Hard to believe, but day three is already finished! After the tour of the city and the soccer match yesterday, it was pleasant to have a slow-paced, educational day in Milano.

The day began with a delicious breakfast, followed by a metro trip to L’Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, where we were treated to a lecture on the supply chain of Italian fashion. It was very interesting to learn of the steps of the pipeline for fashion brands, which start with yarn and textile fairs where designers decide which materials to use, and continues with fashion shows to advertise collections and finally the collections being available for purchase in store. The total amount of time for the pipeline can take a few years, with the distance between each step taking many months. Sustainability in the fashion industry was another key topic brought up, as the production of common clothes can be very detrimental to people and places; provided in the lecture were the examples of how ten thousand liters of water are needed in the production of jeans and the fact that an average of forty thousand people die each year as result of the cotton industry, which already damages soils in the long run with chemicals and pesticides used to increase cultivation in the short run. After the Rana Plaza disaster in April 2013 where the collapse of a garment factory building in Bangladesh killed over one thousand people, fashion companies must be more transparent about where they source their products and what measures they undertake to give back to the communities in which they operate. A great example of reinvesting back into the place of production is the Brunello Cucinelli luxury fashion company which heavily invests in the education and landscape of the area surrounding the company operations center in the region of Umbria while also paying its workers twenty percent above the industry average wage.

Following the lecture, we went on a tour of the campus led by current students who explained to us all of the superstitions at the university, which included not staring at the statues in the inner yard and not walking up the middle of the stairs (both would lead to not graduating). When the tour concluded, we were able to receive lunch at the cafeteria with our guides, who became i nostri amici over the course of the day.

The final activity of the day was a trip to the Museo Nazionale Scienza e Tecnologia where we learned about Leonardo Da Vinci’s brilliant inventions and how he connected art and engineering together to make his masterpieces. The museum also included exhibits on materials, energy, and space, which were neat as they demonstrated contributions made to science by Italians.

Buona Giornata e Arriverderci!