The elegant and refined Italian style is considered the
pinnacle of Fashion&Luxury around the world. According to the “Fashion&Luxury
Private Equity and Investors Survey” by Deloitte, the sector is expected to
grow between 2 and 2.5% a year and by 10% by 2025. It’s a significant fact that
proves the importance of this sector for the Italian economy and the prestige
of “Made in Italy” overseas. So, it’s true: Italy does not make Fashion, it is
Fashion itself! From district to district, the skills and expertise can differ,
but the effort and commitment to safeguarding the Italian identity in Fashion are
the same in every place across the country.
Italian craftsmanship is a rich heritage of knowledge, a
synonym of creativity, manual ability, and accuracy, the country's flagship
deeply rooted in centuries of culture and constant research. Due to the
prestige of the sector, many young people are showing an increasing interest in
Fashion&Luxury careers, often intrigued by the creative aspect of the
professions involving style and design.
The market is constantly evolving, the buyers’ needs are
changing, and digitalization rules, no matter the career. Education is a
fundamental component in the growth path of young people and to support the new
generations of Fashion professionals. Several schools and institutes opened
their doors to offer vertical study courses: graphics, design, communication,
fashion sustainability, and management.
With its 8 venues all over the world, 4 generations of
students, including Franco Moschino and Domenico Dolce, and 45.000
professionals, Istituto Marangoni, the first Italian Fashion School since 1935,
represents a top-level hub for future learners, designers, and Fashion
experts.
The school is a magnet for high-school graduates who choose it as the starting point of their professional career, inspired by the innovative background and the highly professional curriculum available. The focus on technology as an addition to standard content improves the learners’ skills, bringing them closer to the role of innovation, the management of fashion supply chains, and increasing the rate of employment after the degree. Studying Fashion does not only mean being creative, but it also involves – maybe above all – the knowledge of processes and tools to rely on when launching a campaign, a new brand, or a Sales Line.
To support the professional growth of young designers and future professionals in the Fashion sector, Zedonk, the London company acquired by Dedagroup Stealth in 2020, embarks on a path within the Education area. The company that provides ERP software for designers, small emerging brands, and start-ups, in fact, signed a collaboration with the Marangoni Institute in London last year, - the headquarters was inaugurated in 2003 in an old textile factory at 30 Fashion Street, Spitalfields – as part of one of the several Mentoring projects organized by the School with the aim of introducing young talents to the knowledge of technologies that are transforming the fashion industry and that are fundamental for managing properly all the processes throughout the products life cycle.
The school welcomed and hosted Emily Ross and Adam King, Client Success and Education Specialist and Head of Marketing and Partnerships respectively. Together, following a complete training on Zedonk over a period of 7 months (from October 2021 to April 2022), they guided the students to a deep knowledge of the software, showing them in practice how the Fashion Industry works from the creation of the articles to the in-store sale. The students had direct access to the platform where they could exercise and accomplish the tasks assigned based on the objectives of their education program (MA in Buying and Merchandising) defined by their teachers.
"Embedding
Zedonk into the curriculum within Istituto Marangoni London has been a success
for both us and the students. After students graduate and start to enter the
industry, it is apparent that a lot of fashion brands ask for experience using
Zedonk or similar ERPs. By giving access to Zedonk, alongside in-person
workshops and online webinars, students have gained invaluable experience to
further their employability",
points out Adam King, Head of Marketing of Zedonk.
Today Technology represents a driver for industry change,
and the tools available for brands to shape the way they plan their business and
strategies. The importance of data is growing as a vehicle of valuable
information useful to adjust the Supply Chain processes with new market trends.
Bringing the know-how of the experts in the Tech sector to training institutes, therefore, becomes an opportunity to experience closely how technology and
innovation are enabling processes, business models, and economic growth. The
Designers of the future can no longer ignore the business dynamics of fashion
and merging creativity, strategy, and data governance is necessary to give their
best in an increasingly competitive sector.
For Zedonk, the "Education" project has only just
begun: the collaboration with Istituto Marangoni has been confirmed also for
2022 and, moreover, the company aims to reach other educational institutes
across the USA and other parts of Europe, including Paris and Milan, preparing
brands of the next decade on how to face the challenges of the industry.
We are proud to contribute to the training and growth of young talents, accompanying them throughout their journey, from the creation of their brand to their arrival on the market, and to open the doors of technological innovation to every market segment through our solutions and our many years of experience in the sector.
Providing young people with specific training courses that can introduce them to the workplace more effectively is also part of the Digital Academy program launched by Dedagroup. It's a training course that responds to the increasingly specific needs of the various market areas governed by the group with the creation of special editions dedicated to a specific sector. Dedagroup Stealth, in particular, is involved through the Dedagroup Digital Academy - Stealth Edition that aims at training new talents to support fashion brands from a technological point of view, thus becoming an active part in the development of their business.
