Fashion Sustainability Initiatives Summer 2024: From Italian Cotton Revival to AI-Powered Courses
A roundup of summer 2024 initiatives blending fashion with sustainability. International Luxury Academy launched post-graduate courses blending AI, mentorship, and internships to reshape luxury fashion education. In Puglia, GEST revived organic cotton cultivation with a new long-fiber variety, using renewable energy and aiming for GOTS certification by September 2024. Austrian artist Christina Dörfler researched Aizome indigo dyeing at Kenta Watanabe's studio in Tokushima, Japan, and will teach Sashiko repair workshops at Vienna's Repair Festival in October 2024. Prato's Museo del Tessuto expanded its e-shop under the Horizon Europe RECHARGE project, collaborating with local artisans and design schools like ISIA Florence. The Fashion Transparency Index 2024 special edition 'What Fuels Fashion?' will assess 250 major brands on climate and energy transparency, launching August 1, 2024. Turin hosted the first Circular Fashion Days at Green Pea, featuring upcycled fashion shows, a student upcycling contest won by Noemi Teruggi, Benedetta Cirilli, and Erica Joyce Tongol, and workshops on block printing and mending.
Key facts
- International Luxury Academy presented post-graduate fashion courses during its Virtual Open Day in mid-July 2024.
- GEST, founded by Pietro Gentile and Michele Steduto in 2020, revived organic cotton cultivation in Puglia using a custom long-fiber seed.
- GEST practices Armonicoltura with 432Hz music and aims for GOTS certification with a fully Italian supply chain.
- Christina Dörfler researches Aizome dyeing at Kenta Watanabe's Aizome Studio in Tokushima, Japan.
- Dörfler will teach Sashiko repair courses at the Repair Festival in Vienna in October 2024.
- Museo del Tessuto di Prato launched an e-shop under Horizon Europe RECHARGE project, featuring local sustainable products.
- Fashion Transparency Index 2024 special edition 'What Fuels Fashion?' will be released on August 1, 2024, analyzing 250 brands.
- First Circular Fashion Days in Turin at Green Pea featured upcycling contest winners Noemi Teruggi, Benedetta Cirilli, and Erica Joyce Tongol.
Entities
Artists
- Christina Dörfler
- Kenta Watanabe
- Noemi Teruggi
- Benedetta Cirilli
- Erica Joyce Tongol
- Pietro Gentile
- Michele Steduto
- Ivana Conte
Institutions
- International Luxury Academy
- Istituto Marangoni Firenze
- GEST
- KMD-Herbststrasse
- Freundliche Mitte
- Aizome Studio
- Museo del Tessuto di Prato
- Horizon Europe RECHARGE
- Musei Diocesani
- Museo della Carta di Pescia
- Museo Paleontologico di Montevarchi
- ISIA Firenze
- Fashion Revolution
- Fashion Transparency Index
- Green Pea
- Atelier Riforma
- Istituto di Moda Burgo Torino
- Istituto di Moda di Genova
- Istituto Modartech di Pontedera
- Artribune
Locations
- Puglia
- Italy
- Vienna
- Austria
- Shikoku
- Tokushima
- Japan
- Prato
- Tuscany
- Florence
- Pescia
- Montevarchi
- Turin
- Genoa
- Pontedera