to Creation: The Inspiring Lab Model for T&A Creatives and Designers

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3 Texmedin Partners: Municipality of Prato - IT (Lead Partner) Textile Museum of Prato Foundation - IT Hellenic Clothing Industry Association - GR Foment of Terrassa - ES Documentation Centre and Textile Museum - ES Clothing Textile and Fiber Technological Development (CLOTEFI) - GR French Institute Textile Clothing - FR Peloponnesian Folklore Foundation - GR Carpiformazione - IT The Texmedin Project at work From Inspiration to Creation: The Inspiring Lab Model for T&A Creatives and Designers T&A Euromed heritage for innovation

4 DISCLAIMER: TEXMEDIN is cofinanced by the European Regional Development Fund within the MED Programme. LEGAL NOTICE: Neither the European Commission nor any person acting on behalf of the European Commission is responsible for the use which might be made of the information contained in this publication. Any information given does not necessarily reflect the official position of the European Commission. In this regard, it should be made noted that the information provided is considered to be of a preliminary nature and users should contact the competent authorities and other public or private organisations for the more detailed information or for advice on particular courses of action. CREDITS: This publication is a result of a collaborative work jointly carried out by the TEXMEDIN Project Staff - Visual design by Emo Risaliti. The publication was coordinated by Besnik Mehmeti - TEXMEDIN Project Manager - with the support of the TEXMEDIN Project Staff (Paolo Guarnieri, Lorena Vidas and Vanessa Visentin) and with the contribution of Athanase Contargyris for IFTH, Textile Museum of Prato, Documentation Centre and Textile Museum of Terrassa, Foment of Terrassa, Hellenic Clothing Industry Association and Carpiformazione. CONTACTS: Municipality of Prato Via Manassei 23-1st floor Prato Italy Phone: Fax: Contact person: Besnik Mehmeti info@texmedin.eu Prato Textile Museum Via Santa Chiara Prato Italy Phone: Fax: Contact person: Filippo Guarini f.guarini@museodeltessuto.it Hellenic Clothing Industry Association 51 Emou str Athens Greece Phone: Fax: Contact person: Meletis Karabinis mk@skee.gr Foment of Terrassa Ctra. de Martorell, Terrassa Spain Phone: Fax: Contact person: Montserrat Borràs Rodríguez montse.borras@terrassa.cat Documentation Centre and Textile Museum of Terrassa c/.salmeron, Terrassa Spain Phone: ; Fax: Contact person: Eulàlia Morral Romeu emorral@cdmt.es Clothing Textile and Fiber Technological Development (CLOTEFI) El. Venizelou Kallithea/Athens Greece Phone: Fax: Contact person: Vagelis Klokanas research@etakei.gr French Institute Textile Clothing - Direction Régionale Rhône-Alpes PACA Avenue Guy de Collongue Ecully Cedex France Phone: Fax: Contact person: Eric Boudon eboudon@ifth.org Peloponnesian Folklore Foundation 1, Vas. Alexandrou St Nafplion Greece Phone: Fax: Contact person: Ioanna Papantoniou pff@otenet.gr Carpiformazione Via Nuova Ponente 22/b Carpi Italy Phone: Fax: Contact person: Norma Patelli npatelli@carpiformazione.it

5 INDEX Foreword Introducing the TEXMEDIN Project 1. The Inspiring Lab Cluster for Innovation Component: an overview 2. Mapping of the Partner Territories 2.1. Key Data of the T&A Sector in the Participating Territories 2.2. TEXMEDIN Shared Database of Fashion and Design Schools and Universities 3. The TEXMEDIN Inspiring Labs 3.1. The Inspiring Lab Concept and Model The offered facilities The provided services The potential users and beneficiaries 3.2. The TEXMEDIN Inspiring Labs Cluster 4. The TEXMEDIN Design Challenge: Back to Heritage Straight to Future 4.1. The Contest Call 4.2. Applicants selection and results 4.3. Training and Educational Experience of Young Designers Prato Inspiring Lab Carpi Inspiring Lab Terrassa Inspiring Lab Athens Inspiring Lab Lyon Inspiring Lab 4.4. TEXMEDIN Design Challenge and Inspiring Lab Participants: Their Live Experience 4.5. TEXMEDIN Award and Final Exhibition

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7 Foreword Textile and Clothing is a major economic sector in the Mediterranean area. This mostly SME-based industry accounts for a significant share of value added, employment and export revenue for many regions in this area. Over the last few years, this sector has undergone a series of radical transformations due to a number of factors, including increasing production costs, tighter environmental constraints and the onset of strong international competition. The competitive advantages of the sector are found in a focus on quality and design, innovation and technology, and high value-added products. The falling-off of the manufacturing sector in the European countries towards the development of new extra-european industrial poles, is driving the enterprises to invest more and more on the design and the intrinsic qualities of their products and on the marketing, necessary to communicate these values to exigent and aware costumers. The Inspiring Lab concept has been conceived based on this problematic and the need of Mediterranean Textile and Apparel sectors to focus on quality and design, innovation and technology and high value-added products to regain competitive advantages in a globalised economy. The Inspiring Lab Cluster for Innovation is the component of TEXMEDIN project in charge of exploiting the T&A Heritage collections of the Museums participating in the project and more particularly those items selected to be part of the TEXMEDIN database, as a source for inspiration for new creations by young designers. The Inspiring Lab Cluster for Innovation groups activities and services, presented in this brochure, with aim to improve the interaction between designers, T&A museums, research centres and SMEs in the T&A sector, for facilitating the prototyping of such new creations. In this regard, a cluster composed of five Inspiring Labs was defined and structured in all partners territories, respectively in: Terrassa (Spain), Prato (Italy), Carpi (Italy), Athens (Greece) and Lyon (France). Based on the above, the TEXMEDIN Design Challenge, an educational experience targeted at young fashion designers and stylists, was launched in the framework of the project to gather a group of highly motivated designers and stylists and give them the opportunity to test the services offered. In all the places the high motivation and interest of the participants has been the main common experience the TEXMEDIN partners enjoyed, as reported by them and observed by the high attendance rates in all the training sessions by selected designers. Inspiration activities involved the active participation of partners Museums: they brought participants into direct contact with the historical pieces they had chosen as inspiration for their projects and provided experts in heritage who introduced them to databases, resources at other museums and references, in the various facets of production. Overall, the activities and facilities offered by the Inspiring Lab Clusters turned out as an effective way to train people simulating a real work situation. They have also shown new possibilities to put all kinds of actors composing T&A clusters together in support of innovative ideas. Through them it has been verified that these facilities are in line with needs of the design sector which are in constant evolution as it seeks out new ways of innovating. More specifically, innovating using T&A heritage inspiration has been comforted as one of these new ways of innovating, not enough explored before, and Inspiring Labs as an interesting approach for supporting more actively this way in the future Athanase Contargyris French Institute Textile Clothing 05

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9 Introducing the TEXMEDIN Project TEXMEDIN, standing for TEXtile and apparel EuroMEDiterranean heritage for INnovation, is a transnational project cofinanced by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) in the framework of the European Territorial Cooperation objective of the MED Programme. The overall objective of TEXMEDIN is to create a transnational cluster to increase the competitiveness of the partners' territories in Textile and Clothing sector by fostering the focus on quality, design and innovation. The project's specific objectives are: to identify, share and exploit the partners' textile and apparel (T&A) knowledge-base of productive know-how and creative heritage as a driver for innovation and inspiration source for the production of new high added-value and environmental friendly T&A products; to create a transnational cluster combining the partners economic, technological and creative resources in order to integrate R&D, fashion and design know-how in the productive chain, support the interaction between emerging designers, textile museums, training and research centres and T&A SMEs, and facilitate the creation of new enterprises in the T&A sector. TEXMEDIN has formally started in April 2009 and will terminate by the end of September The total budget amounts to ,00 z, with a ,50 z ERDF contribution by the European Commission, corresponding to a 75% co-financing rate. The project involves nine partners from six regions belonging to the Mediterranean area, all with a longestablished vocation in T&A productions and a significant tradition in design and creativity. Coherently with the nature of the project, the partnership is composed by local authorities, T&A museums, organizations supporting T&A businesses and technological and innovation centres. The project is structured into four components. The two thematic components Integrated Knowledgebase and Inspiring Lab Cluster for Innovation develop and implement the technical contents and activities of the project, while the other two components are dedicated to Communication - that is, the effective and efficient dissemination and promotion of the projects activities and results - and to Management - providing the organisational, financial and administrative structure to the project. In more detail, while the Integrated Knowledge-base component aims to implement the assessment and sharing of the partners T&A knowledge-base (know-how and creative heritage), the Inspiring Lab Cluster for Innovation Component - which is the object of the present publication - aims to draw inspiration from this knowledge-base to design and implement innovative measures so as to enhance the competitiveness of the partners. This component integrates R&D, fashion and design in the T&A clusters there by improving the interaction between designers, T&A museums, research centres and SMEs in the T&A sector. 07

