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Meeting Federica Salto

 

Federica Salto is a 30-year-old journalist who covers fashion. Passionate about new media, since 2015 she has collaborated with iO Donna, the Corriere della Sera weekly magazine, and since 2020 she has also written for Rivista Studio, a quarterly current affairs and culture magazine.

Q: What is your concept of sustainability?

We use the word sustainability so often that we forgot its meaning: sustainability is the process of change in which the exploitation of resources, the investment plan, the direction of technological development and institutional changes are all in a perfect connection, being also able to and enhance the current and future potential in order to meet the needs and aspirations of humankind. Sustainability can therefore be considered an attitude towards which any human action should tend, and has as its goal the well-being, health and future of the individual. Today we tend to think about sustainability – meant as a way to operate in a sustainable way- as something to be done for someone other than us. When rather, we should do it for ourselves.


Q: Regarding your journalistic experience, what were the developments and where are we heading with the communication on the idea of sustainability?

I speak about communication in the fashion industry, which is my field. In recent years, the response to a greater demand for attention on the issue has turned into a huge, collective yet disarticulated, marketing campaign, where each player uses terms in their own way, without complying with certifications, standards, data. This has led to great confusion, so much so that even for professionals it is currently very difficult to distinguish a communication that presents real progress from a greenwashing activity.

Q:  How and to what extent does communication impact on raising awareness of the subject?

In the meantime a niche of communicators has developed ( journalists, influencers, consumers who take the trouble to study and share with everyone else the information they have acquired), trying to solve the issue, in order to allow everyone to make informed buying choices. It is a hard task that often does not pay back, because at the moment the real sustainable brands rarely hold a budget to allocate to communication. So the task primarily relies on the ethics and will of the individual.

Q: You often talk about sustainability in your articles, how much does that influence your lifestyle?

More and more every day. A few days ago I read an article in which the author asked "is fast fashion an addiction?": over the years we have become accustomed to consolatory shopping, buying to blow off some steam, as we did with food. I was a teenager when the first retail chains arrived in Italy and I lived it to the full. It is something that will continue to affect the lives of many for a long time, also because the second generation of fast fashion is more aggressive and affordable than before, playing with the impact that social networks have on teenagers and their need for approval. My first attitude was a reaction: I felt overwhelmed by the clothes, by the offer, by the marketing inputs that surrounded me. At the same time, I am a huge fashion lover. The luck is that now there are many alternatives, from reselling to renting, up to the numerous small Italian companies that produce more ethically.

Q: Nowadays, it became compulsory for a brand to include sustainable policies and processes. Which kind of communication should a brand put in place in order to transmit the authenticity of sustainable values (circular economy, ethics, research of green materials, conscious choice)?

That’s not a menu to choose from, each brand should aspire to become the best version of itself. I can’t say ‘I want to be inclusive about sizes’ and then use cotton produced with exploitation similar to slavery or don’t even realize that my employees are close to the burnout. A commercial activity - not only fashion but also food, design, etc. - has its own responsibilities. Obviously, perfection isn’t possible to achieve, but it should undertake a process made of small steps, that aims to make it complete in its ethics.

Fashion & Luxury Goods Management Student - ESE Milan

GRETA CAVALLINI

Influencer of the Month

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