On 15 September 2025, the Fashion Sustainability and Law Forum took place, organized by the Sustainability, Education and Business Club in partnership with the Department of Law of the Università degli Studi di Bergamo.
Our senior associate Giulia Beneduci participated as a speaker in an interactive session with Matteo de Padova, co-founder of Winetage Design, entitled: “From Waste to Wow: a Dialogue on Arele, an Upcycling Project Embracing Design, Fashion, and Wine Made in Italy”.
Their speech started from the story of Arele: a luxury chaise longue crafted by Winetage’s designers and exhibited at Milan Design Week 2025, made from reclaimed wine barrels in collaboration with Tommasi Family Estates and upholstered with natural fabrics by Luca Faloni.
Among others, it was described how the underlying creative process reinterprets certain features – like colour, curvature and scent – imprinted to staves by wine during the ageing process, in harmony with the appearance of the cloth, in turn evoking the nuances of wine.
Besides tracing how this upcycling project concretely took shape, certain legal challenges were explored, especially contractual issues and IP protection. Last but not least, it was discussed whether and how this project could pave the way for larger-scale cross-cutting regenerative practices.
One of the key takeaways from Arele’s experiment and vision is that progress towards a more sustainable future, also leveraging Italian excellence, is likely to be driven by collaboration and “contamination” between diverse sectors, rather than by working in silos.
We thank all participants and the organizing committee for making the event a valuable opportunity for networking, discussion, and growth.