10 1. The Inspiring Lab Cluster for Innovation Component: an overview The "Inspiring Lab Cluster for Innovation" component aims to draw inspiration from the Digital Library ( developed by the "Integrated Knowledge-base" Component to design and implement innovative measures and thereby enhance the competitiveness of the partners territories. In this regard the TEXMEDIN partners carried out a series of activities to develop a transnational cluster of Inspiring Labs. This cluster is conceived as a group of advanced facilities dedicated to research and inspiration and providing access to various innovative services and tools to exploit the T&A knowledgebase and provide training to young designers and enterprises. With an enhanced focus on quality, design, innovation and technology to deliver high value-added T&A products, this transnational cluster combines the partners economic, technological and creative resources in order to: Integrate R&D, fashion and design know-how in the productive chain: from young designers to entrepreneurs; Support the interaction between emerging designers, textile museums, training and research centres and T&A SMEs; Facilitate the creation of new enterprises in the T&A sector. In this perspective the first step was the analysis of local productive contexts and creation of a shared database of fashion and design school and universities in the partners territories with information on types of courses in T&A, their duration and the number of involved students. This mapping helped to identify the local stakeholders - including fashion and design schools and universities but also enterprises, artisans, industrial and trade associations, to be involved in testing the services offered by the Inspiring Labs. Analysing the collected information and on the basis of their territorial needs the partnership elaborated the concept of the Inspiring Lab by defining the facilities and services and the target users. This theoretical concept was then articulated into a series of services to be implemented and tested in the successive project activities. In this regard, a cluster composed of five Inspiring Labs was finally defined and structured in Terrassa (Spain), Prato (Italy), Carpi (Italy), Athens (Greece) and Lyon (France). The main milestone of this component has been the TEXMEDIN Design Challenge, an educational experience targeted at young fashion designers and stylists, structured as a Europe-wide public contest. The purpose of the contest was to select a number of young fashion designers and stylists who were invited to submit their creative project-works developed on the basis of selected Digital Library samples. Participants could win specialized training to be held at the Inspiring Labs facilities that each partner has created in its own territory. In this way, the Challenge was expected to bring to light the potential of new generations of creatives and upgrade their skills in accessing and reinterpreting the T&A heritage of the Mediterranean. The activities of this component were coordinated by the French Institute Textile Clothing (IFTH). 08

11 2. Mapping of the Partner Territories 2.1. Key Data of the T&A Sector in the Participating Territories Prato The industrial district of Prato, located in a territory covering the whole Province and some neighbouring areas, is one of the biggest Italian industrial districts and an important centre at global level for the production of textiles and wool, in particular: textiles for the clothing industry, textile products for the furnishing, knitting yarns, nonwoven fabrics and technical textiles for industrial purposes, knitted fabrics, clothing and machines for the textile industry. In addition to the traditional specialization in the textile, the clothing sector has progressively increased in the district, so much that Prato by now is known also as fashion district. Although the recent reduction of the weight of the manufacturing (in the number of textile companies is reduced by almost 60% and by 35% employment in the sector) the industrial vocation of the District is still dominating: with almost 7,200 companies employing over 40,000 workers in the production of over 70,000 new items and approximately 350 million meters of fabric for clothing, furnishings and technical uses, Prato is currently one of the most important textile manufacturing areas in Europe. Carpi The industrial textile and clothing district of Carpi is composed by the municipalities of Carpi, Cavezzo, Concordia, Novi di Modena and S. Possidonio. The sector with a quota surpassing the 60% of the total of the employees in the manufacturing industry is the main sector of the area. The district is characterized by a wide presence of small and medium sized companies, the relevance of a network of intercompany relationships due to the flexible specialization and the connection between the economic and sociocultural systems. In the last two decades the district had a lot of problems and changes, due to the bad economic situation, the consumption reduction, the globalization and the introduction on the market, of low cost merchandise. This situation brought to the closure of about the 50% of companies and the halving of the number of employees. In the last 5 years, anyway, despite the persisting decreasing of number of companies (in particular the sub-contracting ones) and employees, we assist to a progressive increase of the turnover, thanks to the increasing of the product quality, the promotion 09

12 and launching of new brands, the application of new marketing and distribution strategies. Carpi is nowadays an industrial district that has been able to defend its positions, to maintain the whole production chain, to adapt itself to the new market requirements. Some of the leader companies have consolidated their position (15 of them produce the 51% of the total turnover and employ the 22% of the sector employees); the collection design capacity of the companies remains very high with more than models per year: the firms in fact have invested a lot in the style research, in the updating of the competences linked to the collection design and sampling, in the brand image and in the promotion; this trend has been more and more consolidated by the increase of the products in the mid and mid-high market which represent the two-third of the total turnover. What s more it is necessary to point out that the three-quarters of the production is completely made in Italy, in particular the short and the high quality series are completed produced in the district. The 74% of the total are knitwear companies which employ the 57% of the sector workforce; anyway due to their dimension, their turnover represents the 35% of the total. Catalonia Taking into account that the increased dynamism of other sectors and new conditions of the market in the actual world-wide economic context has caused a decrease in its participation, the textile sector has still a relevant importance within the productive structure of Catalonia region. The textile chain, that includes production of chemical fibres, threads, fabrics, dyeing and finishing industries, knitting and clothing industry, generates an occupation for 57,500 people, representing 7.5% of the industrial employment and 1.65% of the total. In addition to the business of distribution and sale of textile products, and the providing sectors, approximately 100,000 people depend nowadays on the industrial activity generated by the textile sector. The Catalan textile industry consists basically in spinning, fabrics and knitting industries, as well as dyeing and finishing industries, and it represents 60% of the Spain production. The manufacture of chemical fibres, covering 50% of the total production represents also an important sector. The clothing industry, on the other side, involves almost 20,000 people in Catalonia, taking a fifth of total production in the country. With reference to the enterprise dimension, Small and Medium enterprises predominate. That is due to the big capacity of the SMEs to adapt to the variations of the market and the geographical concentration of the industry that favours the complementary relations between the enterprises. The medium number of employees in textile enterprises is around 33 employees per enterprise, while big companies (with more than 500 employees), represent 0.5% of the total. The textile sector contributes in 6.9% above the Catalan exportation, and the main customers are the countries of the UE. 10

13 Rhône-Alpes Rhône-Alpes Region represents the highest concentration of T&A firms in France with 23,600 employees (20,000 in textile) and 1,150 enterprises. The region covers 35% of the total turnover, 30% of the enterprises and 24% of the employees in French textile industry. Rhône-Alpes is the only French region in which the whole textile chain is present, with a real industrial activity (71% of the staff is involved in production: 52% in weaving, of which the 48% is dedicated to apparel, 30% to home textile and upholstery and 22% to technical uses). Mainly composed of SMEs with a high innovation capacity (65% of French production of technical textiles), this industry exports 1.4 billions Euros of textiles. Attica and Peloponnesus The apparel industry in Greece consists of 3,549 companies with at least one employee employed according to the parameters of social security in The region of Attica brings together the largest number of business establishments with 1,849 companies, followed by Central Macedonia with 1,122 businesses and Western Macedonia with 233 companies. As shown by statistics, the region of Attica operates a significant part of the apparel business and especially most of the distribution and retail sales. Thanks to the proximity of the largest market in the country, the apparel companies in the region of Attica developed very early branded products for the local market and the export activity was lower than for those companies in the region of Thessaloniki and of Northern Greece in general, which showed strong export activity. In total the territories of TEXMEDIN partners count a number of 145,000 workers thereof more than 100,000 in the textile sector and 12,900 firms, confirming the T&A vocation of the partners areas, despite that as underlined by the over mentioned data, during the recent years, the European textile and clothing industry has undergone significant restructuring and modernisation efforts. 11

14 2.2. TEXMEDIN Shared Database of Fashion and Design Schools and Universities In order to gather information on a significant number of students, teachers and professors related directly to T&A sector, fashion and design schools and universities in the TEXMEDIN regions, (sometimes from their national territories), have been identified as potential users and beneficiaries of the services provided by the Inspiring Lab Cluster. To facilitate their involvement in the project s experimental activities - above all the TEXMEDIN Design Challenge and the testing of the Inspiring Labs services - the partners created a shared database of schools and universities in their territories. For collecting the data, the TEXMEDIN partners contacted universities, secondary schools, private and public training organisations with courses in textile and/or clothing. The following table illustrates the number of design and fashion schools, the number of students and of different courses surveyed by the project in the TEXMEDIN regions or countries. * Level I: Masters/Doctorate - Level II: Licence - Level III: Higher education - Level IV: Full Secondary Education - Level V : Short secondary Education 12

