Fashion Design Practices and Emerging Transformations. A Case of Interdipendence between Fashion Creative Processes and Manufacturing Systems in the Made in Italy Districts

The current article focuses on emerging transformations in fashion creative processes in regard of the enhancement of digitalization processes, the opportunities offered by new sustainable business models, and a new relation between user, production, and consumption. In particular, this article discusses the case of the Italian manufacturing districts where digitalization strongly pervades the production, integrating the local craftsmanship savoir-faire with up-to-date technologies. Within the strategic duo “fashion and technology”, we highlight emerging opportunities for the integration of creative processes and manufacturing skills. Moreover, the need for sustainable practices offers new significant insights into the integration of the roles of the designer and manufacturing processes. Moving from this discussion, the article presents an overview of ongoing transformations of fashion design practices in relation to the technological and social issues, offering a framework to read the articles included in this issue.