<< Background >>The whole fashion industry employs 4,7 million people, in over 797,100 companies, with a turnover of EUR 5,7 million (Source: COSME). Fashion is one of the most polluting industries on a global level. In the last 15 years, clothing production has approximately doubled. Large amounts of non-renewable resources are extracted to produce clothes that are often used for only a short period, after which the materials are largely lost in landfills or incineration (1). Several problems are identified, starting with the production of raw materials, which are sources of contamination, but also the production processes, with the use of chemicals and dyes, the transport, the use of clothes themselves, and washing, which is also source of contamination, as toxic fibres end in the seas, and finally, the end of products life. The currently existing linear system does not allow to take benefit of any type of economic advantage, it stresses the reserves of natural resources, pollutes and degrades the environment and ecosystems and promotes significant negative social impacts at the local, regional and global scale. The entire model of this industry must be transformed.The current trends toward sustainability in the textile industry consist in the gradual elimination of hazardous raw materials, the transformation of the way clothes is designed, the improvement of recycling, or the effective use of resources and the use of renewable textiles (not synthetic). However, those trends are still marginal, and considered “best practices” in a market largely dominated by the fast fashion and massive industry. Our partnership could observe among his public, made of entrepreneurs and workers from local textile small companies, the lack resources to face those challenges in an extremely competitive context. New skills are needed to follow forward and accelerate this transformation, also giving the new generation opportunities to integrate this ageing industry. More sustainable and resource-efficient business models not only helps protect the environment, but also provides competitive advantage by creating important cost savings and boosting innovation for sustainability. Indeed, while consumers are themselves asking for more environmentally friendly fashion products, the growth of online trading is changing the way businesses operate and consumers interact, generating new challenges and opportunities. Technological progress and consumer behaviour are at the heart of a profound transformation within the fashion industry, which needs to be encouraged with proper training. For SMEs from the fashion sector, this is to be translated in the following concrete needs observed: -Training to update the skills: education has an important role in the transition and response.-Business model: Entrepreneurs need to find sustainable and innovative ways of delivering and capturing value in order to meet existing challenges and emerging opportunities, with a particular focus on circular economy and digital economy.-Human resources: Attract new talents in a context of ageing workforce-Need for collaborationCovering those needs will bring small businesses of the sector major efficiency to transform management practices and their business environment, stimulating new business models and trading formats, but will also create new jobs with new skills requirements. (1) A New Textiles Economy: Redesigning fashion’s future Ellen Macarthur foundation – 2017<< Objectives >>The main objective of TECOFASH is to support a performant, competitive and sustainable European fashion industry, focusing on increasing the capacity of professionals from SMEs and start-up to turn their business toward circular business models and environmental and sustainable innovation thanks to transnational and intergenerational cooperation and training. Our training will consider the triple bottom line of Elkington theory: the economic, the social and the environmental as the three keys for sustainability. In detail, TECOFASH is presented as a proposal addressing 3 Specific Objectives (SO): Specific Objective 1: Awareness rising of experienced fashion entrepreneurs about their need for adaptation and innovation to make a transition toward new sustainable business models.Specific Objective 2: Development of new competences for youth and unemployed to apply innovation circular and digital schemes to the fashion sector.SO3: Intergenerational collaboration and peer learning among those two target groups so they can benefit from higher levels of knowledge, also contributing to attract a new generation of workforce in the sector. TECOFASH will be based on knowledge sharing and peer-learning for working fashion stakeholders’ up-skill in terms of business model innovation, circular economy, integrating channels and process innovation, cooperation and networking, digital improvement, sustainability and CSR, personal development, creativity, and entrepreneurial spirit, among others. To answer this challenge, our training proposal will focus on two pillars:-Sustainable and digital production processes, addressing the technical and operational aspects linked to the design, production, and distribution of fashion products, for instance how to reduce water consumption or taking care of the raw materials used. -Sustainable and digital management of a fashion company, that will explore how to turn the entire management system in a circular and responsible loop, including for instance cooperative management systems based on human and social responsibility.