15 3. The TEXMEDIN Inspiring Labs 3.1. The Inspiring Lab Concept and Model The Inspiring Lab is a physical meeting space, where full assistance and facilities are provided to: - integrate R&D, fashion and design know-how in the productive chain: from young designers to entrepreneurs; - support the interaction between emerging designers, textile museums, training and research centres and T&A SMEs; - facilitate the creation of new enterprises in the T&A sector. Using the facilities provided by the Inspiring Lab, young designers have at their disposal a whole range of support services in the process of creating innovative and fashionable products inspired by the rich Textile and Apparel Heritage of the regions where Inspiring Labs are implemented. Moreover, the Inspiring Labs allow young designers to find useful support for creating and developing their company: information, training, accompaniment (with emphasis on commercial activities), advice on different areas of business management, fiscal obligations, etc. The services of the Inspiring Labs will be delivered either by the public personnel that is in charge of the Inspiring Lab or by external consultants and experts whenever necessary. This Inspiring Lab concept and the following services and facilities have been inspired and designed on the basis of the different, complementary experiences and needs of the TEXMEDIN partners. The offered facilities The Inspiring Labs services will support quality standards compliance, modern design methods and the use of technical and non-technical innovation to deliver high value-added T&A products inspired by T&A heritage collections. The innovative facilties provided by the Inspiring Labs to exploit the T&A knowledge-base and train young designers and entrepreneurs in using T&A heritage as a source of inspiration include: access to T&A Heritage Collections detained by TEXMEDIN partners; training courses; prototyping of ideas and project works; promotion of young designers and stylists; networking of online communities interested in T&A heritage valorisation; online collaborative work of young designers with experts and professionals for designing new products inspired by the T&A heritage collections. An important part of these facilities will make an extensive use of information and communication technologies and will be available online for all participants. By default these facilities will be provided in English. By using these facilities the Inspiring Labs will network both regionally and inter-regionally local stakeholders (fashion and design schools, enterprises, artisans, industrial and trade associations) and offer them tools for real time online collaboration. In order to use them, some facilities require the physical presence of the user in the location where they are available, and the use of the local language (e.g., while accessing real samples, or consultating documentats and magazines that have not yet been digitised, or attending face-to-face courses on 13

16 some selected themes that are not available online). Nevertheless, sometimes this second type of services may still be provided to designers located elsewhere, upon demand. The provided services The Inspiring Lab services will provide access to information, training pathways, design and prototyping tools as well as expert advice on different areas of business management, data on processes and business obligations, etc. These services will be provided either by public personnel or external consultants that are experts in the T&A sector. Foreseen services include: T&A Heritage Inspiration Facilities: information services, tools and trainings made available to valorise T&A heritage collections and making them sources of inspiration for new creations, such as: 3D Digitalisation services - Photo 360 Archive consultation services Specialized Libraries access Technical Advisory on textile items classification / documentation Face-to-face design consultancy Consulting on collecting and recovering company textile archives Counselling to textile companies to preserve and organize their archives Training Courses: training activities addressed to designers, young stylists, students companies and researchers, in order to increase their skills and know-how and to offer new creative input, including: Training Courses/Coaching on Fashion Design and Prototyping Refresher training courses on Fashion design, research & development of a collection Training courses on techniques and features of textile design history Training course on New Media and Social Networks & their effects in Fashion Collaborative Design Facilities: access, training and assistance to use the following tools: Collaborative platforms The Inspiring Labs Cluster social network Platforms to find and share know-how related to T&A sectors Prototyping Facilities: tools and services primarily devoted to support the prototyping of the project works developed by the young designers and stylists, such as: Macro pattern service (to obtain patterns of objects belonging to historical collections) 3D Coating Tool (to virtually coat objects with selected fabrics) Anthropometric data and morph types provision EHS Regulation online tool Local services for supporting the design and prototyping of the young designers ideas Prototype realisation services 14

17 Young Designers Promotion Services: information and coaching services proposed to young designers and stylists including: Actions to promote entrepreneurship among design schools' students Face to face meetings for new designers to present themselves to textile companies Support of designers throughout the process of creating a company. The potential users and beneficiaries Museums will find through the Inspiring Lab Cluster facilities new means to show more widely and to valorise better and in new ways their collections. The museums will be able to open their collections to the public thanks to 3D applications on the internet. In this way, every designer or entrepreneur will be capable to reach rare collections, books and pieces. Young designers & SMEs will find new sources of inspiration for their creations. Indeed, they will find any information they need on the internet or in libraries, about the T&A heritage of the regions involved in the project. Moreover, professionals will be at their service for more information and they will also be able to arrange an appointment in the museums with the museum curators to be sure they have all the pieces they need. Young designers & SMEs will be offered also training and advice if they need to know more about the T&A heritage and the tools offered to them through the Inspiring Lab facilities. More generally it is intended that young designers & SMEs will be offered advice on different areas of business management as well as information data on processes and contacts for the promotion of their creations. Through the available online facilities they will be able to have information and expert support as well as access informative resources located in other countries as well. Local authorities will find in the Inspiring Labs a tool for supporting the development of their T&A clusters by fostering innovation and creativity, promoting entrepreneurship and creating new activities locally. The Inspiring Labs will also provide them services and outputs to help those detaining archives collections to valorise them locally and internationally. Thanks to the Inspiring Lab experience in the Inspiring Labs Network, they will find new best practices and partners for working on cultural heritage valorisation and industrial innovation policies that work at the inter-regional, regional and local level. Local authorities are expected also to play a key role in the Inspiring Labs by: - participating in their governance to make them participate in their policies implementation, - helping to federate all the stakeholders needed for the success of the Inspiring Labs, - promoting and disseminating the services provided by the Inspiring Labs, - finding economic funding to sustain them, - providing their services, in the framework of their policies for jobs creation and the promotion of business activity (such as in the case of the services provided by the Business Incubator of the Foment of Terrassa) The TEXMEDIN Inspiring Labs Cluster Following the planning and elaboration of the theoretical model for the definition, the structure, the organization and management of the Inspiring Labs, the partners established a cluster consisting of five local inspiration laboratories located in Prato (Italy), Carpi (Italy), Terrassa (Spain), Athens (Greece) 15

18 and Lyon (France). The TEXMEDIN Inspiring Lab Cluster has been created as a trans-national cluster that combines the economic, technological and creative resources of the different partners in order to service better Local Inspiring Labs by: Sharing common resources Sharing experiences for providing better services Work in clusters of common interest Allowing young designers to link with those in other Inspiring Labs Offering a wider visibility to each individual Inspiring Lab s work The individual Inspiring Labs, on the other hand, are places bringing together technicians, stylists, designers, enterprises, fashion schools, as well as agencies for safeguarding and promoting the local textiles. To this end, they offer meeting facilities and periodically organize events to bring all these kinds of stakeholders together. In each Lab expert teachers deliver coaching and courses. As a part of the project experimental activities, local actors such as fashion and design schools, enterprises, artisans, industrial and trade associations have been involved in testing the services offered by the Inspiring Lab Cluster. In addition, the designers and stylists selected through the TEXMEDIN Design Challenge contest have had the possibility to attend a complete training and coaching course in the local Inspiring Labs and to develop their project works prototypes though the use of the available services. The services offered by TEXMEDIN Inspiring Labs Cluster are presented under the following groupings: T&A Heritage Inspiration Facilities Training Courses Collaborative Design Facilities Prototyping Facilities Young Designers Promotion Services 16

19 4. The TEXMEDIN Design Challenge: Back to Heritage Straight to Future 4.1. The Contest Call The main milestone of the Component "Inspiring Lab Cluster for Innovation" is the TEXMEDIN Design Challenge: an educational experience aimed at young fashion designers and stylists, structured as a European public contest. The contest - launched on the 15 th of June 2010 and closed on the 30 th of September was conceived as an opportunity to highlight the potential of new generations of creatives and update their skills in the research and reinterpretation - in a contemporary approach - of the textile and costumes heritage of the partner Mediterranean areas. This opportunity was open to young people between 18 and 33 years of age, residing in the EU and either attending the final year of high schools (Institutes of the Arts, Technical Institutes and Vocational Fashion Schools), or specific textile courses on vocational fashion and design, or university-level courses or even who have already joined the job market. In order to participate in the TEXMEDIN Design Challenge young creatives had to produce a new fabric, garment, accessory or other item of design as a result of a contemporary reinterpretation of the contents of the TEXMEDIN Digital Library ( The TEXMEDIN Digital Library is an online library hosting a high number of samples of textiles, clothing, accessories, etc. coming from 17

20 the archives of the project partners' museums: the Textile Museum of Prato (Italy), the Documentation Centre and the Textile Museum of Terrassa (Spain), the Peloponnesian Folklore Foundation (Greece) and Carpiformazione (Italy). All candidates had to pre-register on-line by filling in the application form available at starting from the 15 th June While applying to the TEXMEDIN Design Challenge candidates had to indicate the location of the Inspiring Lab where they would wish to attend the training and coaching activities in case they were approved. In addition to the online pre-registration form, the applicants had to deliver, among other documentation, one portfolio of the sketches of the project work together with a complete technical description and the types/colours of materials proposed for the project. The Call was accompanied by intensive communication activities carried out in all the partners territories and also at the international level in order to involve and reach the widest number of potential participants. 18

