by Chiara Spangoli Gabard

Sustainable Fashion shines at Pitti Uomo in Florence, with a show promoted by the Ethical Fashion Initiative captained by Simone Cipriani, an officer of the United Nations who is bringing fashion back to artisans.

The Ethical Fashion Initiative of the International Trade Center (ITC) – which is a joint agency of the United Nations and the WTO – has the pursuit of using fashion as a vehicle out of poverty, connecting top designers, including Vivienne Westwood and Stella McCartney, to marginalised artisans in developing countries. No wonder their motto is “Not Charity, Just Work.”

Their latest project has beenConstellation Africa, a fashion show that introduced four new brands within Pitti Uomo 2015: Dent de Man by Alexis Temomanin from the Ivory Coast, MaXhosa by Laduma by Laduma Ngxokolo from South Africa, Orange Culture by Adebayo Oke-Lawal from Nigeria and Projecto Mental  by Tekasala Ma’at Nzinga & Shunnoz Fiel from Angola.

In this Exclusive Interview Simone Cipriani shares his mission:

In you opinion how has sustainability changed in the course of the years, ever since the Brundtland Report?

Initially sustainability was mainly an environmental problem, today everybody knows that it is also linked to people, working conditions, living conditions, as well as the environment. Today people have realised that there are two issues closely linked: people and environment. For the Ethical Fashion Initiative, sustainability is mainly about providing decent and fair conditions of work to everybody involved in the supply chain of fashion.

What fair trade guidelines does the EFI follow?

Fair labour, which is the omni-comprehensive approach to decent conditions, it descends from the standards of the International Labour Office. So you have all the issues: freedom of harassment, overtime compensations, minimum salary wages, and so on. We also focus on something that no-one else does: Impact Assessment. This is social research to access the impact of work on people, on their lives. This enables to check that communities are developing with work.

Which criteria is used to select the designers?

Designers who accept fair labour and impact assessment. Most importantly, they have to accept to work with us with continuity, it’s not a project for one season. We have now reached the eleventh continuative project with Vivienne Westwood.

What do you think of social business and Yunus’ initiative on microcredit?

I believe in it. The hubs of the places where we work – Kenya, Ethiopia, Burkina – coordinate the work of all the micro-producers. These are a social enterprise. Therefore I fully embrace that concept.

Do you plan to expand to other countries, besides the continent of Africa?

We work in Haiti and we are starting some special projects in Cambodia, Nepal and Peru.

After Pitti what events are you covering next?

We have the Fashion Night Out in Milano in partnership with Biffi; we also have Palazzo Morando in partnership with Vogue Italia for Milan’s Fashion Week in September.

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