PARIS — The Camera Nazionale Della Moda Italiana is going green.
Speaking at a master class on sustainability at Paris textile trade show Première Vision here, Carlo Capasa, the new president of Italian fashion’s governing body, said he convinced a group of 10 Italian brands to adopt a new standard that obliges them to only use fabrics with a certain level of chemicals in them.
Capasa spoke of “a voluntary standard,” whose details would be released in October.
“At the table are Gucci, Prada, Valentino, Armani, Zegna, Ferragamo, OTB, Staff International, Loro Piana and Gianni Versace. But it’s an open table, so if other companies want to come, they can come,” he told WWD.
Related Articles
Capasa said the list contained more than 500 chemical substances divided into 26 families. “For each one we defined what the maximum content should be. Obviously those levels are much below the legal standard,” he said, adding that they would also vary depending on what age group the garments are for.
You May Also Like
The next steps would be to define standards for those toxins that are used in the process of making textiles, the origin of raw materials and the social environment, including workers’ rights.
Capasa said it would take “about two to three years to get all four points done.”
While many brands, which have committed themselves to the new guidelines, are already following similar standards, Capasa noted that the biggest challenge would be to find substitutes for those hazardous chemicals and to make companies share their knowledge.
“This is a win-win situation for everybody, also outside of Europe. But we can’t do it alone. We are talking about the future, and there is no future without sustainability,” he warned, citing figures from a Boston Consulting Group study. It found that two years ago only 2 percent of buyers were driven by sustainability, versus 13 percent today.