Sustainability requires passion, commitment, dedication and above all training and continuous information. For this reason Raphael has chosen to refine and enrich the skills of the figure who deals with sustainability, management control and certifications in the company, an increasingly crucial and important role for companies that want to pursue sustainable business objectives.

After about two months of a limited number of courses and a final exam, the certificate of Sustainability Manager was issued, which certifies the skills acquired (the course is in fact AICQ SICEV certified) and which allows the person to be included in the respective register.

https://www.4sustainability.it/registro-sustainability-manager/

In a market where there is much talk of sustainability, Made in Italy companies are already more sustainable than their other competitors. The historicity, the existing European legislation on environmental protection, respect for the health of employees and the regulation of employment relationships, as well as the REACH regulation, contribute to this result. Furthermore, numerous brands distribute private "sustainability specifications" regarding the use of certain chemicals, thus increasing the number of laboratory tests on the finished product to protect health and the environment.

To embrace the safety needs of the textile product, guarantee assistance on certain substances and respond in a putative and scientific way to requests, the Textile and Health Association (which boasts in the Board of Directors the Istituto Superiore di Sanità, National Chamber of the Italian MOda, CNA Federmoda, Federchimica, Sistema Moda Italia, ECU European Consumer Union), collaborating since 2001 with the Ministry of Health, MiSE, ICE, UN and IWTO and some of the major Made in Italy luxury brands, has developed the Guidelines on the requirements eco-toxicological for clothing, leather goods, footwear and accessories.

To ensure the safety of supply chains, companies and brands and monitor the production cycle with traceability and transparency, Textile and Health prepares, for each company, a plan of targeted analytical controls at certified third-party laboratories, in order to create a network of companies. and analytical data, and map the entire production; an inspection by a third-party body, then, guarantees compliance with the criteria of transparency, traceability and compliance with the Guidelines, thus allowing the company and / or brand to be issued a certification.

Ethic-et is the European certification mark, which distinguishes products made with certain quality and eco-toxicity requirements, valid throughout the EU, which guarantees the consumer reliability, traceability of the supply chain and suppliers thanks to a precise Technical Disciplinary. of Inspection, analytical objective assessments and inspections by accredited bodies.

In summary, Ethic-et protects consumer health, protects the environment, reduces risks for businesses, promotes transparent companies and supply chains and informed and aware consumption.

We are therefore proud to have obtained the Ethic-et label, thanks to which we can define ourselves chemically safe towards consumers.

In the "Sustainability" section it is possible to view the Ethic-et certificate issued

Sustainability is not only environmental protection and nature conservation, but it is also diversity, equality, respect and anti-discrimination.

The good business practices that are implemented every day to create a product of quality and value also include sustainability, a word whose etymology derives from the French "souvenir" (to support, support), social.

In the 2030 Agenda, which contains the 17 development objectives, not only has there been a focus on the environmental issue, but the concept has increasingly expanded, also embracing social inclusiveness.

Promoting gender equality, respect for human rights, the acceptance of diversity, the rejection of discrimination and inequalities guarantees that social cohesion that allows us to leave no one behind, creating well-being for all, regardless of whether it is an ambitious global project or of an equally ambitious corporate project.

To guarantee the concrete commitment to the Sustainable Developments Goals, many sustainability standards and product certification are inserting a series of mandatory indications for social responsibility, thus guaranteeing respect for the triangle of sustainability: environmental, economic and social.

In this perspective of synergy and multidisciplinary vision of sustainability, we too have undertaken the commitment to act for sustainable fashion, by signing and sharing a series of internal policies aimed at protecting and guaranteeing the diversity, rights and freedoms of everyone.

The documents are available in the "Sustainability" section of our website.

To celebrate the first 50 years of business, Raphael has chosen to land on BSamply, the platform that digitizes B2B fashion and connects suppliers, garment makers and brands.

This young startup, founded in 2017, allows you to set up virtual showrooms that are always open, in which to exchange information and contacts with customers and suppliers, with ease, speed and cost reduction. But not only that, within the platform it is also possible to set up the "stock service" section relating to end-of-life products or past collections, which can not only be useful to young designers for capsule collections or vintage series, but also to restore I circulate in a sustainable way fabrics that would otherwise end up in pulp.

This is why Raphael chose BSamply: dynamism, speed, practicality and circular economy.

Raphael can be reached on the BSamply portal through the dedicated App or click on the image below!

In the ranking drawn up by LinkedIn of the 25 jobs on the rise in the last 5 years, the role of Sustainability Manager occupies the fifth position.

This figure, with transversal skills, and mostly represented by women, deals, in any sector, with all the sustainability implementation strategies within the company, both in reference to environmental issues and in reference to social and governance.

The open positions for this role are numerous, not only in Italy but also abroad, and in particular the growing demand is dictated by the increasing responsibility that companies have in respecting and adapting to the SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals) of the United Nations. and to the creation of value demanded by the market, driven by increasingly attentive and competent consumers in terms of sustainability, especially among the new generations.

