[Photos: 1. Costumes of Romeo and Juliet; 2. Fabric printing in Mero & More; 3. Our Plus3 study abroad group was featured in an article in Verona’s local newspaper!; 4. An interesting paragraph I read about a fashion project/brand that seeks to ethically reuse high quality fabrics and give employees a fair chance, regardless of background. I found this in a book in the lobby of Mero & More.]
Before I get into today’s post, I feel the need to thank Dr. Bursic for giving me a pass on my blog post yesterday because it was my birthday. I also want to include that yesterday, our day trip to Venice, was one of my favorite parts of this experience so far!
The city was beautiful – since a car is the main form of transportation I use, it was fascinating to see a city that functions without any automobiles. Riding in a water taxi and gondola were both incredible ways to experience Venice. During the walking tour, we saw the beautiful square of Saint Mark (Piazza San Marco), which features Saint Mark’s Basilica and lots of winged lions (the lion is the symbol of Saint Mark, something I remembered from my high school theology class). I also found it neat to consider that each time we crossed a bridge over a canal, we were moving from one island to another. Lastly, the city is divided into six districts, three on each side of the grand canal.
Today we had a free morning and afternoon, so a few of us went shopping after breakfast. There are many stores on the main drag of Verona, and it was relaxing to leisurely look at clothes after yesterday’s busy activities. Next, we went back to the house of Juliet that we briefly saw on Sunday’s tour of Verona so that we could look inside. I was taken back to my freshman year literature class in which we read Shakespeare’s classic love story. It was cool to see the actual costumes worn by the actors in the film adaptation I watched in that class. We took pictures on Juliet’s balcony, too! With the rest of our spare time, I had pizza for lunch. Afterward our walk to the hotel was slightly stressful because it was raining and I had underestimated how far the restaurant was from the hotel. However, we made it back in time and soon boarded the bus for our visit to Mero & More, about 15 minutes away from the hotel.
There, we sat for an introduction on the Fashion Consortium of Verona and Mero & More. The consortium’s goal is to provide smaller brands with resources and services to support them and give them a competitive edge. It is like a “tutoring” organization that directs brands toward success. This is crucial in an increasingly globalized world where big players like H&M or Zara are a serious threat. An example of a resource the consortium may provide is access to new, high-quality fabrics; examples of services the consortium may provide are marketing and visibility. In this way, the consortium which emerged in the year 2000 has allowed its 48 member brands (among others) to create the quality products they want.
Up until this point, the different languages did not create much of a barrier; most people I encountered spoke fluent English or I could just speak a few common Italian phrases to get by. At this site, however, the general manager and president of the consortium presented with a slideshow completely in Italian and spoke in Italian as well. Our guide, Luca, translated their remarks into English. This language barrier made it more difficult for me to understand how the consortium operates because it was harder to follow the discussion. Clearly, though, I was still able to learn from the site visit.
One speaker’s remark stuck with me. He said that even though he is speaking Italian and we speak English, the name “Armani” is one we can all clearly understand and recognize. This shows how brands’ reputations, under the proper conditions, will spread across the world to a point that surpasses barriers like language. Presumably, building up this sort of brand equity is what the consortium strives to allow its members to do.
One such member brand is Mero & More. It serves as a creative outlet for budding designers and creates sample or prototype clothing items for various brands as well. We saw both of these goals in action; one of the speaker’s goals was to open a bakery, which she accomplished by opening a cafe next door to the office building. We also saw the process of clothing sample production, from the printing of paper templates to the sewing of fabric pieces to the finished items. Other things we saw in the building were a quirky graphic design office where a ping-pong table was used as a work space and a room used for photo shoots of everything from handbags to food.
Although I was challenged today to understand precisely how the consortium operates, many important topics in the fashion supply chain were discussed and I think the day’s activities were a good foundation for several site visits tomorrow.