elements, while ten experts in responsible innovation shared-in a video-information pills dedicated to each value: ethics, social initiatives, transparency and traceability, environment, human health, strategies and actions for circular economy, design, materials, manufacturing, dyeing and finishing.
Inside the next-generation wardrobe, visitors were able to find a selection of brands that embody the values identified in the InsideOut by C.L.A.S.S. system and discover the journey that each garment has traveled, from the search for raw materials to the finished product.
As an example, the jeans from Candiani Custom represent a unique project based on a manufacturer-to-consumer model. As the world’s first urban micro-factory to produce custom jeans, Candiani Custom scaled the industrial jeanmaking process down to fit within a store in the city center of Milan. Candiani Custom eliminates overproduction by making jeans upon demand. It prioritizes the impact of the garments at the end of their life, utilizing biodegradable, compostable, and recyclable materials. It ensures transparency by displaying the production process in the micro-factory’s windows and fully tracing the supply chain.
Another example is a selection of pieces from the collaboration between Marcello Pipitone and Albiate 1830, an Albini Group sportswear brand specialising in luxury fabrics for streetwear and contemporary casualwear. Marcello Pipitone’s huge passion for color, for the balance of shapes and volumes, translated into garments which are aesthetically close to sportswear and the offshoot of a clear mindset of reuse and upcycling, is reflected in the concept of his collaboration with Albiate 1830, and entitled MOTTAINAI – the art of revaluing. A Japanese mindset that conveys a sense of “regret for waste” and “respect for what one possesses,” in line with the spirit of Marcello Pipitone and Albiate 1830, by using recycled yarns and natural indigo.
In addition to the exhibition part, visitors were able to attend several talks that covered hot topics such as value for money when buying a garment, particularly jeans, trends and sustainability, the digital product passport, and sustainability in today’s textile-fashion system, fashion that creates well-being, and how to communicate to inform, literate consumers about sustainability. A registration of all talks is available here.
Smart Closet – Sustainability Everyday is under the patronage of Confcommercio Milano, FederModa Milano, Camera Nazionale della Moda Italiana, has outstanding media partners such as SkyTG24, Lifegate, and The TSL Gazette; Rén Collective and La Rosa Manichini are event partners. Smart Closet is an initiative of C.L.A.S.S and Equipe International.
