The project idea was born for a series of initiatives to enhance the textile archives, carried out in recent years by the Prato Textile Museum Foundation with the support of various European programs. The purpose has been developed by the “Associazione Città Tessili Europee” Acte (www.acte.net), of which the Municipality of Prato has been a member for many years. All the project partners, in fact, come from cities with textile vocation belonging to the association (Gironella in Spain, Boras in Sweden, Lodz in Poland and Santo Tirso in Portugal, as well as Prato in Italy), who have decided to commit the development of their collaboration also in the cultural field.

The project involves the development of two types of related activities:

1) Digitization of the textile heritage kept in the partner territories, which share a well-established pre-industrial and industrial textile tradition, as well as being equipped with museum structures dedicated to the conservation and enhancement of the heritage, expression of local products. 

In this activity, the important experience about digitization of the company textile archives acquired by the Textile Museum will be used and disseminated in the context of the ongoing European project, Creativewear (MED Program – with the leader of the Municipality of Prato and the Textile Museum partner), has developed the Heritage Manager cataloging software.

2) Experimentation of the use of textile heritage as a source of inspiration for applied creativity and creative residences.

In this activity will be organized for young people of the territories involved different opportunities to learn about the textile heritage and reinterpret it in a creative way as a source of inspiration for new designs and products (fabrics, clothing, accessories, works of art, etc.).

In addition to workshops open to the public and other initiatives, there will be a series of 15 creative residences that will allow as many young designers and artists to visit one or more partner territories and experiment with their ability to reinterpret the textile heritage. The works realized by the youngsters will be the object of final exhibition and publication at the important textile center of Lodz in Poland.

The fashion industry is characterized by a high level of creativity and innovation and a rapid change in trends. This sector is continually reinventing itself to meet the needs of consumers. Inspiration comes from culture, social changes and styles and clothing from the past. One of the main challenges for designers is to find a balance between meeting individual needs and maintaining profitability. To be interpreters of rapid changes in fashion, designers must be updated, involved in research, and know both the past and the current state of trends. Taking inspiration from these sources, stylists are able to produce more creative, original and better quality design works.

PRIORITY

• Open an innovative platform for education, training and youth work in the fashion industry
• Improve and expand the offer of high quality training for company employees and young designers
• Further strengthening of the key competences of VET curricula

The overall objective of the ART CHERIE project is to bridge the gap between the needs of the fashion industry and the lack of specific experience of young designers, using innovative approaches from the project. The objectives that we set ourselves are the following:

• Organize and digitize a selection of the historical collections kept in the Prato Textile Museum
• Sviluppare uno strumento di formazione integrato, innovativo e progettato sulle specifiche competenze degli stilisti sulla base delle informazioni citate sopra
• Create a web platform with courses for fashion designers, industry insiders and young fashion students who aim to work in the European textile-clothing sector

• Enhancement of the knowledge, skills and competences of stylists
• Involvement of the sector-fashion staff in a context of non-formal continuous learning, based on work experience and resolution of critical issues
• Definition and development of a curriculum for vocational training that can become a European standard and which includes a qualifications framework
• Creation of a digital training platform that will bring together stylists from across Europe, which will provide online training and ease the dissemination of knowledge and the sharing of experiences. Furthermore, it will serve as a means for all interested parties to share interests, suggestions and to promote job opportunities
• Improvement and expansion of high quality learning opportunities tailored to the specific needs of stylists
• Contribution to modernization and professionalism of PMI(SMEs) in the fashion industry, providing a high quality ICT tool, which can help to improve the organization of different departments