First meeting of FASCINATE - Sustainable Fashion Alliance for International Markets

On 21 & 22 September 2020 took place the First Steering Committee of FASCINATE - Sustainable Fashion Alliance for International Markets in the framework of the Clusters Going International (ESCP-4i) Programme. The partners met online to discuss the future initiatives, which they will organize in the next 18 months.

David Garcia, General Manager at MODACC, welcomed all participants and introduced MODACC’s team. David stressed the importance of the 3 main pillars of the FASCINATE project:

1) cooperation between fashion clusters in Europe;
2) sustainability and circularity, a field in which Europe can become one of the world’s leaders;
3) internationalization of the new sustainable European fashion industry to capture all the opportunities for our companies.

Then all partners presented their organizations. Partners of the project are Modacc - Spain, Cluster Digital - Spain, CITEVE - Portugal, Bulgarian Fashion Association - Bulgaria and Lifestyle & Design Cluster - Denmark.

The objectives of the ESCP-4i programme are to intensify cluster and business network collaboration across European countries and also across sectorial boundaries and to support the establishment of European Strategic Cluster Partnerships to lead international cluster cooperation in fields of strategic interest towards third countries beyond Europe and notably in support of the development of emerging industries. European Strategic Cluster Partnerships-Going International (ESCP-4i) will help European SMEs access new global value chains and take a leading position globally.

The SUSTAINABLE FASHION ALLIANCE FOR INTERNATIONAL MARKETS (FASCINATE) project ́s aim is to support the internationalization of EU textile and fashion SME clusters that are working towards the development of circularity and sustainability in these industries. Besides the textile and fashion industry, this partnership will also seek a cross-sectoral collaboration with the technology and footwear sectors.

The project aims to build a European clusters & companies network collaboration (the ESCP-4i), related to the development of circularity & sustainability, in the fashion, textile and footwear industries. It will promote new European value chains incorporating cross sectoral cooperation between fashion/textile, footwear & technology, by means of cooperation, exchange of knowledge & good practices among the members of the project consortium. As a result the partners will create a joint internationalization strategy for sustainable fashion brands and companies in Europe, geared towards markets outside of the EU interested in sustainable fashion products (to consolidate shared objectives and define a relevant action plan for the participating clusters and the companies they represented).

This article is part of the project Sustainable Fashion Alliance for International Markets The European Strategic Cluster Partnership which has received funding from the European Union’s COSME Programme (2014-2020).

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