INTRODUCTION

This guide is intended to offer inspiration and alternative solutions for SMEs to showcase their collections and concepts. As part of the Small but Perfect project, the objective was to create a decentralised crossEuropean “fashion week” which offers an alternative to the often wasteful fashion week system.

Small but Perfectly Formed aimed to ‘accelerate the accelerators’ by working alongside business support organisations to embed circularity, social and environmental sustainability into support and showcasing initiatives. The 28 SMEs were selected alongside their supporting partner to show how circular systems can be developed as a core part of the business strategy. A series of bootcamps and mentoring sessions encouraged deeper thinking about sustainability and creating new systems of working that focus on closed loops, recycling, upcycling, repairs and keeping clothes in use for longer. The programme was designed to develop services such as rental or subscriptions, as well as finding ways to create innovative solutions for products that are recycled and recyclable, and with minimal impact on the planet.

Over its duration the project has developed a series of toolkits and resources, and created a network of stakeholders from across the industry that can exchange knowledge, learnings and best practices to effect wider systemic change in the fashion SME sector. The showcasing of the SME’s projects ran in tandem with the R&D phase of the project, and was designed to show the research, development and thinking behind the final outcome.

This guide is a project outcome of the Small But Perfect project and was created thanks to the financial support from the European Innovation Council and Small and Medium Enterprises Executive Agency (EISMEA) COSME Programme, under the call for proposals COS-CIRCFASH-2019-3-02.