This is the story of an ethical fashion workshop set up in 2017 with the Abantu cooperative. A project whose aim is inclusion. For FARE INSIEME Giampaolo Colletti interviewed Andrea Marchesini Reggiani, founder of the Cartiera Ethical fashion workshop, and Tatiana Di Federico, Chief Operating Officer
by Giampaolo Colletti
@gpcolletti
Photocredit: Giacomo Maestri e Francesca Aufiero
This is the story of a bag that is not
a simple bag. But also of a business that is not a simple business. Because,
after all, the story we are about to tell you features another ten, one
hundred, a thousand stories that unfold inside it. A story that encompasses a
certain idea of doing business and of being a community, as is often mentioned
in this podcast. A story that is born as something and, over the centuries,
becomes something else. A story that today is an ethical fashion workshop
producing leather and fabric accessories, but which is actually much more than
that. Welcome to Cartiera. We will shortly tell you about its history but, as
we often do, we will start with where and then define how. We find ourselves in
Lama di Reno within the Marzabotto district, a town of almost seven thousand at
the foothills of the Bologna Apennines, notoriously famous for to the massacre
that happened here during the Second World War. This is the location of a
place with a centuries-old history. A paper mill that, over time, has been many
things. Today, thanks to the Abantu cooperative - a
training experience that became a social start-up. Everything began in 2017 with the ethical fashion workshop of cooperative
Lai-momo (founding partner of Cartiera) and the Ethical Fashion Initiative of
the International Trade Centre, a UN programme to promote a fairer fashion
industry. It dealt with the production and sale of leather and fabric
accessories while recruiting disadvantaged people, in particular asylum
seekers, migrants and unemployed people.
History and profile of the space. Let us start with the name. We
find ourselves inside the former industrial complex of the Lama di Reno paper
mill, which was owned by Rizzoli and was closed down in 2006, 50 years later.
But its story goes much further back, as its origins date back to the Counts of
Panico, from 980 to the Middle Ages. It was used for various activities: it was
a flour mill that continued its operations until the First World War, and also
partly operated as a paper mill ever since the 1700s. Then came the crisis that
affected the paper and publishing sectors, leading to its closure in 2006 and
therefore to many jobs were lost and the town lost many of its inhabitants. As
a result, a factory that used to employ 600/700 people closed down. Until, in
2016, a cooperative set up an ethical fashion workshop that brought a new lease
of life to these empty spaces. «By
using the name of the old industry, Cartiera aims to bring new energy to a
place where work has been at the centre of the wealth of the community for
decades,» Explains Cartiera founder Andrea Marchesini Reggiani. To put down roots
in a territory affected by depopulation and the economic crisis to make these
places more inclusive, safer and more open to the community. We manufacture leather goods with a low
environmental impact, as we reuse raw materials that would otherwise be wasted. «Cartiera represents
a winning model not only when it comes to social inclusion, but also for
environmental sustainability. The workshop manufactures leather and fabric
goods using mainly reclaimed materials, with a circular economy in mind. The
possibility of using left-overs or leather cuts discarded by the high-fashion
and automotive industries means we can give a new lease of life to a high-value
material that would otherwise be throw away, and promote a process that is
alternative to the fast fashion concept that has exploded over the past few
years, based on the large-scale production of low-cost yet also low-quality
pieces. Up-cycling not only reduces the impact of the luxury industry,
but aims to raise the awareness of the community and the public about the
importance of responsible consumption,” stresses Tatiana di Federico, Chief Operating
Officer. An example? The cooperative produces
for third parties with companies such as Automobili Lamborghini: it uses the
leather left over from the interior of luxury cars to create unique objects
that the company then purchases to promote the project. “We provide training and placement opportunities to people
in disadvantaged conditions. We also promote
artisanal Italian skills by creating an important connection with the UN
Ethical Fashion Initiative global network. We are a business that looks
for concrete answers to some of the difficult challenges of our time: the fewer
job opportunities, the economic integration of migrants and asylum-seekers, the
progressive loss of qualified artisans and related jobs, the depopulation of
former industrial areas and the waste of raw materials that often characterises
the fashion industry,” reports Marchesini Reggiani.
People first. International collaborations are part of our
challenges: we take part in European projects alongside institutions, creatives
and activists in both Europe and Africa. After all, people from 11 different
countries work here! But
let us keep the focus on people. The selection of people working at
Cartiera, mainly asylum-seekers but also Italian people with disabilities, is
strictly related to the need to find new solutions to favour the social and
work integration of people belonging to disadvantaged categories. “We believe that work integration can
turn vulnerabilities into positive change, whose beneficial effects are enjoyed
by both the persons who experience them, and by the community where they live,”
concludes Di Federico. What's in store for the
future? The cooperative is looking to widen its network, employ sustainable raw
materials, reduce waste and focus on the role of training. Cartiera never
stops.
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