In the aftermath of World Environment Day 2023 Giorgio Armani announces with a tweet his new project related to a more ethical and sustainable fashion. “In fashion everything starts from the material: my design comes from the choice of fabrics.
And it was through experimentation and the use of nontraditional fabrics that I revolutionized fashion”, said King Giorgio, who thus presented The Apulia Regenerative Cotton Project, an eco-responsible project that aims to reintroduce cotton cultivation in the Puglia region through an agroforestry system.
To launch this experimental initiative, the Armani Group joined forces with the Fashion Task Force of the Sustainable Markets Initiative – chaired by Federico Marchetti, founder of Yoox and the only non-family member on the Armani Group board – and the Circular Bioeconomy Alliance, two bodies founded by King Charles III.
This is a pilot project coordinated by the European Forest Institute (EFI) with the Council for Research in Agriculture and Analysis of Agricultural Economics (CREA) in partnership with the specialized agroforestry center Pretaterra that aims to implement sustainable low-carbon cotton production in Italy. The trial began with the planting of a one-hectare cotton field that will be expanded to five hectares from 2024.
For five years, this agricultural site will be among the first experiments in Europe to test cotton production with an agroforestry system through alternative tree species and regenerative practices. “Actively participating in the development of agroforestry regenerative cotton, moreover on Italian soil, is an important step that will also have a real impact on local communities. Regenerative fashion, from being the utopia it was, is finally beginning to take on tangible characters,” said Giorgio Armani.
