Circular Fashion Summit by lablaco has launched the CFS academia program to join the fashion industry’s first virtual reality summit in December, partnering with The Digital Fashion Group, IFA and Istituto Marangoni. 

The program, which will take place in the 12-months after the summit, will allow students from all over the world to join the global collective actions of the summit set out to accelerate industry innovation. Students will also be able to network with industry professionals in the fashion metaverse platform, SPIN (lablaco’s circular fashion metaverse),  to exchange ideas and learn more about the skills they will need to develop for the upcoming future, the fashion for web 3.0.

The initiative is tailored to the post-pandemic landscape, where knowledge in sustainability and sustainable development is more crucial than ever. With the recent UN report issuing a “code red” for human-driven global heating, Circular Fashion Summit by lablaco is working to create a widespread shift towards circularity in the fashion industry. 

Circular Fashion Summit’s academic program has three pillars for innovation—new business models, supply chain innovation, and design and retail. Students and faculty members that take part in the program will build common knowledge about circular fashion, digitize and sell their graduate collections through SPIN, and discuss fashion’s sustainable future, in four quarterly workshops.


Continuing the efforts to foster the education of fashion digitization for the future of talents, students from the academia partners and CFS 2021 Impact Design Hub honorees will both be provided a 12 months premium subscription to lablaco's LPLUS - the circular retail system, along with CFS 2021’s Impact Design Hub partner - 3D fashion software CLO to instantly pilot and activate a digitized and connected fashion collection.

While combating fashion’s waste problem is a huge issue, Circular Fashion Summit believes that big change starts small, prioritizing scalable action. The summit itself this year will focus on SDG Goals 9, 10, and 12—reducing inequality, supporting responsible consumption and production, and upgrading infrastructure to make them more sustainable. Education for the next generation of designers will be an integral part of implementing these changes on a global scale.

The Digital Fashion Group 

The Digital Fashion Group founded in 2020, is a European-led collaboration between Fashion Academics and Industry Innovators with the aim of placing the creative centre stage in the digital dialogue. The group works closely with industry to equip fashion education, professionals and brands with the relevant skills, mindset, and strategies for tomorrow’s workplace. The Digital Fashion Group Academy specializes in developing and delivering innovative and digital content to support inclusive lifelong learning. The courses consider the entire value chain through a range of formats intended to empower fashion professionals to become change agents and embrace new technologies to enhance their creative and business practices. 

IFA 

International Fashion Academy, better known as IFA Paris, was founded in 1982 in Paris with the aim to combine French fashion heritage with the modern globalized world. Structured around three campuses in Paris, Istanbul and Shanghai, the Group offers postgraduate and undergraduate programs in Fashion Design and Fashion Business. 

Anchoring its development around sustainability and fashion tech, IFA Paris was eager to pioneer the latter and launched in 2019 “Foundry Powered by IFA Paris” in collaboration with Fashion Tech Venture Studio “Beyond Form” Simultaneously, by incorporating sustainable perspectives in its academic programs, IFA Paris has initiated the transformation of the school into a Corporate Social Responsibility certified institution.”

Istituto Marangoni

Istituto Marangoni was founded in 1935 in Milan as 'Istituto Artistico dell’Abbigliamento Marangoni’, and has been a top educational choice for creatives in the worlds of fashion, art and design for over 85 years now. With four generations of students from 5 continents, it was the springboard for over 45,000 luxury professionals, including Domenico Dolce, Alessandro Sartori, Paula Cademartori, Gilda Ambrosio, Julie de Libran and Nicola Brognano. Istituto Marangoni currently welcomes about 4,500 students from 107 different countries every year in its schools in the world capitals of fashion, art and design, including Milano (School of Fashion and School of Design), Firenze (School of Fashion & Art), Paris, London, Mumbai, Shanghai, Shenzhen and Miami.