Istituto Marangoni and AlpTextyles
Istituto Marangoni confirms its partnership with Alptextyles: weaving tradition and innovation for a sustainable alpine textile future
Launched in 2022, AlpTextyles intertwines the living heritage of Alpine textile ecosystems with contemporary innovation, promoting a new generation of sustainable value chains. The initiative demonstrates how centuries-old know-how from sheep farming to natural dyeing and artisanal weaving can be reinterpreted to address today’s challenges of climate change, resource optimization, and consumer demand for authenticity.
Istituto Marangoni confirms its partnership with AlpTextyles, the Interreg Alpine Space project that brings together twelve organizations from six Alpine countries to shape the future of textiles through sustainability, circularity, and cultural heritage.
At the heart of the project is a conviction: heritage is not a memory, but a resource. From the creation of the Wool Library that catalogues autochthonous Alpine sheep breeds, to immersive experiences in the AlpTextyles Metaverse, the project transforms traditions into forward-looking solutions for a circular textile economy.
Through its participation, Istituto Marangoni contributes expertise in design and education, helping to connect younger generations with the values of Alpine craftsmanship and sustainability. This has been expressed most recently at Milano Unica 2025, where students presented capsule collections developed within the project. Their work integrated historic techniques such as Cantù lacework with digitally inspired silhouettes, using handwoven textiles from Valposchiavo to create garments that bridged past and future
Guided tours led by AlpTextyles partners welcomed more than 60 Istituto Marangoni students and mentors to the exhibition stand, offering an immersive journey across raw fibers, artisanal fabrics, and digital storytelling. This encounter highlighted the project’s educational mission: to empower the next generation of designers to imagine sustainable and culturally rooted textile futures.
AlpTextyles continues to deliver tangible outputs for businesses, institutions, and communities, including:
- Orientation guides for SMEs to adopt sustainable design and communication strategies;
- Toolkits to help museums and cultural institutions safeguard and transmit textile heritage;
- A policy brief addressed to European and regional authorities to reinforce sustainable, place-based textile ecosystems