Project activities are aimed at raising awareness and strengthen the skills on archive preservation and enhancement through making available to all partners shared tools and methodologies for the digitalization of the textile heritage. Moreover, they are aimed to highlight the creative potential of new generations of textile and fashion designers who will use and experiment on the textile heritage to create new products which are based on an innovative approach in the development of future textile and fashion collections. The first semester of the project will be dedicated to provide to young designers and artists a better understanding of the role that textile heritage can have for artistic creation and to the setting up of a communication strategy. The second and third semesters of the project will be devoted to the acquisition of new professional skills, ideas and relationships by the young designers and artists as a result of the re-use of the textile heritage and creative residencies as well as to the creation of new products / services inspired by the textile heritage and possible opening up of new market opportunities for young designers and artists. Main outputs of the project will be:

•  five workshops to raise awareness on textile archive preservation and enhancement involving creative professionals, artists, designers, craftsmen and other practitioners.
• digitisation of textile and clothing archives through the Heritage Manager software, developed by the Prato Textile Museum. The partners at the 1st project meeting will decide the number of the items to be digitized.
• five workshops on the creative and contemporary re-interpretation of textile heritage.
• 5 creative residencies developed involving 15 young designers and artists from the partner countries on the contemporary re-use of the textile heritage.
• 15 small collections realized as a result of the work realized during the creative residencies.
• 1 exhibition showcasing the work done by young designers and artists.