la Repubblica – Accoglienza: da schiavo in un lager libico ad artigiano del lusso Made in Italy

Nel 2016 è arrivato via mare in Italia, più precisamente in Sicilia, è stato trasferito nell’hub regionale di Bologna e infine accolto dalla cooperativa sociale “Lai-momo”, a Lama di Reno, frazione del comune di Marzabotto. Poi il colpo di fortuna. Nel 2017 la cooperativa, in collaborazione con il programma “Ethical fashion initiative” dell’Onu e dell’Organizzazione mondiale del commercio, fonda una piccola start-up: la Cartiera, con sede nella casa dell’amministratore della vecchia cartiera di Marzabotto. L’obiettivo è produrre accessori di alto artigianato in pelle, favorendo l’inserimento lavorativo di richiedenti asilo, migranti e disoccupati.

Read More »

VOGUE Arabia – This New Social Enterprise is Offering a Stylish Invitation to Wear Your Values

This mythic landscape that set the scene for cult films like The Talented Mr. Ripley and Scandal in Sorrento is where two pixie-haired women have chosen to unveil a new right, and discover the Goooders universe, one of two pop-ups this summer (the other is in Paris at The Bristol Hotel) that aims to help people look good by doing good. Co-founder and co-CEO Caterina Occhio is inside the pop-up while her partner Eva Geraldine holds court on the terrace. The similarities don’t stop at their short crop. Both have romance in their eyes and some French cancan in their legs, as proven by spontaneous dancing later that evening. Moreover, they are both fiercely determined to fill today’s shopping bags with a dose of 21st century, UN-approved values.

Read More »

Business of Fashion – Want Les Essentiels Co-Founders Launch E-Commerce Platform For Ethical Homeware

Goodee has partnered with the Ethical Fashion Initiative (EFI), whose network of artisans in conflict-torn countries such as Mali and Burkina Faso are producing fabrics designed by Byron and Dexter Peart, to be featured as products on the site. “We regenerate the social capital of workers from very marginalised communities [by making them] permanent suppliers of international fashion and lifestyle brands,” says Simone Cipriani, UN officer, founder and head of the EFI. This, in turn, allows for environmental regeneration, such as the instalment of solar panels to heat water for the natural dyeing process carried out in Mali.

The launch of Goodee comes at a time when sustainability and ethical transparency are a growing concern among consumers yet a relatively untapped market in the luxury lifestyle space. According to sustainability consultancy Futerra, the market for ethical products and services in the UK alone is worth £81.3 billion (about $104.9 billion), growing over £40 billion since 2008. “Sustainable living for beginners” as a search term on Pinterest went up by 265% last year.

Sustainability is also a timely matter for policy and industry-wide action, with the UN Alliance For Sustainable Fashion launching in March 2019 in a bid to tackle the social and environmental harm of fashion, of which the EFI is a member agency.

Read More »

La Presse – La virée planétaire des frères Peart

Tout est passé au crible du code d’éthique (et d’esthétique) Goodee. La certification B-Corp, accordée aux sociétés commerciales répondant à des exigences sociétales, environnementales, de gouvernance et de transparence, est imminente. L’entreprise travaille également en collaboration avec l’Ethical Fashion Initiative, un programme lié à l’ONU. Ils mettent au point une gamme de matières textiles et d’objets pour la maison qui permettra aux artisans membres d’avoir un meilleur accès au marché mondial.

Read More »

VOGUE Taiwan- 購物狂也能做環保?6個購物秘訣學起來,讓你成為更有意識的道德時尚人 | Vogue雙語讀時尚

從消費者的角度來看,究竟什麼是更道德、更永續性的購物方式呢?這兩個詞彙絕對於當下最熱門的關鍵字,而其定義也密切關聯。「這兩者該被視為同義詞,」聯合國道德時尚協會負責人Simone Cipriani 這麼説。「道德必須兼顧永續性,無論在社會或環境層面。」 What exactly does it mean to buy more ethically and sustainably, from a consumer perspective? The two terms are definitely buzz keywords at the moment, and their definitions closely interlinked. “They should be considered synonymous,” says Simone Cipriani, the head of the UN’s Ethical Fashion Initiative. “Ethical has to [mean] sustainable, socially and environmentally.”

