FASCINATE - Sustainable Fashion Alliance

The FASCINATE project "Sustainable Fashion Alliance For International Markets" aims to support the internationalization of EU textile and fashion SME clusters that are working towards the development of circularity and sustainability in these industries. Besides the textile and fashion industry, this partnership will also seek a cross-sectoral collaboration with the technology (digitalization) and footwear sectors. The partnership will set-up an ESCP-4i composed by 5 clusters and business associations from Bulgaria, Denmark, Portugal and Spain (covering a substantial mass of SMEs, across different sectors) and define a Joint Internationalization Strategy aiming at third markets outside the EU. The geographical distribution of the clusters provides for an ideal coverage, with project partners from South of Europe (Spain and Portugal) where some of the largest textile and fashion industry production is concentrated, North (Denmark) - the Danish textile industry has been ahead of the rest in developing cleaner production methods, and East (Bulgaria) an emerging market with great potential and also home to many large textile producers from the West. In terms of activities, a combination of diagnosis and research (identification of strategic partners, SWOTs, international market studies, etc.) and capacity and networking building activities (trainings, the Green Fashion Week in the fringes of the Neonyt Exhibition in Berlin, SMEs matchmaking events) will pave the way for the consensus on a Joint Internationalization Strategy for the European fashion industry. In addition, FASCINATE will analyze and propose the most suitable legal form for the ESCP-4i, while seeking for other funding sources to ensure the long-term sustainability of this transnational alliance. The project will have an impact on 650 organizations, most of them SMEs.