Fashion Revolution: Fashion with a Mission
When I first met Marina Spadafora in person, I was amazed by her kindness and delicacy.
Her willingness to share her knowledge and her graceful strength in involving everybody in a new perspective of enjoying fashion and luxury is contagious.
Please enjoy this read and get informed and...involved.
Q: What comes to your mind when you think about the concept of sustainability?
When I think of Sustainability I imagine a behaviour that has respect and responsibility at the core. Sustainability is an approach to life that entails the knowledge that we are borrowing this planet from our children. We need to return it in good shape, filled with a democratic approach to society and a regenerative attitude towards the environment.
Q: What does it mean to be a Fair Fashion Ambassador for Italy?
Just to be on the same page, I am actually a Fair fashion Ambassador for the World (not just for Italy).
What it means is that, I do everything in my power to promote, teach, advocate and help the fashion industry to evolve towards a more circular, responsible and regenerative model.
I advocate the responsibility of the consumers: they can dictate this shift in the industry, by using their purchasing power.
It is indeed, the strongest tool they have, to reward companies who are honestly shifting towards sustainability and penalize financially those that violate basic human and environmental rights, having profit as their sole purpose.
Q: You are the author of "Revolution starts from your wardrobe" does it apply to luxury as well?
The book I wrote with journalist Luisa Ciuni is a lucid and understandable text that explains where and when the Fashion system started to break, and how it became one of the most polluting and exploitative industries in the world. In the second part we give solutions and a plan of actions, to move forward. This information applies to the entire fashion industry, from fast fashion to luxury.
Q: Special projects or Plans for the future?
Yes! I have a format called FASHION WITH A MISSION.
It is a platform that promotes sustainability on television, with a dedicated talk show. Through platforms like Netflix, we will distribute “Fashion with a Mission Travel”: a series of documentaries filmed in countries around the world, from Perù to Nepal, recording the connection between young sustainable designers and local artisans: the designers inject new creative lymph into the artisans who in turn give quality and solidity, to the creation of the designers.
There will be a “Fashion with a Mission” marketplace, where these designers will be able to sell their product. The marketplace will also allow all the designers and artisans to connect to those luxury brands willing to develop new interesting and sustainable projects, as part of their CSR profile.
Learn more: http://www.marinaspadafora.com/
Q: Have you always been a sustainable designer?
I have always had a very strong social conscience and I grew up in close contact with nature: this is who I am.
I am also very creative and artistic and I became a designer quite early in life.
I was lucky enough to have my own brand for years:
Interview with Marina Spadafora
I started doing fashion shows in smaller venues than the ones I chose in my early years using all the budget saved for social causes. It would go to different children care associations each season.
When I started consulting for luxury brands such as Ferragamo, Prada, Miu Miu and Marni I realised that I really wanted to use my professional skills, to make the world a better place.
My yearning was so strong that I succeeded, and have been working in sustainability since 2006!