21 4.2. Applicants Selection and Results At the 30 th September deadline, the project partners had received the following registrations: The 90% of the applicants were female, they came from all over Europe - including Romania, Sweden, Netherland, Germany and Portugal and had an average age of years. The local juries - composed by fashion experts, technicians and project representatives - selected the most significant project works to be developed during the training courses. Once selected, the applicants - a maximum of 15 participants per territory - could enjoy the opportunity to attend the training program at one of the Inspiring Labs established in the five partner areas. The evaluation criteria of the project works included: Innovation in design, technology, product concept, sustainability, manufacturing process; Valorisation and appreciation of heritage as an inspiration source; Mass production feasibility and potential business interest; Valorisation potential through the Inspiring Lab facilities - in relation to the designer s profile and the nature of the product. The TEXMEDIN Steering Committee, meeting on the 14 th of October 2010, ratified the decision taken by each local Design Challenge Selection Committee and defined the list of admitted participants to each Inspiring Lab: a total of nearly 50 students. According to the decision of the project Steering Committee, the 50 selected participants have had the possibility to develop their project works with the support of experts, technicians, teachers and tutors as well as of the local textile companies. The training and coaching sessions at the Inspiring Lab Facilities took place in the five Inspiring Labs set up by the TEXMEDIN project (Italy: Prato and Carpi; Spain: Terrassa; France: Lyon, Greece: Athens). The type and number of students, the detailed activities and teaching subjects will be in-depth described in the following sections. 19

22 Figure n.1 Laura Torroba Almedina Terrassa Inspiring Lab Figure n.2 Ferran Suñer Coma & Núria Martí Casanova Terrassa Inspiring Lab 20

23 Figure n.3 Ismini Samanidou Athens Inspiring Lab Figure n.4 Konstantina Stamatopoulou Athens Inspiring Lab 21

24 Figure n.5 Valentina Matteini Prato Inspiring Lab Figure n.6 Serena Vannucchi Prato Inspiring Lab 22

25 4.3. Training and Educational Experience of Young Designers Each Inspiring Lab, while representing the needs and specificities of the territories involved, provided the selected young designers and stylists with the archives kept by the textile museums. They ensured access to documentation centres with books and fashion magazines, internet access points to connect to the TEXMEDIN Digital Library and provided support in the development and prototyping of the project works through the training and coaching activities in integration with the local textile systems. The training and coaching programme consisted of 30 hours of training and up to 60 hours of autonomous use of the Inspiring Labs facilities and personal coaching with companies. The training sessions were divided into three modules that covered general topics, specific seminars, workshops, tutoring and support by experts, meetings with companies style offices, according to the special needs of participants and T&A features of the involved territories. The selected designers worked together, exchanged ideas and suggestions and were introduced to companies that would assist them in realising the prototypes of their project works. The training activities have taken place between the 1 st of November 2010 and the 15 th of March 2010 roughly, for about 5 months of effective activities. Training sessions were held in the local language of each Inspiring Lab. The training contents of Module 1 (3 hours) and Module 2 (4 hours) were common to the 4 territories and aim respectively to present the TEXMEDIN project and to give an overview about the T&A industry in Europe. They also introduce the concept of textile heritage and present the characteristics of the heritages of the 4 territories involved in the project. On the other hand, Module 3 is specific to each partner s territory: each partner individually designed this part of the training, by inserting objectives and contents specific to its own territory, according to their training needs and the training activities included in the Facility Charter. While this module lasted about 23 hours, some training hours could be replaced with coaching activities to reach a total amount of 60 hours. While defining the trainees needs and the related contents of Module 3, each partner delivered a targeted questionnaire to its prospected students. The TEXMEDIN Design Challenge lives up to its name, encouraging participants and partners in the project to give the best of themselves. The wide range in age, background, culture, the degree of professional maturity of the young participants has meant that the management of time and resources has required a great deal of attention. We feel that the CDMT has risen to the challenge. The program has been a very positive experience and has shown that the needs of the design sector are in constant evolution as it seeks out new ways of innovating. Our training programs must be sensitive to these changing needs if we want to produce young designers able to create new products that implement a wide variety of resources. Montserrat Bargalló and Eulàlia Morral, CDMT 23

26 Prato Inspiring Lab All the participants to the Inspiring Lab in Prato are female with an average age of One student comes from Romania, two from outside the Tuscany Region, four attend the last year of a Professional High school specialized in in the textile and fashion sectors, three attend professional courses, and two have a post graduate education. The training course is held over a six months period from December 2010 to May The educational program provides a total of 60 hours divided into two separate sections: the first part dedicated to the most theoretical and general issues and the second one focused on the development of knowledge and practical tools for the prototyping and development of the students projects. During the first thirty hours, the designers receive an overview of the contemporary textile and apparel sector in Europe. This is supplemented by guidelines on the history of textiles and fashion in the last two centuries. Subsequent lessons specifically addressed more technical aspects of the textile production, covering both the production cycle and the classifications of all types of fabrics and finishing details. Lectures on the technology and categories of the textile production were held, too, in order to provide the designers with a better understanding of what could be the potential and the actual feasibility of their projects. Research on Trends and marketing mix aspects were also covered by this training section. In this way, the designers gained the knowledge of tools that could help them recognize the right elements to successfully develop and promote their creative ideas. At the end of the theoretical section, the participants have been supported by a fashion designer who, after a detailed review of their projects, encouraged the participants to make final changes on them thereby testing their knowledge so far. The second section of the training course has been characterized by practical activities aimed at the concrete development of the projects. Prototyping activities have also involved local textile companies, specialized professionals (millinery) and tailors. Participants had the occasion to visit some textile companies of the Prato district. Here they met the staff of the design offices to understand the research and development phase of the collections. At the beginning of March, armed with all the acquired tools, young designers have began to work the projects out. In this, they were supported by textile companies that provided the textiles for prototyping as well as by printing companies that made available particular types of printing and finishing processes on the textiles. Supported by tailors and milliners participants have realized 8 complete outfits and 2 new textiles - ready to be presented to the official Jury session organized by the TEXMEDIN project in May. The training foresaw the involvement of different companies from the Prato textile district and Tuscany in order to: support young designers in the realisation of their prototypes and organize some meetings with entrepreneurs, technicians and designers to develop and extend the knowledge and the professional skills of the young designers. The aim was to help each participant develop at least one complete prototype of clothing or fabric so as to display it at the final exhibition of the project. Definitely the production of a complete outfit requests the execution of many tests and the realisation of samples. It requires a lot of time together with experts and companies that help making adjustments and making the project more and more feasible. The general aim of the TEXMEDIN training is to follow and support the growth of the participant designers together with their own project works. The final goal is to have a high level of the final products (textiles and clothing) that can promote the capability of the designers 24

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28 to be inspired from heritage and stimulate their creativity to give new and original characters to their products. While trying to reach this results, the involvement of companies resulted to be a key feature of the training courses. First of all the visits to textile, clothing and accessories companies showed to the participants the real needs of the fashion market, secondarily it was a very important chance to present project works to professionals and get their advices. During the realisation of the prototypes some companies were actively involved: textile companies and printing companies were employed for the production of fabric samples and for the development of patterns, while tailors were requested to realise the models together with the designers. The training was attended by 9/10ths of the designers. The Prato Inspiring Lab services include: - the organisation of a physical space for the consultation of its textile collections of sample books, of the specialized library, and of TEXMEDIN tools (like TEXMEDIN Digital Library). The Inspiring Lab is created inside the museum premises, partly inside the storage (for conservation reasons) partly in a new gallery opening during the project activities. The service is managed by the museum officers during specific timing and dates; the officers will be in charge to assist users in taking appointment, making research and using textile samples; - the organisation of a programme of conferences and workshops addressed to companies and designers with the aim to improve their professional skills. These initiatives are connected to the issues of technological innovation, creativity, use of heritage as a source of inspiration, teaching and enhancing of old and traditional techniques; - the organisation of experimental activities with textile companies. In order to test the employment of sample books and textile samples as an inspiration tool for designers, it was decided to start trials with some companies who were invited to participate to the testing. The results of the activities (samples, patterns etc.) were used to make a sort of best practices book to be used with the other users and to be disseminated among partners. The Prato Textile Museum organized an institutional meeting on 8 th March 2011 involving many archives and museums from ANAI (Association of Italian National Archives). In this framework, the results of the TEXMEDIN project has been presented to an audience of experts and professionals. The purpose is to disseminate the activities of the TEXMEDIN project in order to extend its good practices among other stakeholders. 26

