Brunello Cucinelli, Prince Charles Of England And Federico Marchetti Together For The "Regenerative Fashion" Project

On the evening of Monday 9 May, Buckingham Palace hosted the dinner of the Sustainable Market Initiative, conceived and chaired by His Royal Highness Prince Charles of England, whose major objective is to build a coordinated global effort to enable the private sector to accelerate the transition to a sustainable future. The Initiative has a number of task forces, each dedicated to a specific sector – from fashion to banking to energy transition.

The Casa di Moda Brunello Cucinelli was quick to join the Manifesto of the Fashion Task Force chaired by Federico Marchetti – which aims to produce positive effects on climate and nature – and has committed to the working table dedicated to regenerative farming, as well as to humanly and economically supporting the Himalayan Regenerative Fashion Living Lab project.

The Himalayan Regenerative Fashion Living Lab is the second project of the above-mentioned Fashion Task Force and aims at restoring harmony between small local communities in some areas of
the Himalayas and nature and the environment; at the same time, it targets the creation of humanly sustainable fashion value chains. In concrete terms, the project will restore degraded landscapes and recover traditional craft and textile skills in order to improve local cashmere, cotton and silk economies, while addressing global challenges related to climate change and loss of biodiversity.

Prince Charles, Brunello Cucinelli and Federico Marchetti during the presentation of the first SMI project, at G20 in Rome October 31, 2021

The "Himalayan" project will be carried out in the field by Reforest Action and the Circular Bioeconomy Alliance led by scientist Marc Palahi and will last for a period of two years (2022-2023). Brunello Cucinelli commented as follows: «We are honoured to take part in such a noble initiative and for this reason we would like to express our deepest gratitude to His Royal Highness Prince Charles, a gentleman of great class, who, together with our friend Federico Marchetti, came up with the beautiful, fascinating idea of bringing together some of the world's fashion brands to try and improve our planet. Our mother Earth has welcomed and nurtured us, it has allowed us to enjoy its wonderful resources, and it is our great responsibility to protect it as fully and carefully as possible. I have always been fascinated by the East, by these regions of the world and the people who live where the landscape is so enchanting and the sky so close to man. It is with sincere enthusiasm that we have agreed to join a project of the highest humanity, so that various populations can continue to live in the places of their ancient life in harmony with nature. As in the case of Solomeo, I am convinced that landscape, economy, handicrafts and traditions are part of a whole, which the Himalayan Regenerative Fashion Living Lab project ingeniously conceives as a holistic whole.».

SMI TaskForce

The Sustainable Markets Initiative was put forward by His Royal Highness Prince Charles of England at the 2020 World Economic Forum annual meeting in Davos: the aim is to take bold and innovative action over the next decade. The SMI aims to lead and accelerate the world's transition to a sustainable future by engaging and challenging the public, private and philanthropic sectors to generate economic value in harmony with social and environmental sustainability.

Reforest Action

As part of the Circular Bioeconomy Alliance, Reforest Action is a B-Corp company working on the reforestation of parts of the world. Its mission is to preserve and restore degraded areas of the planet by planting of species belonging to the existing ecosystem. Reforest action aims to raise awareness among individuals and companies to implement concrete programmes to safeguard the environment through a holistic approach.

Circular Bioeconomy Alliance

The Circular Bioeconomy Alliance was founded by His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales in 2020 to create links between finance, companies operating within bio-based value chains and concrete
actions to reclaim land, improve biodiversity and provide jobs and prosperity for local and indigenous communities. Members include intergovernmental organisations, companies, investors, research organisations and NGOs that provide expertise and implement projects in areas related to the circular bioeconomy. The Alliance has a secretariat at the European Forest Initiative.