Italian trade fair White Milano is launching what it calls Milan’s “first event dedicated to sustainable innovation and fashion design.”
A collaboration with Camera Nazionale della Moda, CBI Camera Buyer Italia, Confartigianato Imprese and the municipality of Milan, WSM Fashion Reboot (formerly known as White Street Market) will take place on Jan. 11-12 at BASE Milano, where it will serve as a “bridge connecting the different forms and cultures of sustainability with the market as well as the end users.”
The event, which dovetails with men’s fashion week, will feature installations, displays and workshops, including #FashionForPlanet, a “celebration” of 20 years of Camera Buyer Italia that examines sustainability through the lens of the fashion buyer.
The initiative will include roundtables with speakers from Fashion Revolution, the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, Cittadellarte Fondazione Pistoletto and the Polytechnic University of Milan, along with a “digital work,” created by multidisciplinary artist Felice Limosani and narrated by actor Alessandro Preziosi, that invites reflection on environmental issues.
Salvatore Ferragamo will present a section of its show “Sustainable Thinking,” currently on view at the fashion house’s museum in Florence, to showcase past use of experimental natural materials such as raffia, fish skin and tree bark.
Other exhibitors include Candiani Denim, Canepa, Albini Group, Orange Fiber, Vivienne Westwood, Bethany Williams, Boyish Jeans, Gilberto Calzolari, Selfi, Aagè, Neubau Eyewear, Blue of a Kind, Patrick McDowell, Larissa Von Planta and Regenesi.
The Sustainables, the “world’s first showroom of sustainable brands,” will host an edited section of ready-to-wear and accessory designers that “show different visions of sustainability,” including the primary use of organic, nontoxic or upcycled materials.
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“Through this first edition we will show that, although sustainability is a relatively recent topic, there is already an extremely rich and diversified panorama of environmentally conscious large, small and medium-sized businesses,” Massimiliano Bizzi, White Milano’s co-founder, said in a statement. “WSM Fashion Reboot provides a down-to-earth insight into sustainability, going from raw materials to finished product and innovative startups.”
This iteration of WSM Fashion Reboot is curated by Matteo Ward, co-founder of sustainable label Wråd and artistic director of GIVE A FOKus, White’s sustainability hub. Themes highlighted will include climate change, water, chemicals, fossil fuels and waste management.
“This edition of WSM Fashion Reboot goes to show that we are ready for the activation of multi-stakeholder partnerships, which are necessary to trigger a real process of sustainable development and systemic revolution,” Ward said. “[The] event [will illustrate] how design can and must become a tool to meet society’s real needs.”