29 Carpi Inspiring Lab The participants who take part to the Carpi Inspiring Lab form a mixed group of young fashion designers with an average age of 23. In particular the group consists of 3 males and 15 females; all of them hold a certificate of upper secondary education (one of them has a University degree). In addition, some participants have a qualification as Fashion designers/technicians. The expected percentage of the course has achieved the best result, realizing 100% of attendance. The training course took place over three months in a period of time from November 2010 to February The training programme included a total of 30 hours devoted mainly to the theoretical and general issues, plus another total of 30 hours of individual coaching for each candidate. The trainers/experts were selected among fashion designers, fashion coordinators, knitwear technicians, weavers, pattern makers and sewers. The main objectives of the Inspiring labs were, as requested by the TEXMEDIN project the possibility to experiment the T&A knowledge-base as a fundamental inspiration source and give the trainees the competences for seeking, reading and interpreting the information in a innovative way. The first 30 hours of face to face training, were aimed to the acquisition of knowledge for interpreting and elaborating the information related to the different fashion sources, to the improvement of skills for recognizing the different types of yarns and fabrics and their denominations. It was also aimed to provide knowledge and tools for the analysis of the consumption modifications and the consumers needs in order to organize/remake the information for the products design. Participants were therefore proposed to revisit, along the lines of European history, the development of textile and clothing, identifying the cultural, historical and technical information found in the various regions of the Old Continent. The main subjects of the training included also the structure and use of the TEXMEDIN Digital Library; the textile/clothing structure in Europe and in the project involved territories. The specificity of Carpi Inspiring Lab (Module 3) was the decision of implementing a training unit aimed to provide skills and competences related to the fashion collection design and graphics representation, through the use of the most innovative diffused graphic softwares, stimulating the acquisition of a personal style; it was also aimed to develop in the trainees the ability to organize and coordinate the stages/activities of design, pattern making/prototyping and assembling of the product taking the right decisions according to the garment technical feasibility. Finally the module was aimed to develop skills about the industrialization stage and the opportunities/constraints offered by the technologies used for the product realization in order to select them in the stages of research and development, design and industrialization of the prototype. The contents were therefore mainly related to representation and graphic elaboration techniques through the use of graphic softwares (drawing and colouring, dressing and graphic elaboration), the graphic elaboration of the materials (fabric, stitches) through the use of the scanner (scanning of images and fabrics; re-elaboration and variations), the fashion collection design and presentation with the support of devoted graphic softwares, the study of technical languages, glossaries, technical forms, the interpretation of lines and volumes. The second part of the training was divided in two main types of activities devoted entirely at individual coaching of young designers. In this regard, the first part of coaching was supported by the use of the Centre facilities with the coordination of an internal tutor and covered the following issues: - computer lab (research of drawings, stitches and objects as a source of inspiration in the TEXMEDIN Digital Library; computer graphics for the design of the garments); - sectoral library; - knitwear and sewing laboratories; 27

30 The second part, devoted to the implementation of the designed garments, covered individual coaching by trainers/technicians with an emphasis on the following subjects. - on the basis of the garments to be manufactured, choice of materials (fabrics, yarns, accessories), colours, shapes; - visits (in little groups) to some weaving mills companies for choosing the knitwear technologies, programmes; - individual meetings with the coacher (fashion coordinator) for the definition of the detailed process of realization of the garment (choice of prototyping techniques, feasibility problems and solutions, choice of alternatives, solution of problems of feasibility); - individual meetings with the weavers for the redaction of the weaving cards and presence of the trainee during the weaving stage in order to take decisions in case of possible problems; - individual meeting with the pattern maker for the preparation of the prototype model; - individual meeting with the person in change of sewing and finishing the garments for the wearibility tests and the correction of the defeats. All the individual meetings were kept by the coacher charged of the general coordination of the projects. The final result will be the design/prototyping/production of a knitwear garment of each candidate; the choice to produce knitwear garments is due to the fact that Carpi district is highly specialized in knitwear; what s more it was particularly interesting and suitable to involve future professionals in such a complex process, supporting them in the actions to be undertaken by a fashion designer in order to implement a knitwear product, starting from a thread and passing through the research and development actions, the process of designing, sampling, prototyping, involving them in the assumption of decisions and solutions with regards to the potential feasibility problems. A real experimentation of Inspiring Lab services with other type of users like schools and universities has not been activated yet. Nevertheless the structure of the Inspiring lab will be proposed and repeated after the first experimentation done by Carpiformazione, as it turned out as an effective way to train people simulating a real work situation. In September 2011, during a public event, the prototypes made by the participants will be presented to a selected number of local companies and to an audience of experts and professionals in order to promote the young designers and disseminate the project results as a suitable way of training people and updating their competences. During the coaching activity, at present still in progress, the trainees are spending part of the time in the companies in which it is proceeding the product implementation, the assistance to the weavers, the pattern makers and the sewers in order to exchange information, giving directions and solving possible feasibility problems. The companies involved in the coaching are: - 3 weaving mills companies located in Carpi: DAVIDTEX, SAVITEX and FLORIDA/STAFF JERSEY; - IBIS, a service office, specialized in the research & development of knitwear samples and collection and in the study/implementation of the machine programmes; - JUNIOR (embroidery company, leader in the European market). The fruitful cooperation included the opportunity to visit their stitches archives in order to search and compare the objects chosen in the Digital Library with their samples and to single out the most suitable knitwear programmes for the weaving; the donation of yarns and fabrics by the companies themselves; the putting at the designers disposal a technician for the realization of the knitwear fabric; the collaboration to the solution of feasibility problems; the direct production of the requested fabric/embroidery for the designer who had asked for. 28

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32 Terrassa Inspiring Lab The Inspiring Lab of Terrassa is the result of the teamwork between Foment of Terrassa and Centre of Documentation and Textile Museum of Terrassa (CDMT), trying to find the sinergies among the knowlegdes and assets of both entities, in order to turn the Inspiring Lab of Terrassa into the best experience for the participants in the TEXMEDIN Design Challenge. Through the Inspiring Lab, young designers had the possibility of acceding to several kind of tailor-made services which have been created specially for them. The participants of the Inspiring Lab of Terrassa are 11 young designers - 3 male and 8 female - with an average age of 26. Nine of them have finished their studies of superior degree in design and fashion, whereas the rest are attending their last academic year. All the designers come from the more prestigious Fashion and Design Schools of Catalonia: Escola Superior d Art i Disseny La Llotja, Escuela Superior de Diseño y Moda Felicidad Duce, Escola de la Dona de la Diputació, Institut Català de la Moda, Elisava, Instituto Europeo di Design, IES Anna Gironella de Mundet and EA Illa, all of them from Barcelona, and ESDI (Escola Superior de Disseny) from Sabadell. Last 1 st October 2010 indicated the beginning of the Inspiring Lab of Terrassa experience, which culminated in the Texmedin Design Challenge Welcome Event for Selected Candidates, on 19 th November in the CDMT. During the institutional event, several authorities of the City Council Mr. Pere Navarro i Morera, Mayor of the City Council of Terrassa and vice-president of ACTE Spain, and Mr. Manuel Pérez Díaz, Deputy Mayor of the City Council of Terrassa, as well as Mrs. Eulàlia Morral, Managing Director of the CDMT, showed the excellent welcome that Terrassa is offering to these young designers. Likewise, during the event two entrepreneurs closely linked to the T&A sector, basically to the fashion world, and one expert in international business were invited. These people could encourage young designers, by showing that the design based on the enormous textile heritage of our territories can distinguish and help us to improve the competitiveness and innovation of our enterprises. The CDMT has given a total of 76 hours of technical assistance, that is, two hours per participant and theme. All the sessions were individual and personalized, prepared beforehand to meet the specific needs of the pupils. They were held in the morning, the afternoon and even on Saturdays. The program required careful organization, and the participation rate was 97.22%. In line with the agreement, the CDMT has placed its heritage at the disposal of the young designers, as follows: - As material heritage: bringing participants into direct contact with the historical pieces they had chosen as inspiration for their projects; - As knowledge: experts in heritage introduced them to databases, resources at other museums and references, in the various facets of production: colour, materials, fabrics, volumes/garment making. Material heritage Ten of the 11 participants were keen to consult the original items among the museum s stocks. The presence of the expert from the Centre meant that the consultation was not limited to the pieces the pupils had chosen as inspiration for their projects but also included other stylistic, technical, chronological and formal aspects. For the participants it was a discovery, as they had never had the opportunity to see and touch historical pieces of this kind. They all expressed interest in repeating the experience in the future. 30

