Dr. Mariangela Lavanga guest lecturer at Polimoda in Florence

Mariangela Lavanga has been invited to give a guest lecture on Fashion, Sustainability and Circular Economy during the Module “Green Fashion: New Values for a Circular Economy" on 24 January 2019. The module was organized by Connecting Cultures for POLIMODA in Florence (IT).  The Module is part of OUT of FASHION, the First Advanced course on Awareness, Sustainability and Innovation in the Fashion Industry. The guest lecture provided a deeper understanding of the notions of sustainability in all its four pillars – financial, environmental, social, cultural – and of the circular economy in relation to the fashion industry. It reflected on the economic characteristic of fashion products and the dynamics and changing geographies of fashion (e.g. designing for sustainability and circularity, choices in terms of how much to produce, where and how). It provided examples of fashion brands that are tackling sustainability, circularity and transparency in different ways - from producing locally, on demand, or rediscovering craftsmanship, to 100% transparency, leasing of clothing, or designing circular denim and close loop smart textile. More than hundreds of international students from the Master Fashion Marketing & Communication, Master Fashion Merchandising & Buying, Master International Fashion Business, Master Collection Design, Master Shoe Design, and the Master Bag Design have been challenged to re-think their design, production and distribution processes as well as to re-frame the values of fashion.