NEW YORK, APRIL 20 – “Italian fashion and textile companies have been ready to respond to the COVID-19 emergency by converting production and mobilizing donations to help the national healthcare system. A true example of solidarity and social responsibility”, the Italian Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Mariangela Zappia, said today during Fashinnovation Worldwide Talks 2020, a multi-voice virtual panel on the challenges posed to fashion by the virus.
“Fashion is one of the most vivid reflection of our society and this is proving true also in the current and unprecedented situation. The pandemic has put us in front of our fragility but is also testing our capacity of how to react and to recover. The fashion system has the strength, not just to overcome the situation, but to became even stronger in the times ahead”, Zappia said.
She reminded the panel that COVID hit Italy “massively and the country is still paying a very high price”. At the same time, Italy, “a cradle of creativity”, reacted converting its factories to support its health system: “Not just the big names but also small and medium enterprises, which started producing masks and other protective equipment. “We showed solidarity and social responsability”, she said. The system never stopped, paralysis was avoided, and soon it will be time to go back to work introducing new safety measures to protect the workforce.
The Italian ambassador recalled that Italy’s fashion system has been for years at the forefront of sustainability. At the same time, she said, the current crisis will bring more attention to a new scale of values: quality instead of quantity, the need to rethink Fashion Weeks the way they have been structured so far, and a less frenetic approach to the market. (@OnuItalia)