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34 Knowledge: The Texmedin database and other on-line textile collections: five participants were accompanied by Silvia Saladrigas, documentalist at the CDMT. She reported that the pupils were initially unfamiliar with search techniques, but that the sessions were useful for preparing and defining the meetings to be held later on with other experts. The pupils rated very positively the opportunity of seeing the images and the information through the web, and they expressed their intention of continuing to use it in their future projects. On the whole, the participants were not familiar in the more historical aspects of the fabrics and apparel in general; nor did they have a clear idea of how to carry out their projects. Guidance in colours and fabrics, provided by Pere Moliné (MT Bosch), textile designer with years of experience in textile firms and in teaching, and assessor of colours and trends with Première Vision. Ten participants attended Pere Moliné s sessions, which highlighted the variety of sensitivity and tastes. Some of the pupils already had very clear ideas about their projects (and were thus less receptive to suggestions for improvement or reorientation) and most of them showed good creative capacity and adaptability for overcoming technical difficulties. Regarding materials, only three participants asked for guidance. The sessions were given by Dr. Feliu Marsal, from the Technological Innovation Centre of the UPC, Terrassa. The sessions drew attention to the pupils lack of knowledge in this area, but helped them to discover new trends in the sector and also other applications and possible suppliers. The expert s recommendation was to continue the monitoring of the projects until the end of the program. Guidance in garment making: the tutor of the seven participants who applied for this course was the fashion designer Joan Llorens, a pupil of Pedro Rodriguez, creator of his own style and trademark and frequent collaborator with a variety of companies. During the meetings the expert helped the participants to transform their initial creative ideas into a functional, ergonomic and commercial product, and to overcome possible technical difficulties by introducing changes in the pattern, colours, fabrics or finishes. Foment of Terrassa on the other hand gave a total of 30 hours divided in 3 modules the opportunity of assisting to a training course with a duration of 30h divided in 3 modules. The first one, T&A sector in Europe and the second one, European Textile heritage, were common to all the partners territories. The third module, "Techniques of communication and e-commerce on fashion" was designed according to the study made by Foment of Terrassa about curricula courses of the best Fashion and Design Schools in Catalonia as well as needs expressed by the designers. It has provided the young designers with different tools that will help them to start an entrepreneurial fashion&design project through the on-line channel. The e-commerce allows them to introduce in the fashion&design business, but without having to assume the financial and management barriers that can suppose the sale of their collections by the traditional channels. One of the objectives of the Inspiring Lab of Terrassa is to give the participants the possibility to convert their project works into prototypes (fabrics, apparel, complements, etc.) that will have the option of competing in the second phase of the Texmedin Design Challenge. Through the Inspiring Lab of our city we provided the young designers with the assessment of different experts in different areas of the creation and productive process, also the access to some technological and educational centres, that are point of reference in Catalonia. To be more concrete, we have count on the CRTTT (Centre of Research and Transfer of Textile Technology of Canet de Mar), the CTF (Centre of Technological Innovation of the Catalonian Polytechnic University), and IES Anna Gironella de Mundet (educational centre with a high specialisation in pattern making and dressmaking). In this stage we have verified the high autonomy level of the designers in the process of producing their prototypes. That is because 32

35 most of them are creating their own collections, so they are used to the production of the prototypes, they have their own means. On the other hand, we have also provided them with some contacts of several fabric industries in order to obtain the raw materials. Furthermore with the aim to give some personalised and suitable services to the young designers, individualised tutorship were carried out with each participant. The objective of the sessions was to define the personal and professional profile of each designer, their weak and strong points, their approach about their professional plans, entrepreneurial skills and abilities, etc. On the basis of all the information requested, several activities during February and March 2011 have been planned. The main objectives of these sessions were to foster the entrepreneurship among young designers, in order to promote the talent, the creativity and the innovation, and to facilitate the creation of new economic activity related to the T&A sector of our territory. Likewise, the designers who are interested in developing a specific business project will have at their disposal a whole range of support services, through the specialised technical staff of Foment of Terrassa. During the period from October 2010 to March 2011, the Business Service of Foment of Terrassa has been at the TEXMEDIN designers disposal. These services will remain at the young designers disposal after the end of the training experience, included the activities developed by the Municipal Agency for Economical and Social Development of the City Council of Terrassa. Foment of Terrassa will go on working to increase individual capacities on company self-creation, through the technical support for creation and consolidation of small companies. The end of Inspiring Lab of Terrassa experience was on 25 th March. This day a Networking Meeting between designers and companies were celebrated, in the Masia Freixa - singular representation of the textile heritage in Terrassa. The main objective of this Face to Face Meeting was to offer to the participants the opportunity of meeting some people and/or companies linked to the T&A sector. During the months that Inspiring Lab of Terrassa has been working, Foment of Terrassa has considered the need of increasing the contact network of the participants. For this reason Foment of Terrassa has organised the Face to Face Meeting to support them in this aspect. During the meeting, apart from having two initial speeches, young designers were able to interview, individually or collectively, the speakers. It represented an important impulse for their careers. 33

36 Athens Inspiring Lab Initially, 20 Greek designers registered for the Inspiring Lab Design Challenge, of which 2 males and 18 females. From those, 13 were chosen to participate in the training course (2 males and 11 females) and they attended the theoretical training by an amount of 33 hours. The medium age of these designers is 24.5 years old. Six designers are still studying: four of those attending in technical universities and two in private organisations. Seven designers, instead, have a post graduate education: two studied at technical universities, four attended private vocational training institutes and one studied at an EU University. 100% of selected designers attended the theoretical part of the training. The theoretical training was organised at HCIA s premises in Athens. The course was held from 1 th December 2010 to 5 th December This first phase of the course covered among other the following topics: Introduction to the clothing sector, Fashion - Clothing - Society, Fashion trends, Fashion Information Sources, Clothing and Tradition, Protection of Industrial Design, Prototyping techniques - CAD, Fashion Marketing and consumer behaviour, Garment costing and New Technologies in fashion and Social Media. The practical training was initiated with a field trip to the Peloponnesian Folklore Foundation on Monday 6 th December 2010, where 10 designers attended the presentations given by Mrs. Papantoniou, PFF s president, and her colleagues. Furthermore, the practical training is organised in cooperation with ELKEDE centre of technology and design. ELKEDE provides services in the sectors of shoemaking, leather, textile, apparel, timber - furniture and plastics. ELKEDE s specialised personnel in Athens and Thessaloniki are working, under the guidance of Mr. Tripolitsiotis (the training manager), with the designers in order to develop the final patterns to be produced as prototypes. Moreover, ELKEDE has the necessary equipment (CAD systems) for the development of patterns. The practical course will be completed following the development of actual prototypes (selection and purchasing of materials, sewing and finishing of final products). Overall, the practical training is expected to last 56 hours. HCIA cooperates with ELKEDE for the production of patterns, and the prototypes will be developed by selected production laboratory (SME). In the framework of Athens Fashion Week (15 th -19 th October 2010, Technopolis, Gazi) a specialised section was organized for the promotion of the work of new fashion designers and fashion schools. The schools, which participated in the Tribute to the Greek Fashion Education were IEK AKMI, IEK VOLOY, SITAM AB, INTERGRAPHICS and PANSIK. During the event, which took place on Sunday 19/10 at 16:00 and was attended by approximately 350 students, new designers, fashion professors and journalists, Mr. Karabinis, HCIA s director, made a presentation of the TEXMEDIN project. The presentation was focused on the project s objectives, the services offered by the Greek Inspiring Lab, the TEXMEDIN Design Challenge and the training course to be offered by the Inspiring Lab in Greece. The public s response was very positive and a large number of individuals and school representatives expressed their interest in monitoring the Inspiring Lab s work. The presentation was also attended by fashion journalists who were given a related press release from HCIA. Moreover, the prototypes, which have been developed, were be presented (in an exhibition and in a fashion show) during the Athens Fashion Week to be held in March Finally, HCIA, based on the experience of the TEXMEDIN project and the Inspiring Lab, is currently examining the possibility of establishing an annual design challenge competition for design school graduates, in cooperation with other fashion organisations in Greece and the Greek fashion industries. This competition will be organised in Athens and Thessaloniki. The results of the TEXMEDIN Design Challenge have been presented during the Athens Fashion Week in March In particular, an exhibition of the prototypes was organised, open to the general public, as well as, a press conference with the TEXMEDIN designers. In addition, all information related to the 34

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38 designers (cvs, photos, designs, etc.) were uploaded to the sectoral portal and were published in the greekfashion magazine for further promoting their work and the services of the Inspiring Lab. Moreover, HCIA is examining the possibility of issuing a specialised publication with all information about the Inspiring Lab, its perspectives, and the work that has been completed during the TEXMEDIN project. Finally, a presentation of the Inspiring Lab and its results will be organised for the industry (clothing producers, retailers, fashion designers, and textile companies). 36