Read More »

S moda – Vivienne Westwood, la señora del lujo activista

Antes del muro de Trump, ya existía una barrera comercial, que ha dividido históricamente el mundo por la mitad. El hemisferio sur ha sido siempre el gran marginado. Sus artesanos son desterrados de la cadena de producción del mercado del lujo, condenados a trabajar en condiciones pésimas. Vivienne Westwood empezó en 2010 a colaborar con Iniciativa Moda Ética (EFI por sus siglas en inglés) del Centro de Comercio Internacional (ITC), organismo conjunto de la Conferencia de las Naciones Unidas sobre Comercio y Desarrollo (Unctad) y la Organización Mundial del Comercio (OMC). «Nuestro trabajo con el Centro de Comercio Internacional da a las personas oportunidad y sostenibilidad», señala Carlo. «Estamos hablando de trabajo», hace hincapié Simone Cipriani, director de EFI. Su lema siempre ha sido: «Es trabajo, no caridad». Para D’Amario, es un intercambio: «Compartimos técnicas y transmitimos nuestra experiencia a su artesanía. Soft Power». En castellano, ‘poder blando’ –término acuñado en los noventa que hace referencia a la influencia que tiene un Estado en el extranjero al margen de su acción diplomática, actividad directa económica o capacidad militar–. Para Carlo, la acepción moderna (más positiva) se centra en el poder de la sociedad de intercambiar ideas.

Read More »

VOGUE UK – #CNILux Simone Cipriani: Uniting African Hands

The object of Cipriani’s work is to replace “pity purchasing” – when visitors to a country might buy things just to be kind to their makers – with fine workmanship at a high level.

It’s about “empowering women by generating work and making them into micro entrepreneurs,” says Cipriani, who concentrates on city slums and rural areas in countries such as Burkina Faso, Ghana, and Kenya.

Read More »

Fashion Network US – Black empowerment stirs the rise of African fashion

Abrima Erwiah, who was raised in New York and worked in marketing and communications at Bottega Veneta, co-founded Studio 189, an artisan-produced fashion brand that is headquartered in Ghana, West Africa and New York. It currently operates a store in New York and Accra (Ghana), an e-commerce site, a manufacturing facility in Accra, and supports various community-led projects in Africa and in the US. It works with artisanal communities that specialize in various traditional craftsmanship techniques including natural plant-based dye indigo and hand-batik. Studio 189 partners with the United Nations ITC Ethical Fashion Initiative, NYU Stern School of Business and has collaborated with brands including EDUN, which was part of LVMH, and the retailer Yoox Net-A-Porter.

Read More »

Haute Fashion Africa – Fashion Ahead: From Institutions to Retailers, Brands to Look Out For in 2019.

Fashion in Africa has consecutively gotten better with every year, and 2018 was no different. The prospects are becoming more visible and based off this, we at Haute Fashion Africa are debuting our “Fashion Ahead” list, a curation of brands who from the last quarter of the previous year are already showing trends for remarkable next year to come, thus putting them Fashion Ahead.

Read More »

WWD – The Originals: Pharrell Williams

Williams and Adidas will release a limited-edition range of reworked track jackets with the Ethical Fashion Initiative, an organization that links artisans from developing countries to fashion’s international value chain.

Read More »

CGTN America – Work of African artisans debut on the runway at New York Fashion Week

The United Nations through, its ethical fashion initiative also helped the co-founders develop a factory for its clothing. While its mission may be philanthropic, Dawson said it doesn’t come at the expense of high fashion.
“If you don’t even care about sustainability you don’t have to lose out on anything. It doesn’t have to feel like charity. It shouldn’t feel like charity. This is about really recognizing people’s work and coming to the table and recognizing everybody along the supply chain and the consumer is just as important as the farmer,” Dawson said.

Read More »

Carmen Busquets – UN To Launch Partnership For Sustainable Fashion

Previously underestimated in terms of its impact on the environment, the record of the $2.5 trillion-dollar fashion industry is now coming increasingly under scrutiny. Not only is it the second highest user of water worldwide, producing 20 per cent of global water waste, and responsible for 10 per cent of global carbon emissions, but beyond the environmental impact the industry is also closely linked to labor, gender and poverty issues. And while significant today, it is likely that such concerns will only increase further in the coming decades, which has prompted the UN to call for delegates attending its upcoming High Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development to debate plans to launch a Partnership for Sustainable Fashion.

