Prince Charles Partners with the Yoox Net-a-Porter Group on a Sustainable New Fashion Collection – TownandCountrymag.com

The Prince of Wales is getting into the fashion business. Today, the Yoox Net-a-Porter Group announced that they are teaming up with the Prince’s Foundation on a collection of men’s and womenswear, set to debut next year.

The partnership, which is known as the Modern Artisan Project, unites students and recent graduates from Italy and Scotland, who will together design and produce 17 pieces of men’s and womenswear. Specifically, young people from the Politecnico di Milano will design the autumn/winter capsule collection, taking inspiration from both Leonardo da Vinci’s works and years of data from Yoox and Net-a-Porter about customer preferences.

Then, Scottish graduates working at Dumfries House, an estate that Prince Charles purchased in 2007, will manufacture the line, while receiving instruction in key industry skills that will hopefully assist them in gaining employment once the project has been completed. The two groups of trainees will also meet in both Scotland and Milan to collaborate on the product development and foster a cultural exchange.

Given Prince Charles’s longstanding commitment to environmental activism, it should come as no surprise that the collection will be sustainably made, and will feature natural and traceable fabrics including wool, cashmere, and silk.

Profits from the line will be donated to the Prince’s Foundation, which, in addition to projects like this, supports a variety of other initiatives including the restoration of historic buildings such as Bletchley Park and educational programs targeted at learners of all ages and focused on topics ranging from the instruction of traditional arts and heritage craft skills to hospitality training.

“At The Prince’s Foundation, we deliver education programmes to thousands of people every year inspired by the vision of HRH The Prince of Wales. Sustainability is at the heart of everything we do so we are proud to have partnered with Yoox Net-a-Porter Group to deliver this truly innovative training programme,” Jacqueline Farrell, the education director for the Prince’s Foundation at Dumfries House, said in a statement.

“This project is the culmination of our Future Textiles initiative which starts by giving school pupils an introduction to the textile industry and goes right through to the Modern Artisan project which offers an inspiring progression route to any young person wishing to enter the fashion and textile industry.”

Courtesy of The Modern Artisan Project

For those hoping to pick up a piece from the line, mark your calendars for mid-2020, when the entire collection will become available across all four of the Yoox Net-a-Porter brands (Yoox, Net-a-Porter, Mr Porter, and the Outnet).

“Designed in Italy and crafted in the U.K., the Modern Artisan collection will be an important expression of how talent and technology can work across boundaries and borders,” said Yoox Net-a-Porter Group chairman and chief executive officer, Federico Marchetti in a press release announcing the initiative.

“This project, part of a long-term partnership between Yoox Net-a-Porter and the Prince’s Foundation, will help equip a new generation of skilled men and women to fuse traditional craft with digitally-infused creativity–and, importantly, to do so sustainably, following the example of HRH The Prince of Wales who has dedicated the last 40 years to building a more sustainable future.”

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