<< Implementation >>TECOFAH project brings together 7 partners from 5 countries and regions that are particularly concerned by the fashion industry: Poland, Italy, Spain, Lithuania and Greece while meeting the required skills to implement such action, with partners being business support organisation and representative of the textile, sustainable or digital fields. Together, they will address: -Experienced fashion entrepreneurs, needing to renew their skills and up-skills to develop further their SMEs toward long term sustainable practices, integrating digital, social, environmental and economic factors.-Youth, especially low-skilled youth or unemployed, providing them new knowledge, skills and competence in business management and business models in the fashion sector as a career opportunity. This group has informal high-level digital competences that might be used by the first group. -Supporting stakeholders for the exploitation and mainstreaming of the training to be developed. During this project, partners will implement the following activities: -Development of 3 training packages addressed to the experienced entrepreneurs, the youth and both together. They will also develop an e-learning platform to provide wide free access to the materials. At least 220 individuals will be trained during the projet life. -Piloting activities will be implemented where the two first target group will meet and increase their respective skills based on peer-learning and work-based approaches, being the method chosen for this project highly relying on interactivity and dialogue. At least 20 pairs will be created to test this method. -Sustainable events, that will be organized in each country at the end of the project as a way to promote the results achieved in a sustainable way. -ICT will be used as a catalyst for the project activities impact. -Our activities will be transnational, being in line with an international scenario for smart growth and sustainable development goals, from local individual actions to global impact.-And of course, all those activities will be supported by an efficient management system that will itself be designed with the idea of reducing the impact to the minimum, meaning fewer transnational meetings, more virtual meetings, a no-papers dissemination strategy, the optimization of online management tools, and a continuous reporting effort to spread our achievements.<< Results >>As a main result, experienced entrepreneurs are expected to raise awareness about the need for digital and environmental transformation while increasing their capacity of innovation. The youth and unemployed are expected to increase their practical knowledge about this key industrial sector, being able to develop new ventures/ find new job opportunities in this field, benefitting in the long term to the entire sector competitiveness. TECOFASH project intends, with the previously exposed objective, to present a training programme oriented towards the following outcomes:-Connect the companies from the sector with the younger generation, and attract new talented workforce towards this industry-Link representatives from the sector with training experts,-Be clear and open based, without conditions and free from constrains,-Focused on the main skills gap identified, being the production processes, the digital and green skills. -Make full use of the digital technologies and virtual collaboration to contribute to the up/reskilling of the sectorThis will be achieved through the production of 3 main results:R1 Sustainable and digital production processes The first output will be dedicated to the development of a training package addressed to both experienced entrepreneurs and youth targets with different level of complexity to address each one specific needs under a technical perspective, with a focus on products, sources of contamination and production. R2. Sustainable and digital management of a fashion companyThe second output will be dedicated to the development of a training package addressed to both experienced entrepreneurs and youth targets with different level of complexity to address each one specific needs. It will focus on managerial and transversal aspects related to the business models and digital and lean managementR3. Online cooperative platform:This result will create the expected dialogue between the two target groups and their collaboration toward sector innovation, with the final aim of attracting the younger generation in this sector. It will be dedicated to the development the training platform hosting the different training packages and the social modules for the implementation of the training and collaboration activities.Thanks to this, partners expect to achieve a significant impact at local, and further, national and European levels, supporting fashion SMEs to continue their effort to answer environmental and societal challenges and reach competitiveness and sustainability.

