The Cinque Terre National Park supports ethical clothes and products and has eco-friendly items available in its retail outlets. These items are a sign of a new economical and social development that aims to safeguard the environment and the age old know-how in defence of different cultural identities.
 In the Cinque Terre there is a growing interest in ethical dressing and fair trade, organic production. The retail outlets of the National Park offer a variety of organic clothing, natural beauty products and other personal gifts and home wares for a clientele interested in products that have an added environmental and social value. Since 2004 the Park has been buying and selling products from Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, India, Bangladesh and other poor countries from the South in an effort to improve the economical conditions of these areas by selling their products on the international market. The Park commits itself to fair and equal trade practices and promotes local production and business in favour of multinational alternatives.
On sale at the Cinque Terre retail outlets you can find notepads and diaries in Hemp, Alpaca sweaters from Peru, soaps from Palestine, ceramics and dolls from China, jute bags and t-shirts made in India, Ecuador and Bangladesh. Artisans and independent cooperatives work to create these items and employ more than 30,000 people, 85% of whom are women. There are also items of clothing, bathing costumes, t-shirts and sweaters made in Biella and certified by the Piedmontese company Raggio Verde which guarantees the origin of the cotton used and the working conditions under which the cotton is collected.
Why dress ethically ?
The Cinque Terre National Park in collaboration with the syndicate CTM Altromercato, Zucchero Amaro of Chiavari for fair trade practices, and the Coop Ecolab - Gatti Galeotti of Rome for the social rehabilitation of convicts have launched ethical fashion. This market has been developing for 10 to 15 years with a substantial growth in the last five in particular in the United Kingdom. The main supporters of ethical fashion and products are the 35 to 40 year old age group who are willing to spend a little more for items that are not necessarily brand name products. However according to data released by International Research Institutes there is now a new younger consumer emerging in the 20 to 40 year old age group, traditionally the fashion follower. So who is this client ? According to research conducted by the International Trade Centre in January 2008, the typical client is a woman, a professional with income, who is aware of the social and ethical aspect in fashion or who has a high level of commitment to brands and retail shops.
«This trend to offer ethical products and clothing comes from a collaboration project that aims to safeguard the environment and the age old know-how, in defence of cultural identities, customs and traditions found in daily work practices, from the North to the South of the world , states Luca Natale, Cinque Terre National Park Press Officer. It can mean organic production practices with Juta and cotton or simply the building of dry stone walls. The Park supports a model of development in which local communities can live off their own territory and where the population of the South can receive fair wages».
At the Cinque Terre National Park retail outlets customised gift baskets and gifts starting at 30 euros are available for the Christmas 2008 season.
Patrizia Spora
3 Dicember 2008
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Agenzia Stampa
