Fashion Deserves The World

Camera Nazionale della Moda Italiana confirms its leading role in the promotion of an inclusive evolution of the international fashion system.

During the World Refugee Day, on June 20, 2021, CNMI announces the launch of a pioneering project that is part of the prestigious schedule of events of the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), the global organization dedicated to saving lives and protecting the rights of refugees, forcibly displaced communities and stateless people. CNMI and Mygrants, an innovative startup and B Corp established and led by Christian Richmond Nzi, offering refugees and migrants a wide range of micro-learning programs in three languages aimed at updating and strengthening their skills in order to facilitate their placement, present the “Fashion Deserves the World” program.

Through this project, CNMI and Mygrants will guarantee 15 young refugees and migrants, that are keen to work in the fashion and textile sector, the chance to have access to a series of free educational services covering different aspects of the industry.

“Fashion Deserves the World” aims to facilitate the integration within creative and industrial companies of new international talents, that can bring their own peculiar contribution to the progress of the fashion industry. The project addresses migrants and refugees that have a good knowledge of the Italian language and are keen to work in this sector.

The applications, which have to be submitted by 30/09/21 (to apply click https://mygrants.it/fashion-deserves-the-world), will be screened by Mygrants and then they will be submitted to CNMI. Once selected the 15 finalists, CNMI will kick off a series of digital training sessions, scheduled between the end of December 2021 and the beginning of January 2022, where participants will have the chance, through the contribution of a range of experts, to explore different topics, spanning from materials and manufacturing techniques to distribution, communication and sustainability.

 At the end of the training process, CNMI and Mygrants will support the 15 participants in the placement process, putting them in touch with a range of Italian companies that, according to their needs and the profiles of the candidates, will offer them internships or will hire them. Thanks to its significant social commitment value, the project received the patronage of the dell’Ethical Fashion Initiative, United Nations’ initiative focused on ethical fashion (part of the ONU agency and OMC International Trade Centre) that also currently leads the UN Alliance for Sustainable Fashion. With this project, CNMI doesn’t only try to meet the sector’s need to integrate inclusive policies within its business model, but also takes a stand to act as a driver to promote a highly necessary change in the industry.

“Fashion Deserves the World” is part of the program kicked off in 2018 by CNMI aimed at promoting inclusivity and exalting diversity within the fashion sector. In 2019, CNMI, through the contribution of the “HR & Education” working group that includes all the most important players of the Italian fashion industry, presented the CNMI Inclusion and Diversity Manifesto, highlighting the way to inaugurate a transformation of the companies’ strategies to make them inclusive, taking in consideration the concepts of ethnicity, age, intellectual and physical skills, as socio-economic conditions. CNMI later organized several webinars aimed at raising awareness within its associated companies.

“We are proud to present this new project, marking an important step in the evolution process to make our fashion system more and more inclusive,” states Camera Nazionale della Moda Italiana Chairman Carlo Capasa. “Following the release of our Manifesto in 2019, we started to take action with several initiatives, including Fashion Deserves the World. I want to thank Chris and the Mygrants team for their precious collaboration to develop this amazing program.”

Christian Richmond Nzi, Founder & CEO di Mygrants says: “If we had launched Fashion Deserves the World to years ago, today Mohamed, one of the talents of the Mygrants Community, would have been a tailor in one of the biggest brands of the Italian fashion industry. Mygrants, CNMI and its associated companies, we all have a huge responsibility. I think that the Fashion Deserves the World can really make the difference for those young, talented migrants that are trying to find their space in the Italian fashion industry. I want to thank Carlo Capasa for its foresight and the CNMI team for its perseverance. Together, we will continue to do crazy things, making them the new normality.”

“We want to express our appreciation for this important initiative that promotes the placement of refugees, highlighting their talent,” comments Laura Lucci, head of UNHCR Italy’s Private Sector Partnerships. “In occasion of the World Refugee Day on June 20, we launched the “Together we can do anything” campaign to stress the fact that refugees bring with them a set of skills that can enrich the communities hosting them, becoming precious resources for the societies welcoming them.” More info about the 2021 World Refugee Day is available at: https://www.unhcr.org/ it/giornata-mondiale-del-rifugiato/

“We believe that the current global society’s challenges, linked to inequalities and new forms of local conflicts, can be faced also through a courageous social commitment focused on the inclusion of refugees and migrants. Programs like the one promoted by Camera della Moda have to be applauded with enthusiasm since they have a positive impact on society,” says Simone Cipriani, Chairperson UN Alliance for Sustainable Fashion, Founder and Head Ethical Fashion Initiative.