"Textile and clothing sector has traditionally been one of the most important sectors of activity in Europe. In the last decades, the sector of traditional textile and clothing has been shrinking as result of the globalization and of the emerging of new industries in Asia. However, the importance of the sector still remains significant in terms of employment with 3 million jobs in Europe and ponderable GDP (gross domestic product). The emerge of nanotechnology, wearable electronics, digital designing, etc. researches provide new opportunities for development of textiles with advanced properties. The main aim of the project TEXMODA was to develop a massive open on-line course (MOOC) ""Advanced Technologies for Textile and Fashion Industry"" with corresponding Competence profile, Curriculum, Learning materials, which is open to every interested person, however the target audiences of the the MOOC are students at higher education in clothing, textile and fashion departments and recent graduates; SME's employees working in textile and fashion industry; VET graduates of clothing, textile and fashion that want to upgrade their skills and competences. The MOOC is available in www.upvx.es. The course was implemented in English language and translated in five partners languages (Lithuanian, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Greek). The MOOC was pilot delivered, with the target to reach an audience from all Europe and not only from the partners’ countries. Geography of students enrolled into the pilot MOOC is very wide and not limited by European countries, there are students from all continents, i. e. also from Africa, Asia, America, Australia. The partners of the project were: Kaunas University of Technology, KTU, Lithuania (coordinator); Technological Educational Institute of Piraeus, PUAS, Greece, which after structural changes changed the name into University of West Attica; AINTEK SYMVOULOI EPICHEIRISEON EFARMOGES YPSILIS TECHNOLOGIAS EKPAIDEFSI ANONYMI ETAIREIA, IDEC, Greece; Universidade da Beira Interior, UBI, Portugal; Universitat Politècnica de València, UPV, Spain; ECOLE NATIONALE SUPERIEURE DES ARTS ET INDUSTRIES TEXTILES, ENSAIT, France; Lithuanian Clothing and Textile Industry Association, LATIA, Lithuania; Hellenic Clothing Industry Association, HCIA, Greece. Participants from partners institutions participated in the Train the trainer course developed during the project. The Multiplier events, organized to promote the newly developed MOOC, were attended by more than 350 participants. Project Logo, website, Facebook profile, leaflets were developed at the beginning of the project. 4 project newsletters were developed and distributed in each project semester (4 numbers in total). Brochure (in English and partners languages), posters, roll-ups were used in various events. Project results were presented in international conferences, fashion and trade fairs, workshops, seminars, summer schools, face-to-face meetings, etc., and published in journals, newspapers, partners institutional websites, etc. The project has a truly European dimension. TEXMODA addresses the need of European HE to open up education, addressing the Communication of the European Commission “Opening up Education: Innovative teaching and learning for all through new technologies and Open Educational Resources”. At national level, the project triggered the participating Universities to build their capacity to develop more massive, open, online courses and open educational resources and to gain expertise in particular field between the partners. The MOOC will be used as a part of courses in Universities curriculum as complementary material. Accreditation process of individual modules of the MOOC has started, however it is a long process. At international level, the project promotes European Higher education institutes to the new world of massive open on-line education and facilitate their internationalization. Collaboration on the project allowed to expand number of contacts at European level meeting new partners."

"<< Background >>Over 70 % of the textiles and apparel imported into the EU originates from Asia (China, Bangladesh, Turkey, India, Cambodia, Vietnam, etc). However, the EU is still the second largest textile and clothing exporting country after China (Statista,2019) , with an export value of textiles around 66 billion U.S. dollars. At the same time, the EU remains the leader in importing textiles and apparel accounting for over 23% of the global imports, according to WTO. The industry employs 1.5 million people, spread across more than 160.000 companies in the EU, most of which are SMEs, with an EU annual turnover of EUR 162 billion in 2019. Over 1900 chemicals are used in the production of clothing, of which 165 the EU classifies as hazardous to health or the environment. What is more, many clothing companies face issues with labour conditions throughout their supply chains from developing countries (Mckinsey,2016) , including child labour, low wages, and health hazards. The EU has implemented several regulations regarding environmental challenges in the clothing industry. REACH (Regulation (EC) No 1907/2006) bans a list of chemical products in the production of clothing. ECOLABEL (Regulation (EC) N. 66/2010) is a not compulsory process that certifies the environmental sustainability of clothing. The recent EU initiative for a strategy for sustainable textiles aims at assisting “the EU shift to a climate-neutral, circular economy where products are designed to be more durable, reusable, repairable, recyclable and energy-efficient.” The EC has also undertaken some preliminary steps on due diligence requirements through the supply chain to tackle human rights abuses. Being among the most polluting industries but also the most profitable ones, it is crucial for the textile and clothing sector to move towards a more sustainable and ethical future. To make a successful transition, the industry needs to address also among others the skills challenges of the employees in the sector. According to International Labour Organisation (2019) new skills are and will increasingly be required across the entire Textile, Clothing, Leather and Footwear (TCLF) supply chain, not only in relation to new production processes, but also in areas such as design, finance, product development, logistics, marketing, sales and customer service. Green jobs need to include a range of jobs that aren’t traditionally thought of as green – such as fashion designers or vehicle maintenance technicians – because how people perform these jobs will have a major impact on whether economies meet their climate goals. Employers expect all members of their workforce to be actively thinking about how to do their jobs more sustainably. In the future it will become increasingly important to manage skills development and skill shortages in order to ensure that employers and workers are able to adapt to new technologies, new materials and growing pressure to manufacture products in an environmentally sustainable way. Acknowledging the need for shifting the clothing and textile industry into a more sustainable and ethical industry at all levels and aligning with the EU legislation and values and the Sustainable Development Goals , especially Goal 12 ""Ensuring sustainable consumption and production patterns"", ECOMODA aims at developing a high-level adult training for companies to upskill their strategy on environmental, social and economic sustainability at managerial and leadership level. What is more, by taking example of the largest global companies and their managerial strategy on engaging employees in the corporate sustainability strategy of the enterprise, ECOMODA will develop a specialised blended training and tools that will raise awareness among employees in the clothing and textile industry on sustainability and provide them with incentives in order to formulate and propose their own plans/ideas.<< Objectives >>The objectives of ECOMODA are:- To raise awareness on the importance of sustainable and ethical development in the textile and apparel sector with special focus on Small and Medium sized enterprises.- To design and pilot a high quality e-learning course to upskill the managerial level of enterprises operating in the textiles and apparel sector as well as designers to equip them with the needed knowledge to transform their enterprises.- To upskill the workforce of the aforementioned companies through blended learning in sustainability.- To foster a participatory culture in enterprises where everyone contributes actively to sustainability goals and to support both employers/managers and employees via a digital platform.- Finally, to make it possible for all parties involved to identify the environmental and social impacts of the industry and implement a strategy for the sustainable and ethical development of their enterprise.<< Implementation >>Project implementation previews three different work phases: Phase 1: Preparation and scoping. - Identify the stakeholders that can be involved in the project; - Establish contact with the stakeholders and define how the process of keeping this relationship alive and thriving throughout the project duration will be; - Planning different meetings to obtain a solid learning about the needs and expectations of the stakeholders within the project. - Analyse the European and international framework related to the main economic, environmental and social impacts in the clothing industry; - Joint staff training on e-learningPhase 2: Development A. - Design of the learning modules of the e-learning course, based on the research and the stakeholder’s expertise. - Development of the e-learning course for sustainable growth in the clothing sector (PR1) in seven different languages; - Definition of a strategy to pilot the e-learning course; - Pilot implementation; - Revision and adjustment of the modules’B. – Design of a blended learning course for employees of the apparel and textile industry to contribute to the sustainable and ethical growth of SMEs (PR2) – Development of courses’ modules; – Piloting of the course with employees; –Finalisation of the course.C. Development of the : My eco-enterprise” digital platform technicalities; - Collection of materials for the development of the strategic roadmap; - Peer review of the materials; - Technical development of wiki tool for employee collaboration; - Development of quiz questions for measuring corporate sustainability; - Alpha testing with partners; -Beta testing with end users; - National versions; - Launching the platform.Phase 3: Scaling up- Within the project, an online interorganizational network for sustainable development in clothing sector will be created; - Dissemination of the e-learning course, distribution of newsletters; - Multiplier events with clothing sector partners and local authorities; - Publication in a scientific journal or conference; - Campaign on Facebook and LinkedIn; - Impact and sustainability analysis of the project.<< Results >>ECOMODA is an apparel and textile industry sector specific project, which views in the promotion and adoption of European policies, values and ethics regarding environmental-friendly and respecting principles of corporate social responsibility practices and in employees’ active involvement in the improvement of their companies’ processes as well as those of their supply chain in this respect. Its importance relies on the sectors’ volume in terms of economic impact and employment on one hand and on the fact that the sector constitutes one of the main pollutants on the other. The project impact will be also based on the interest in using its results, participation in networks, outreach in the sector and media coverage of the project partners. ECOMODA project planning, development and application is based on sustainability approaches in order to promote the main ideas and reach the expected results. The results are going to boost both the ethical development in the textile/apparel sector and the quality of its products, and in the end, its competitiveness. The project results will be:- An on-line course for SMEs’ owners, managers, designers and textile manufacturers on shifting to a sustainable and ethical enterprise- A blended learning course on sustainability and ethics for employees in the apparel and textile industry.- An online platform that contains a strategic roadmap toolkit, a wiki tool for employees to formulate their ideas on sustainability and ethics grow into a proposal and engage with their employers/managers, a fun quiz for employers and employees to test how sustainable their enterprise is and a success story subpage with narrations of changes companies have adopted.After the implementation of the project, SMEs’ owners in the clothing sector, managers & directors, designers and textile manufacturers as well as employees of companies operating in the textile and clothing sector will be able to identify the environmental and social impacts of their company and implement a strategy for its sustainable and ethical development."

