Business model innovation as a form of social/societal innovation has emerged in EU policy as a key area for the effective transfer of research and development to the market. For the Textile & Clothing (T&C) industry, the need to creatively innovate existing and traditional business models goes beyond the current “fashion industry” to embrace the wider scope of artistic and design thinking.

CreativeWear is an Interreg MED project aimed at revitalizing the crisis-ridden T&C sector through a new attention to creativity, personalized design, and artisan and small-scale production, for territorial value chains led by customer-driven business models. The project seeks to recover and valorise the design heritage and “making” knowledge of Mediterranean cultures by bringing renewed creative energy to T&C clusters and industrial districts. It establishes a network of Creative Hubs that experiment different ways of supporting cooperation between creatives and enterprises. Pilot testing of these approaches will validate new, more sustainable business models for cultural and creative industries that add value to T&C businesses in the Mediterranean. Successful solutions will be extended trans-nationally to similar/complementary Creative Hubs in the MED area and beyond.

CreativeWear Hubs:
CreativeWear establishes an initial network of 5 Creative Hubs (one in each partner region) to experiment new forms of interaction between creatives (artists, designers, etc) and entrepreneurs. The hubs are structured as follows:

The Heritage Hub
in Prato digitalises the local industrial district’s significant textile heritage (catalogues, books, samples, collections, etc.) to inspire creativity and a strong Mediterranean identity for new T&C productions.

The Social Hub
in Ljubljana focuses on the circular economy by connecting opportunities and needs of different T&C enterprises, using an inclusive approach driven by multi-disciplinary creativity. The Hub is structured around a Social Co-working Factory.

The Technology Hub
in Valencia aims both to engage with creative actors in the development and marketing of new textiles and to improve awareness of new materials and processes among local designers.

The Art Hub
in Athens mobilizes the diffused creativity of artists and other territorial stakeholders to raise awareness towards sustainable, eco-friendly production and social innovation, paving the way for business model innovation for the T&C industry.

• The Crowd Hub
  in Palermo implements a cultural crowd-sourcing platform for matchmaking among creatives, T&C businesses, solution-providers and sponsors. This becomes a means for developing new business models for cultural actors and a tool for innovative cultural policies.

  Project Partners

• Interreg MED
• Municipality of Prato (IT)
• University of Valencia (ES)
• Prato Textile Museum Foundation (IT)
• AITEX Textile Research Institute (ES)
• E-zavod (SLO)
• ARCA CONSORTIUM (IT)
• Etri community (SLO)
• EURATEX European Apparel and Textile Confederation (BE)
• Hellenic Clothing Industry Association (GR)
• Creative Thinking Development (GR)
• 28 months

• Besnik Mehmeti (Comune di Prato, IT)