Culture and Sustainability: An Interplay on the New Made in Italy Landscape

The current global interest and urge to propose alternatives to the predominant super-polluting and non-ethical fashion system require major attention to the unconventional fashion production models. Sustainable start-ups are often analysed as both circular systems and devices to re-activate local crafts, pointing toward not only the environmentally-friendly practices but also underlying the need to take better care of people, both as workers and consumers. However, little to no research is dedicated to the assessment of the holistic approach to sustainability of these born-responsible fashion entities. The analysis adopts the Earth Logic Fashion Action Research Plan (2019) framework by Kate Fletcher and Mathilda Tham and critically examines 60 born-sustainable brands in the Italian context. Through the analysis, it will be presented and discussed that born-sustainable does not imply a holistic approach, nor does it guarantee attention to the often-wrongly-separated environmental, social and cultural aspects of the sustainable agency.