<< Objectives >>The main objective of the project is to raise awareness of the water usage and the water footprint of the textile sector and to train HEI students and companies staff, on how to reduce the water footprint of the textiles industry.<< Implementation >>The project will implement activities targeting representatives from textile companies, HEI students and HEI academics: A methodology and a tool for measuring and managing Water Footprint in the textiles sectorDevelopment of seminars and training of HEI students, on how to reduce the water footprint in the textiles sectorBuilding capacity of textiles companies, to reduce their water footprintAwareness Raising on water footprint in the textiles sector with social media, events and papers.<< Results >>Awareness raising on the importance of effective use of water resources in textile industry Capacity building of teachers and company staff , on the topic of water footprint Upskilling of students on the topic of water footprintCapacity building of representatives from textile companies, on identifying the water footprint of their companies, on measuring and assessing it and on developing strategies for its reduction.Development of sustainable relations between academia and industry

"S.T.Y.LE. - Supporting Traineeship for Young LEARners is a mobility project lasting 24 months, promoted by a National Consortium coordinated by the ""ISIS Novelli"" of Marcianise and composed, in addition to it, by the ""F. Trani"" Institutes of Salerno, ""F Orioli ""from Viterbo, and from Essenia UETP.Thanks to Style, 20 new graduates (in 2016 and 2017) and 30 students from the"" Clothing and Fashion / Textile-tailoring ""studies, coming primarily from the Consortium's partner institutes , have been doing traineeships in European companies in the fashion industry located in the United Kingdom, Spain and Lithuania. For graduates, the mobility action took place within 12 months from the graduation and their internship lasted 120 days (plus 2 days), a period of time considered necessary to achieve an educational experience. and complete professional. For the students the internship lasted 21 days (plus 2 days) and provided for the presence of 4 escorts. The promoters have realized this project to provide an answer to the training and employment needs present in the territories to which they belong, where the fashion industry is an important driving force of the territorial economy and has enormous potential for development. On the other hand, this sector consists of very innovative companies with great economic potential, and is one of the most dynamic in Europe, contributing 7% to the EU's GDP. It has a high growth rate and offers quality employment to 5 million people in the 27 EU member states (Study on the economy of culture in Europe, 2006, ""Creative Economy - the Challenge of the Assessing the Creative Economy"" -making "", 2008). However, the fashion industry requires highly professional operators, equipped with adequate practical-operational skills, and transversal skills, including linguistic skills. The project's objective was therefore to qualify local human resources. through the creation of international mobility, focusing on the acquisition of skills, technical and transversal skills required by the fashion industry, to make the professional profiles of the participants more competitive, increase their employability and combat the phenomenon of massive migration of young people from the areas geographical origin. In fact, the realization of an internship in foreign companies in the fashion sector allowed the participants to integrate the theoretical studies with practical activities, according to the ""learning by doing"" methodology. During the internship they have been followed and assisted constantly by tutors, both in Italy and abroad, who have evaluated progress in progress and the learning outcomes achieved at the end of the internship, releasing the appropriate certifications of skills. The experience contributed to the achievement of the following results: - improvement of practical and operational skills in the Fashion sector and consolidation of technical-professional knowledge- improvement of general linguistic knowledge and of the micro-language of the fashion sector - knowledge of other labor markets and other economies , new methodologies and working practices of the reference sector - familiarization with socio-cultural contexts of other EU countries, and enhancement of the sense of European citizenship - development of relational, communicative, organizational and problem solving skills - acquisition of national certifications and Europeans that can be spent on the labor market - updating and integrating one's own curriculum vitae with new skills and experiences - opportunities to recognize skills acquired abroad (ECVET) - improving the ability to identify and evaluate opportunities in the labor marketThe project is already I also have a positive impact on the members of the Consortium, in terms of: improving the ability to organize and manage international activities with local and foreign partners; strengthening strategies for internationalization and development, introduction of transnational mobility as a ""systemic"" activity; updating of school curricula with respect to the needs of the territory and the world of work. Finally, the long-term benefits of the project are represented by the potential of the best qualified local human capital, able to operate in the fashion sector."