It's called WSM Fashion Reboot, it's strictly by invitation and it's the first major international event dedicated entirely to sustainability in the fashion world. Organized on the occasion of Milan Fashion Week dedicated to Men's Fashion F/W 2020-21, the kermesse is hosted over two days, on the weekend of 11 and 12 January in Milan, at the BASE, in the heart of the Tortona District, and will offer installations, displays, happenings and a full calendar of activities and workshops to involve not only insiders, but the whole city.
Among the main themes of this first edition: the relationship between fashion and water, fashion and chemicals, fashion and fossil fuels, fashion and waste management (circular economy). Fashion is the second most polluting industry after that of oil, due to the consumption of natural and human resources. According to the World Bank, it is the cause of 20% of global water pollution: every year, in the USA alone, fourteen million tons of clothes are thrown away. The Global Fashion Agenda also reported that if the fashion industry does not change, its impact on the climate will increase by 60% by 2030.
In short, the issue is increasingly delicate and for the textile industry sustainability is becoming the main driver and was intercepted by the organizer of WSM Fashion Reboot, the Italian-American creative Matteo Ward, who has a past in Abercrombie and who has founded the WRÅD brand together with two former colleagues, “which wants to transform a global problem into a new opportunity. More than 8% of all greenhouse gases emitted into our atmosphere are produced by the fashion industry and more than half of our clothes are partly or composed of fibers derived from petroleum, the production of which has a negative impact on the environment and health, only to be thrown away after little use”.
Practically, every ton of clothes that is recycled would avoid 20 tons of CO2 emissions: as if 7,3 million cars were taken off the roads. Furthermore, few people know that black is the most polluting color, although the most bought. “We must not demonize colour, but invest in research and development to minimize the impact of chemical dyes on the environment and on our skin. We are trying to achieve black through the use of recycled graphite in the dyeing phase,” Ward explained in a recent interview.
And then there is the issue of cotton cultivation, which also sees the commitment of theItalian excellence Albini, present at the WSM Fashion Reboot: “Linen – Ward continued – is a solution, like hemp, which consumes up to 50% less water for the same territory, does not require insecticides/pesticides to grow and produces up to 250% more fiber. More and more bio-based or lab-grown yarns and fabrics are establishing themselves, the result of circular supply chains and which then facilitate the correct recycling of the garment. Recycled yarns improve in quality, they are already used in a certain percentage in the denim world”.
The Milanese event is also scheduled the Sustainable Thinking exhibition, within which a special section dedicated to the pioneering models of Salvatore Ferragamo is set up, including precious models from the archives that show his innate passion for experimenting with the poorest materials and never used at that time for the creation of shoes. And yet a multimedia and interactive room will allow a true full immersion in Sustainable Thinking, thanks to contributions and interviews of numerous personalities, who tell their idea of circularity.
The two days will end on Sunday evening with the exclusive party (by invitation) “Fashion For Planet” – organized by the Camera della Moda – which will see the performance of Alessandro Preziosi and followed by the djset curated by Nicola Guiducci, resident dj of the historic Plastic Club in Milan.
