Milano Unica’s commitment to sustainability is renewed and this time I saw it with my own eyes, having visited it on the 9th, the day before yesterday, on the opening day. The high-end textile and accessories show for women’s and men’s clothing, which brings together the best of Made in Italy twice a year, began its responsible journey in October 2017 with the theme ‘Save the Planet’, then continuing it in subsequent editions until last February with further evolution.
The July 2019 edition, which ends today, presents a theme in which creativity and sustainability merge: ‘FancyGreen, Evergreen’ or research into sustainable materials, processes and treatments that intersect with the work of exhibiting companies, always engaged more in production processes involving the use of renewable energy, low energy intensity, systems for recovering and recycling water and chemicals. And then the use of a “green” chemistry with less impacting dyes and finishes, the development of new biological fibers, the recycling of materials and the use of cruelty-free and low environmental impact raw materials.
The area reserved for the Sustainability Project includes 150 companies presenting over 1,000 samples of fabrics and accessories displayed on tables located in two adjacent but separate areas: an area dedicated to the ‘Fancygreen’ samples and an area dedicated to the ‘Evergreen’ samples.
The different sustainability performances of the samples and companies are represented by icons, divided according to the classification of product sustainability and process sustainability and the visitors interested in knowing more about the companies and their samples can contact the assistance team present in the area to ask for the detailed product cards.
Sustainability is also part of the trends for the autumn-winter 2020/21 season, with ecology that joins eroticism, the former as a yearning for the salvation of the planet and the latter as a need for pleasure and as a spur to the life, something intrinsic to nature itself.
‘Milano Unica Ecorotica’ therefore presents itself as a reflection on the current behaviors that are typical of the new generations, on the one hand the environmental commitment (just think of the global ‘School Strike for Climate’ movement) and on the other, complacency and unveiling of oneself through social media.
From these assumptions three ‘sub-themes’ were born, three stages of life: Ecorotic Drama, Ecorotic Circus and Ecorotic Eden or the drama, the surreal and the supernatural, all projected in an a-temporal future.
Ecorotic Drama Ecorotic Circus Ecorotic Eden
The exhibition areas of the three themes are really suggestive, real theatrical / cinematographic sets in which materials and accessories are displayed in line with the mood. I spent a lot of time in the various areas, especially in that of Ecorotic Eden, an enchanted forest, dreamlike, kaleidoscopic, ideally populated by fauns, centaurs and nymphs. And I felt a little bit too, a magical creature!
But apart from the magic, it is important that the commitment of companies and events in the sector be concrete and that the collaboration between them can continue and be strengthened; will increase the number of exhibiting companies in the sustainability area the next edition? We’ll see.
