Yoox & Parsons School promote responsible fashion

By collaborating with a leading educational institution that shares similar values, the partnership with Parsons will allow Yoox to strengthen and develop the Yooxygen area - which debuted online on Earth Day in 2009.

The partnership also establishes the Yooxygen Award, to be presented to a graduating BFA Fashion Design student of Parsons School of Design during its 69^th Annual Benefit on May 22, 2017. The award will consist of a six-month internship at the YOOX Headquarters in Milan, beginning in July 2017, and the creation of a sustainable Spring/Summer womenswear collection under the graduate’s signature.

"In 2009, when Yooxygen debuted online, we were amongst the first to acknowledge the importance of responsible choices in fashion. Today, we take a step further: our partnership with Parsons combines our commitment towards education and our desire to encourage sustainable fashion choices. We are convinced that the next generations of talents will drive a more sustainable fashion agenda and we feel it is our responsibility to empower them," said Federico Marchetti, founder of Yoox and CEO of Yoox Net-A-Porter Group.

Parsons BFA Fashion Design students are encouraged to consider fashion design as a vehicle to address urgent and current societal problems, which include climate change and sustainability. The partnership with Yoox will be an important first step for the winning student in expanding the efforts of the fashion community to engage with sustainable design, creating meaningful change. An additional six-month internship will be awarded to a second student at Yoox's offices in New York beginning in September 2017.

"We are excited to collaborate with Yoox on this important partnership for our students. Sustainability education is vital for our students, and Parsons is committed to training designers who are prepared to address urgent issues in the fashion industry," said Burak Cakmak, dean of Fashion at Parsons School of Design.

Furthermore, Parsons and Yoox will jointly define a variety of self-guiding principles that will regulate sustainable matters as they apply to the fashion industry, including responsible consumption, fair production and trade, low-environmental impact, and the empowerment of local craftsmanship, among others. The principles created will be adopted by Yooxygen to determine the selection of brands available on the site, giving customers the opportunity to make a conscious choice while shopping on Yoox. (KD)

Fibre2Fashion News Desk – India