Making Fashion Last / 2023

Within the European project Distributed Design, OpenDot organises a two-day talk and hands-on activities to address the theme of the durability of clothes, both physically and emotionally. The project tries to answer the question "how can we extend the life cycle of clothes, adopting a sustainable approach by design?"

Through co-design and interdisciplinary learning among designers, makers, tailors, modellers and sustainability experts, the ambition of "Making Fashion Last" is to suggest an approach that is able to include the concept of durability and repairability at all stages of the design. To do so, the Fab Lab’s own technologies and methodologies open up innovative experiments that have as their goal on the one hand repair, on the other to create a new visual grammar that is able to sensitise against the culture of disposable.

The theme has been addressed from different points of view thanks to exceptional guests ranging from the world of philosophy, education, activism, through direct experiences of brands and policies.
The conference, free and open to all, is moderated by Alessandro Masserdotti, CTO and Head of Research and Development of OpenDot and Dotdotdot.

With us at BASE Milano:

• Emanuele Coccia, philosopher / on the relationship between fashion and identity
• Cosimo Dorato, Creative Manager of Oakley / on how trends are born and spread
• Mirko Gradi, Product Sustainability & Circularity Manager at Golden Goose / on the challenges that big brands face today in offering sustainable products and services
• Paolo Naldini, director of B.E.S.T Cittadellarte Biella / on the need for a holistic education of all fashion actors
• Liat Rogel, PM of the project Centrinno for the City of Milan / on urban policies and spaces
• Max Gilgenmann, co-chairperson of Fashion Revolution Germany / on the need for positive and creative feedback

Watch the conference recording on our YouTube channel

The workshop, runned in collaboration with Linda Zamboni - Professor of Sustainability at the Istituto Marangoni in Florence and intended for tailors, makers and designers, is organised in two stages: a vertical training on the possibilities of digital manufacturing (parametric design, machine hacking, algorithmic design for repair) and a hands-on co-design activity that involved 20 people.

The participants, divided into 4 groups, analysed clothes recovered from VestiSolidale, the cooperative that collects and redistributes clothes in the City of Milan, and designed strategies that extend the life cycle, renewing the value.

The work teams have tried to respond to 4 challenges that refer to 4 reasons of waste: aesthetics (stained clothes or flans), function (unskinned clothes, laundry), use (clothes demodè or extravagant), life changes (related to habits or size change).