Innovation is the keyword for textiles and fashion, long renowned as a sector of excellence on the Italian production scene. There are a number of reasons for the Italian success: expertise in the field, speed of response to market needs and, together with style and creativity, the capacity for constant innovation, not just with regard to materials but also at the level of product and process. Focusing on innovation in fabric production is very important in the current climate, and has historical roots. Mauro Chezzi, responsible for the areas of economics and industrial policy at the “Sistema Moda Italia” (Italian Fashion System) federation, explained: “Until the 1970s the market for textiles and fashion did not suffer from the problem of productive over-capacity. Then the first difficulties began in the 1980s. They took on the characteristic behaviour of economic cycles, with periods of depressed demand followed by strong, decisive recoveries”.

Up to the 1980s the designer labels had always acted as the motor for development. By contrast, from the following decade onwards, innovation assumed a huge importance. Chezzi explained: “At the beginning this was a question of innovation borrowed from analogous processes in the supply sectors (chemicals and machine textiles). In more recent years, however, innovation has begun to emerge from the direct relationship between the companies and the world of research, particularly the universities and research centres”. It is not by chance that Italy provides two degree courses in Textile Engineering: one at Turin Polytechnic in Biella and the other in Bergamo. Chezzi added: “The relationship between the world of research and the companies is often mediated by those centres of technology involved in the sector or, in their role as buyers, by the larger-sized companies, who are able to speak the same language as the researchers”.

But what type of innovation does the Italian textile industry rely on? “There is still a central aesthetic and symbolic importance ascribed to the sample-book, especially in a sector like the Italian one which leans heavily towards fashion. Nevertheless, much is also achieved at the level of product and process. One could cite, for example, the application of nanotechnology to textile making, as well as bio-technology and plasma techniques. There are also massive developments underway in the field of technical textiles (for industrial use) and intelligent fabrics, which give a variable response according to the stimulus supplied. Another area of innovation is that of fabrics for sports and extreme activities, where the performance of these textiles has improved stupendously. In this instance, it is a matter of phenomena developed for restricted use, for example for professional sportsmen, which are then introduced into the mass market”. For the world of textiles and fashion innovation is sure to be an indispensable element in the future, to ensure satisfactory performance on the export front and help maintain Italy’s essential competitiveness in a very challenging and complex global scenario. Chezzi summed up the situation: “Innovation is decisive for our sector because it enables us to tap into demand in the markets in which we operate”.