The birth of this figure is quite recent and in continuous evolution and his role within companies is now essential in the context of any corporate management strategy: this is why the Sustainability Manager operates in a much wider space than mere sustainability. environmental. In fact, it is flanked by the social and economic ones, for an increasingly sustainable management of resources.
The Sustainability Manager is therefore a person (or a team of people) in continuous training and updating, and a precise and profound connoisseur of company processes and behaviors, in order to make the latter sustainable from all points of view. A non-negligible skill is the ability to communicate: the concept of sustainability and its relevance must in fact be communicated to all company levels and to stakeholders, just as essential to the role is the intervention in strategic and planning decisions, on which they are set goals and goals. The versatility of this figure requires professionalism with requisites and attitudes that range from the technical skills of the sector, to organizational and leadership skills, but also analytical and reporting skills; a particularly appreciated soft skill is the aptitude for multitasking and problem solving.

The training of this figure, therefore, is particularly important, and draws from technical-scientific studies (engineering, chemistry, biology ...), managerial (project management), but also juridical-economic studies. Since this is an "emerging" profile, there is no professional register, however a Register (for the fashion and luxury sector) has recently been set up in which the person is inserted at the end of the course (and the related final exam) "Sustainability Manager : sustainable production in fashion and luxury " certified by AICQ-SICEV, Personnel Certification Body recognized by ACCREDIA, and provided by Process Factory, a company specialized in the sector.

The GOTS 2021 report on the progress and impact of the environmental and ethical-social sustainability certification for organic products was recently disclosed, highlighting excellent results and appreciation.

20 years after its birth, the GOTS certification sees a conspicuous increase among the subscribers of the standard, registering + 53% compared to 2021 in our country and thus placing Italy in second place in the world in the ranking of the nations that have mostly adhered to this stringent voluntary standard; ahead of us, Turkey with a growth of 61% compared to 2021.

The appreciation by brands and consumers for products of organic origin (bio) certified GOTS highlights the sensitivity towards not only environmental issues but also the health of producers and workers of the entire fashion sector, who choose materials without GMOs, without highly harmful chemicals (such as formaldehyde or azo dyes), which use reduced water consumption or ensure complete recycling, from the field to the finished product.

We are proud to be part of this large family that every day contributes to the sustainable growth of our country.

The driest desert on earth is found in South America, between southern Peru and northern Chile.

Atacama, the place whose annual precipitation does not exceed 2.1mm of rain, is a narrow strip of land, embraced by the Andes, where the constant state of high pressure prevents the formation of clouds.

The strong temperature variations between day and night (from 40 degrees during the day to 5 degrees at night) and reliefs with an altitude of about 2000 meters, make Atacama a unique desert in the world; the uniqueness of this geographical area is accentuated, every six / seven years, by a carpet of purple and white flowers, which extends over a very large surface, and lasts for about three months (September-December). El Nino, in fact, the wind that blows on the Andean territory, brings the little rain necessary for the flowering of the "Roses of Atacama" that make this place the "flowered desert".

The blooming of the desert, now reduced to leopard spots, less persistent and increasingly rare, is threatened not only by climate change, but also by the environmental cost of fashion. The Atacama Desert, so arid and so little like living conditions human, it has in fact become the largest open-air waste dump in the fashion world; waste which, for Italy alone, represents approximately 240,000 tons equal to 36 million euros.

It is estimated, in fact, on a European basis, that the consumption of clothes, accessories and textile products is around 10 kg per capita; with a targeted collection, almost 5 kg per capita per year of textile waste could be recovered, instead of sending it to the other side of the world and making garbage such a rare and spectacular environmental heritage. Furthermore, 1 kg of used clothing reduces carbon dioxide emissions by 3.6 kg, water consumption by 6,000 liters, 0.3 kg of fertilizers and 0.2 kg of pesticides.

To reduce the environmental impact of our waste, however, it is necessary to set up a coherent supply chain from separate collection to sorting (selection of garments by fibrous type, separation of accessories such as buttons, buckles), from fraying of fabrics to subsequent operations necessary to reduce materials. post-consumer in fibers or re-spun polymers.

Let us remember that the textile fraction of our domestic and non-domestic waste can be differentiated: CONAU, the National Consortium of Used Clothes, collects discarded clothes for recycling, a practice that is still little known and little publicized in Italy (the percentage of clothes collected in Italy is 0.22%) but which will become mandatory by 2050.

In the Atacama Desert, the gigantic sculpture of the Chilean artist Mario Irarrázabal emerges, a human hand expressing a desperate, unheard call for help. When we discard an item of clothing, let's take the time to dispose of it correctly, let's find out about the methods and collection points (whether for recycling or humanitarian aid): our superficial choice can create important consequences thousands of kilometers from us .