// Prince Charles’ charity announces new initiative with Yoox Net-A-Porter
// Titled The Modern Artisan, project looks to train young UK and Italian textile designers in heritage and luxury fashion design
// The first Yoox Net-A-Porter for The Prince’s Foundation capsule collection launches across Yoox, Net-A-Porter, Mr Porter and The Outnet simultaneously today
The Prince of Wales and Yoox Net-A-Porter have announced a new sustainable luxury collection of menswear and womenswear, launching online today.
The 18-piece capsule collection is branded Yoox Net-A-Porter for The Prince’s Foundation, and is a culmination of The Modern Artisan project, which looked to strengthen the training of young textile designers in the UK and Italy.
The collection will launch across all four Yoox, Net-A-Porter, Mr Porter and The Outnet online stores today, marking what YNAP described as “the grand finale” of the Richemont-owned fashion group’s 20th anniversary.
Working with textile designers across the UK and Italy, the project is the first of its kind in aiming to strength textile skills and training, providing craftspeople with the skills and experience to produce luxury apparel collections and in launching their work on the market.
READ MORE: Armani & Yoox Net-a-Porter unveil new partnership
Six Italian students from Politecnico di Milano’s Fashion in Process (FiP) research laboratory led the design of the collection.
Meanwhile British artisans undertook training in small batch productions skills at Dumfries House, the headquarters of The Prince’s Foundation in Ayrshire, Scotland.
The British students were then tasked with crafting the majority of the collection by hand at the estate’s Textile Training Centre.
“I’ve been enormously impressed by the efforts, the ideas and the vision shown by the artisans from the UK and Italy. Hopefully they will take away a great deal of skill and understanding of sustainable approaches to design and manufacturing that they can apply to their own businesses or future careers,” The Prince of Wales said.
Alongside a focus on heritage textiles and manufacturing techniques, the students were also given exclusive access to five years’ worth of YNAP data on long-term preferences of the group’s 4.3 million customers.
In turn, the modern artisans were able to create a timeless collection intended to resonate with a luxury customer’s wardrobe.
Everything from trouser leg widths and lengths to colour palettes and the inclusion of defining design features were informed by both YNAP customer preferences and AI visual recognition of style silhouettes and shapes.
Each style in the collection is equipped with a digital ID, giving the story behind the product, its materials, the artisans who designed and made it, as well as care and repair recommendations for customers.
“I’ve long been inspired by uniting seemingly opposing worlds. The Modern Artisan project harnesses Big Data and Artificial Intelligence to transform the ancient profession of craftsmanship into a contemporary career: we have equipped the next generation of artisans with the digital tools of the trade to navigate an ever-evolving landscape,” YNAP chief executive Federico Marchetti.
“Designed in Italy and crafted in the UK, this truly sustainable luxury collection illustrates the vast possibilities of cross-border collaborations to tackle environmental challenges and train creative talents in these uncertain times and beyond,” Marchetti added.
All profits from the sale of the collection will be donated to The Prince’s Foundation to develop and deliver further training programmes to preserve traditional textile skills.
Marking a long-term partnership between YNAP and The Prince’s Foundation, The Modern Artisan project will also be showcased at Michelangelo Foundation’s Homo Faber in 2021.
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