Read More »

Refinery 29 – Westwood Is The Anti-Fashion Documentary We’ve Been Waiting For

For the past eight years, she’s been producing her Ethical Fashion Initiative bags in collaboration with the Ethical Fashion Initiative of the International Trade Centre — a joint organization of the United Nations and the World Trade Organization — which supports the work of women micro-producers of marginalized African communities. Westwood was one many European designers to oppose Brexit, too. There’s much, much more to be learned from Westwood — and you’ll be surprised to realize just how many trends (those material and immaterial) she started. In the clip below — one of our favorites from the documentary — the designer narrates her start in the fashion industry, including her relationship with McLaren. Like most great woman designers of our business, she outran him.

Read More »

Carmen Busquets – UN Ethical Fashion Initiative: Not Charity, Just Work

After gaining experience working in the leather industry in Italy, Vietnam, India, Indonesia, China, Tunisia and Morocco, Cipriani relocated to Ethiopia to work for the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) setting up service centers for the local leather industry. Meeting and working with micro-producers he saw an opportunity to connect skilled artisans with the fashion industry for mutual benefit, and this was the inspiration behind the Ethical Fashion Initiative.

Read More »

Fashion United – En Afrique, la mode s’exploite comme vecteur de développement

En Afrique, l’Initiative de Mode Ethique (Ethical Fashion Initiative/EFI), créée en 2009 par Simone Cipriani, exploite la mode comme vecteur de développement. Les artisans locaux peuvent fabriquer des produits de mode éthique à valeur ajoutée pour les créateurs de mode internationaux. En tant qu’initiative des Nations Unies, leur travail est évalué à l’aide d’un outil mesurant l’impact positif et les résultats tangibles pour les communautés avec lesquelles il travaille. Cette organisation encourage les jeunes talents de la mode locale et leur permet de créer des collaborations éthiques, durables et créatives avec des artisants du continent pour ensuite être promues à l’international.

Read More »

Thrive Global – Ethical fashion and sustainability

Founded in 2009, the Ethical Fashion Initiative is headed by Simone Cipriani, an industry practitioner with a long history working around the world. In the past, Cipriani has promoted sustainability through working with micro-producers and artisans in Africa, connecting them to the western world, and encouraging successful partnerships.

Read More »

ELLE – Thương hiệu thời trang xa xỉ nước Anh Vivienne Westwood và cuộc cách mạng thời trang xanh

Thương hiệu thời trang Vivienne Westwood được thành lập bởi NTK người Anh Vivienne Westwood vào năm 1971. Lời phát biểu mạnh mẽ của “nữ hoàng nổi loạn tóc đỏ” đã truyền cảm hứng đến mọi ngóc ngách của cuộc sống: “Chúng ta cần thay đổi đạo đức và bộ máy tài chính cũng như cách chúng ta thấu hiểu thế giới. Đó là phải là thế giới nơi mà con người sống thay vì chết; một thế giới bền vững”.

Read More »

VOGUE Italia – Kinabuti: moda etica e immigrazione

La moda come strumento di sviluppo economico e avanzamento sociale nelle comunità e nelle zone disagiate della Nigeria: questo è Kinabuti, un brand etico con una mission sociale nato nel 2010 dal sogno di due donne italiane, Caterina Bortolussi, friulana che da 12 anni vive in Nigeria, in partnership con Francesca Rosset.

Read More »

Eco Business – The top 5 manufacturing stories in 2017

Activists were vocal about getting businesses and consumers to address worker exploitation in global supply chains. The Ethical Fashion Initiative called on companies to put people above profit at the heart of business models and the Stop Child Labour Coalition launched a campaign for brands to share profits to keep children in school. 

Read More »

WWD – Nest Panelists Share Insights on Evolution of Luxury Goods, Craftsmanship

The panelists acknowledged an increased interest in authenticity, heritage and social responsibility among consumers. Cipriani said that carefully crafted authentic goods were “what fashion used to be” prior to mass production, standardization of labor, compression of costs and “big” marketing strategies. And preceding standardization, luxury brands were full of artisans, according to Cipriani.

Read More »

Please contact us by emailing efashion@intracen.org

newsletter

Sign up for our newsletter to receive daily news and updates.

The Ethical Fashion Initiative is a programme of the International Trade Centre, a joint agency of the United Nations and the World Trade Organization.

 

2025 ©All rights reserved.