39 Lyon Inspiring Lab The Inspiring Lab of Lyon is the outcome of a strong partnership between many actors coordinated by the French Institute Textile Clothing (IFTH). Local stakeholders such as fashion and design schools, enterprises, artisans, industrial and trade associations are involved to test, manage and use the services offered by the Inspiring Labs. The aim was to draw inspiration from the Digital Library developed by Intergrated Knowledge-base component to design and implement innovative products. Young designers and stylists have been solicited to participate in this TEXMEDIN Challenge and get finally involved after a specific contest organised in collaboration with Villages des Créateurs, end October, beginning of November, after a first contest organised with TEXMEDIN partners has not provided the expected applications. Five creators have been selected (12 registered) to participate to this second contest, three females and two males. Each of them drives directly, through our collaborative platform, the making of the prototype and pilot the SMEs in charge of the manufacturing. Each manufacturer spends more than two days to each prototype and works with elements (fabrics design, pattern, etc.) build through the solutions used in the Inspiring Lab. After a round of interviews with all selected designers, a start-up training, attended by all the creators and twenty students, from two major T&A universities, CREATECH and Université Lyon 2, has been organised. Createch is a school created by professions and supported by professional associations (higher vocational training certificate, professional degree). L université de la mode has been created in 1988, the University of the Fashion proposes, within the University Light Lyon 2, professionalqualification unique in France in the domains of the Fashion and the Creation (Master degree level). Through this mix of audience the TEXMEDIN s heritage process and tools have been presented and promoted to a larger audience and participated in improving interaction between designers, research centres and SMEs in the T&A sector. Three major services have been worked in the TEXMEDIN Inspiring Lab of Lyon. Each of them is dedicated to the T&A sector and to the local heritage: - The Collaborative platform - The 2D Design - The 3D Design tools Each thematic has been declined in a training offer, aiming at helping the young designers to produce prototypes of the creations they proposed. Additionally coaching by IFTH, Museum of Lyon and SMEs in the T&A sector, has been offered to them. At least four finalised prototypes are expected out of this process. The Collaborative platform of TEXMEDIN Inspiring Labs has been developed inside the TEXMEDIN project. Through hands-on on this platform the young creators were invited to take part in a PLM approach, to understand the concept of this type of solutions and to experiment it. The platform used is available on The platform is under high protection and rights are specific to each user (creators, partners, jury, etc.). The design is specific to the TEXMEDIN project. All the products information from each creator are stored and accessible, actualised in real time. A designer network has been created where it s possible to find all the information about designers and social network. The platform is the place to make exchanges between designer and prototype supplier (tasks, dates, forum, mail etc.). A Jury space has also been created and will allow to the jury to access to the products information, to give a note under 4 criteria and to exchange between members. Training and training support around the how to use of this platform has been provided. The goal of this training was to give to the creators all the necessary information to use the platform alone and 37

40 to take advantage of it. Additionally, we have constructed and offered them an online conference around the Global approach of the PLM, as the PLM is at the heart of the industrial activity. The Product Lifecycle Management concerns indeed all the activities of definition, manufacturing, maintenance and recycling of the industrial product throughout its life cycle (from the preliminary studies until the end of life). For companies engaged in a globalized economic competition, the adoption of the PLM is a strategic choice. The goal of this training/conference was to give to the users an overview about PLM impact, especially in the T&H sector. It s animated by Florence Hautdidier, Project Manager from ENE (Espace Numérique Entreprise has been created in 2003 and is dedicated to promote ICT in companies). The duration of this training/conference was half a day. Regarding the Inspiring Lab services related to the 2D design tools, our intention was not to specialize creators on a specific tool but to invite them to discover advantages from each, to understand different type of tools, to touch the different concepts and, most important, to improve their own creation by mixing heritage and high technologies. This part has been divided in 3 modules: A core module, a module dedicated to the Bitmap tools and another one on the Vector Tools. The core module is totally dedicated to the major concept from Design tools and T&A attempts. The goal was to give an overview of major concepts concerning Design Tools and to confront it to the textile sector limitations and constraints. The T&A sector needs to follow some specific requirements. It s important to measure and to match them with the design tools concepts. The training relating to this part has treated of the concepts from design tools (historical view, open source vs proprietary software, bitmap vs vector, quality, colours, size etc.) and the concepts from T&A design (number of colours, design pattern, seamless, displacement of pattern area, knitting, from stitch to pixel, texture, count, weaving, leather etc.). Concerning the Bitmap tools module, the goal was to create, from TEXMEDIN Digital Library, some new fabrics through powerful generic design tools. We offer to work specifically on the patterns, declinations, textures and colours approaches. Concerning the vector tools module, the goal was to create sketching, collection plans, storyboards and product briefs. The training was prepared and organized by IFTH. Involved trainers include: José Louis Lopez, Specialist of color management, coming from Ligne graphique (local artist network /gallery) and Pascale Le Cacheux, coming from Musée des tissus de Lyon. Duration of this course was of 30 hours. The Inspiring Lab services related to the 3D design tools were intriduced to creators to experiment and to improve their skill level on this type of solution. It s possible to enter in 3D solutions through two different ways: a technical approach, with pattern tools, or a design approach, through a modeling tool. This part has been divided in 3 modules: A core module, a module dedicated to the Pattern tools and another one on the Modeling Tools. The core module is totally dedicated to paint an overview from the two major concepts from 3D Design Tools. The content of the training was dedicated to the different 3d approaches, benchmark 3d solutions and What can and can t you expect from 3D?. The goal of the pattern tools module is to give knowledge about the use of 3DS Max/Maya/Optitex in a fashion environment and invite the students to grow interest about this type of solution. The training was dedicated to show how to take advantage of reactor's physics simulations to make cloth. Reactor can calculate how cloth moves and bends, allowing us to easily create realistic cloth. These tools are very complex to use. At the end of the training, the creators won t have enough practising to use it by themselves. The goal of the modelling tools module is to create 3D realistic clothing products by using a new powerful tool dedicated to the digital artistes. The training was dedicated to the manipulation. With this type of tools, we are very close to the sculpture. We draw the cloth directly on the body by digital sculting. There isn t a technical approach, what you see is what you get. The training of the 3D design tools was prepared and organised by IFTH. Duration of this course was 21 hours. 38

41 4.4. TEXMEDIN Design Challenge and Inspiring Lab Participants: Their Live Experience Moisés Castañeyra Torrecillas Terrassa Inspiring Lab participant 1. Why did you participate to the Challenge? When I finished my studies, I wanted to go on with my professional training, and TEXMEDIN has offered me the opportunity of widening the knowledge acquired in the Fashion School. It was interesting, too, the fact of coming from the past to go to the future, and the idea of recovering the fashion and tradition of Catalonia. TEXMEDIN is really more than a challenge, it is an experience that will give me more knowledge. I think that TEXMEDIN is a necessary step for any designer who is faced with making a creative business. 2. Did you take part in competitions for young creative people before? I have participated in: - Creamoda (Bilbao) - I Love Fitting Room (Madrid). They have been good experiences. 3. Do you believe that this kind of competitions are useful tools to deepen knowledge and skills? The participation in the fashion competitions is useful, apart from the economical prize if you win it, because they are an opportunity to evaluate yourself. If you win, it is supposed that you are working in the right way, and if your work is appreciated or not. You must take into account the participation in the contests. 4. What, if any, the differences with your past experiences? TEXMEDIN is more than a contest. The contribution of the other kind of competitions is more punctual, and if you win them it is well valued in your CV. The big difference between TEXMEDIN and the rest of the experiences is the training provided, that has helped me to make progress and has given me new knowledge and skills, that I think they are very necessary for a designer. The professional training and the personalised assessment and support has made me change my view of the fashion sector (much more realistic), as well as my professional future. I am in this moment in the middle of the process of creating my own brand and business, and TEXMEDIN is offering me very useful tools to help me in this way. I evaluate in a very positive way the training, the experts, the availability and facilities for everything, and the material provided. 5. Do you think the format of the training course is a useful tool for creative young people? Yes. I think that it has been perfectly graduated for and easy comprehension. Maybe, some of the parts of the training and the coaching should be more extensive. 6. What did your Inspiring Lab offered you as interesting experience? The training modules, the museum visits, the conversations with professionals of the industry. Really, I think that TEXMEDIN has became, for me, a necessary step between the fashion school and my future as a professional designer. 39

42 Natalia de Orlandis-Habsburgo Terrassa Inspiring Lab participant 1. Why did you participate to the Challenge? As a designer I thought I should increase my professional training. When I knew about TEXMEDIN Design Challenge, a Contest for young designers which offered the training as a prize I found it was very interesting to take part in it. It was interesting, too, the fact of being an international competition. 2. Did you take part in competitions for young creative people before? Yes. I ve participated in: - MODAFAD (with my studies project) - MERCAFAD (twice) - Paper dress competition from Mollerusa 3. Do you believe that this kind of competitions are useful tools to deepen knowledge and skills? We can stay, in general, that the Fashion Contests are a good opportunity for young designers. They are a competition where you must compete with very good professionals, so, you must prepare and put at the same level that the rest of competitors. So they are a challenge for yourself. 4. What, if any, the differences with your past experiences? In general, the rest of Fashion Contests that exist offer you a punctual opportunity to promote yourself, they give you some publicity. Besides, all the process of elaboration of the prototype you must do it yourself. However, TEXMEDIN offers you all the support that you need in different aspects: - prototyping: the opportunity to have the assessment of experts in textile and fashion helps you to transform the initial idea into a feasible and industrialised product. You know if you are in the right way. - Training & coaching: the training course and all the coaching offered has allowed me to approach to the reality. When you finish the Fashion&Design School you have very well achieved the creative part of the fashion business, but you have a lack of knowledge about the management, financing, etc Texmedin has offered me this training and coaching, that have provided me with these skills, all of them very necessary if I want to create my own brand. They have been very useful. The best of the TEXMEDIN experience: - It is not a punctual event, but is a period of support and assessment; - The training courses and the coaching received by experts on different parts of the sector; - They are the only people who offered us a formation and tools to deepen knowledge and skills. They are very competent and try always to get better, their aptitude is perfect and very organized. 5. Do you think the format of the training course is a useful tool for creative young people? Module 1: This first module was as a touchdown in the project, starting with very good professionals in a individual experience studying our projects, trying to understand how to get it better. Normally we haven t got the opportunity to speak with someone like them about our projects and how to industrialise them. Module 2: We learnt a lot how to communicate to the world that we exist, and our clothes exist too. How to sell what we do is so important for us as to make clothes and don t stop. It has given us much ideas for to created an online platform cheap and profitable. Module 3: I think it s very important to learn how to start, business, finances, production and contacts. Really basic for a professional. 6. What did your Inspiring Lab offered you as interesting experience? TEXMEDIN has opened my mind. I am more motivated, as I am convinced that it is possible to 40

