Sustainable Thinking
The Salvatore Ferragamo Museum in Florence joins the Milan Green Forum 2021 with the Sustainable Thinking project.
The fashion maison has always shown considerable attention to environmental issues, thanks to the founder, who, with creativity and farsightedness, carried out experiments as early as the 1920s to discover new materials and adapt production to the historical and environmental context of the time in which he lived.
Salvatore Ferragamo was firmly convinced that there was no material that could not be given new life with a little creativity. His works bear witness to a painstaking attention to the enhancement of materials, of which he managed to make the most of their intrinsic properties, so as to maintain a balance between aesthetics and comfort. We can define him as the forerunner of the most modern upcycling activities, a very strong ability to adapt to the external environment mixed with a good dose of creativity have helped to build the brand’s international reputation and laid the foundations for the maison’s contemporary activities.
The Sustainable Thinking project, carried out since 2019, consists of exhibitions and collateral initiatives involving the Salvatore Ferragamo museum and other public institutions in Florence. The driving force behind the initiative is the awareness of being called upon to face a global challenge for the future of our planet and the generations to come. The maison felt it had to take responsibility and act with activities aimed not only at the world of luxury fashion, but at raising global awareness.
For this reason, within the exhibition, held at the Salvatore Ferragamo Museum from 12 April 2019 to 12 February 2021, visitors were involved in artistic experiences of sustainability, during which they were called upon to interact and participate in the first person. In particular, a section of the exhibition was dedicated to the display of sustainable materials, new textile fibres with new and innovative characteristics. The aim was to present alternative materials, to demonstrate that a paradigm shift is possible even in the luxury fashion sector and to offer insights into the repercussions that the fashion industry has on the environment, in terms of the amount of waste, release of toxic substances and consumption.
The exhibition was also an opportunity to come into contact with the brand, whose portentous heritage visitors were able to learn about and understand its values throughout the museum.
In the journey through the world of materials, co-curated by Giusy Bettoni – CEO and founder of C.L.A.S. and reported here in a digital version, we encounter different dimensions, such as natural materials, which we have known for a long time but which are now transparent in terms of processes; transformed materials, which represent a new dimension linked to the circular economy and optimisation of resources, without compromising performance and beauty; and the category of new-generation innovative materials, represented by new brands for which “ingredient branding” becomes the concrete storytelling of storymaking.