43 make a lot of interesting things. Nowadays I am less frightened to come onto the market because I feel I am not alone. In my opinion the most interesting thing it has been to have the opportunity of participating in this creative young people project. It has opened my mind to understand how I have to work and manage in the fashion world. I m very grateful for that. I am a different person from who I was before participating in the TEXMEDIN experience. Kirsa Ferreiro Dominguez Terrassa Inspiring Lab participant 1. Why did you participate to the Challenge? I said to myself that I will participate in desing competitions as a part of my last academic year and as a personal challenge. And TEXMEDIN Design Challenge was the first one that my teacher told me about. 2. Did you take part in competitions for young creative people before? No. It was my first time, but not the last! 3. Do you believe that this kind of competitions are useful tools to deepen knowledge and skills? I m absolutely convinced, al least, for me. It s a way to prove yourself what are you capable to do and learn more about the career and your skills. 4. What, if any, the differences with your past experiences? I don t have any past experiences, but for being my first one, it will be such a reference for me. 5. Do you think the format of the training course is a useful tool for creative young people? All the modules are absolutely useful in a professional and personal way. 6. What did your Inspiring Lab offered you as interesting experience? They give us new knowledge, tools, new and useful points of view of our career and a lot of courage for the future... 41

44 Beatriz Lozano Bárez Terrassa Inspiring Lab participant 1. Why did you participate to the Challenge? Because I thought that it was a very interesting proposal based on the realisation of a fashion project inspired in the European textile heritage, and its contemporary re-interpretation. On the other hand, it has been very important and useful the support during all the process, and the training offered. 2. Did you take part in competitions for young creative people before? Yes, I have participated and I have been awarded in the following fashion contests: - Diseños no aburridos (Murcia - Spain) (twice) - Jóvenes creadores de Castilla-León - Valencia Crea 3. Do you believe that this kind of competitions are useful tools to deepen knowledge and skills? Yes. The participation in the contests is a way to evaluate yourself, to develop new projects, and to know different people. They are very useful. 4. What, if any, the differences with your past experiences? Usually the rest of the contests offer you some economical prize, but in the TEXMEDIN they provide you with a personalised assessment in lot of aspects, in order to develop your design and professional project, that it is not normally offered by other competitions. In my opinion, TEXMEDIN is a more valuable experience, because the training and coaching offered are very necessaries in order to carry out an entrepreneurial project, and it is very difficult to obtain this knowledge in the school. I think it will be very useful for my professional future. 5. Do you think the format of the training course is a useful tool for creative young people? I think that modules 1, 2 and 3 have been very interesting. The contents of the modules have provided me new knowledge and new perspectives that are very important and useful. They have let me deeply know the European textile heritage, how to use internet as a tool to show my work through the social networks, videomarketing, how can you sell my products by internet, the creation of my business plan, etc 6. What did your Inspiring Lab offered you as interesting experience? The TEXMEDIN experience has offered me the opportunity of learning, and going on with my professional training. I have changed my point of view of some aspects of the fashion industry, I have met a lot of interesting people with whom I have could exchange information, I have been able to develop and materialise my project, etc 42

45 Valentina Matteini Prato Inspiring Lab participant 1. Why did you participate to the Challenge? Because I think that it could be an important experience to improve and an occasion to know many experts of this sector. 2. Did you take part in competitions for young creative people before? No, I didn t. 3. Do you believe that this kind of competitions are useful tools to deepen knowledge and skills? Yes, I do. I think that a competition like this could help you to feed your creativity. 4. What, if any, the differences with your past experiences? This is the first important experience of competition for me. 5. Do you think the format of the training course is a useful tool for creative young people? Yes, I think that, if you are ready to receive advices and suggestions, you can obtain an important starting point from it. 6. What did your Inspiring Lab offered you as interesting experience? It offered me an important occasion of personal growth and cultural enrichment. Cassandra Monti Prato Inspiring Lab participant 1. Why did you participate to the Challenge? Because I love Fashion and I saw in this contest the opportunity to start to realize my dream. A point of new beginning, a chance to transform PASSION in PROFESSION. 2. Did you take part in competitions for young creative people before? Yes I took part in other competitions, for young and all people, national and international contest of different type: design, graphic, fashion and literary. I have won an important literary contest promote by Glamour and Lancaster...and I went to Paris for 3 days, a wonderful experience. 3. Do you believe that this kind of competitions are useful tools to deepen knowledge and skills? Yes, this kind of competitions are very useful...but more depend by the people involved. In this case I find the experience very satisfying. 4. What, if any, the differences with your past experiences? Past experiences were only a contest, no one lab was allowed. 5. Do you think the format of the training course is a useful tool for creative young people? Yes, because you have the chance to know other people with the same interest and across a confront with them you learn and grow up. And to be in a creative contest help to develop more and more your creativity. 6. What did your Inspiring Lab offered you as interesting experience? The location, the contacts, the full immersion in textile and fashion world. 43

46 Annamaria Pisano Prato Inspiring Lab participant 1. Why did you participate to the Challenge? I have participate to the Challenge for curiosity and to have a new experience. I hope that this experience could be useful to have new job opportunities. 2. Did you take part in competitions for young creative people before? No, the Challenge is the first competition that I take part. 3. Do you believe that this kind of competitions are useful tools to deepen knowledge and skills? I think that this experience will be useful to deepen knowledge and skill. Until now lessons are most interesting so I have tried to increase my cultural background. 4. What, if any, the differences with your past experiences? I have not had experience like this. 5. Do you think the format of the training course is a useful tool for creative young people? Yes, I think it is very exciting. Teachers are all very good people. Each of them has helped to open our minds. Thanks to them we had the opportunity to realize our creativity. 6. What did your Inspiring Lab offered you as interesting experience? This Inspiring Lab offers us the opportunity to learn new tools and to deepen knowledge for the practical development of our creative idea. This bring us closer to the concrete role of a real fashion designer even if we have little experience and gives us a good input to keep on our creativity that is the heritage of each of us. Stella Salomone Prato Inspiring Lab participant 1. Why did you participate to the Challenge? I have participated to the contest with a project that mirrored my searches on the design eco friendly. I have used the contest as a test for what I believe both my road as designer. 2. Did you take part in competitions for young creative people before? I had never participated to a contest before the TEXMEDIN Design Challenge. 3. Do you believe that this kind of competitions are useful tools to deepen knowledge and skills? I believe that this type of course can serve a lot on the practical field and above all on the promotional field of the activity of the designer. It is never stopped learning, but many gods I raced theoretical I had already frequented them during my studies. Then for me the important part is that of the realization of the prototype and that of the promotion of my product. 4. What, if any, the differences with your past experiences? I have not had experiences passed in similar contests. 5. Do you think the format of the training course is a useful tool for creative young people? Is useful for the promotion. For the opportunity that the designer can have to introduce own activity. 6. What did your Inspiring Lab offered you as interesting experience? Certainly I am satisfied of Prato's Inspiring Lab. It's an interesting experience. 44

47 Tatiana Sirochinsky Terrassa Inspiring Lab participant 1. Why did you participate to the Challenge? I participated in the challenge because I found very interesting the idea of strengthening the current fashion design with the tradition of European textile production. This philosophy is closely related to my idea of professional development and I considerer the challenge as an excellent opportunity to increase my knowledge. 2. Did you take part in competitions for young creative people before? Yes I have participated in competitions before: - Twice selected to display designs in the context of the Bread & butter Barcelona and Modafad. - Jury Prize Winner Concurs Nous Dissenyadors Pedralbes Centre 3. Do you believe that this kind of competitions are useful tools to deepen knowledge and skills? I think certainly this is a useful opportunity. Especially because the training is well targeted and practical. 4. What, if any, the differences with your past experiences? The main difference I noticed is that in this case, the TEXMEDIN accompanies the contestants in their project s development process and seeks a future continuity with their professional development. 5. Do you think the format of the training course is a useful tool for creative young people? Module 1: Yes. Personal tutorials have been very interesting and enriching. - Module 2: Yes. Excellent content and highly qualified professionals. 6. What did your Inspiring Lab offered you as interesting experience? First of all, the whole team of Inspiring Lab of Terrassa has made me feel very comfortable, with excellent personalized attention. In all instances, highly skilled professionals, have made this experience interesting, useful and productive. 45