Quid, fashion is ethical
The Quid Project is an ethical and sustainable fashion brand that offers limited edition clothing and accessories, made with end-of-series fabrics made available by large Italian companies. The Quid brand was born in Verona in 2013 with the aim of creating hand-made products with a strong ethical content.
The Quid project seeks to combine the concept of inclusive business with the logic of Business to Business and Business to Consumer. In fact, Quid proposes itself both as the ethical arm of companies established on the market by creating an ethical product for them, with the label “Quid for Project”. And also as a producer and direct seller of their garments in directly managed stores in Italy.
The Cooperative, which was initially born as an Association, was established in 2013 with the aim of implementing the work placement of disadvantaged women through creative jobs.
How the idea of the Quid Project was born
The President of the Cooperative, Anna Fiscale, tells us how the idea was to recover unsold garments and enhance them through the application of accessories and then sell them.
The moment of evolution came when they presented the Quid project to the President of the San Zeno Foundation of the Calzedonia group. Who embraced the project by granting us the use of leftover fabrics and a small initial economic contribution, which joined the contribution of other foundations, in the startup phase.
The project has a strong social value as it experiences the reintegration into work of women in disadvantaged situations. In particular, women victims of violence, employing them in productive activities that respond to the logic of the market. At the same time it stimulates an active participation in beauty and creativity. The Quid formula represents an innovation in the fashion sector. By proving to be able to combine social needs and market needs. Also thanks to the collaboration of social services that select suitable users to work with us.
How the business is going
The activity also generates a strong environmental value because garments and accessories are made from leftover fabrics. These are donated by the main Italian companies, allowing them to save on material disposal costs. What is important to us - explains Anna Fiscale - is the process, that is, going to re-valorise the unused fabric by giving social value. Giving that product a story to tell. Convinced that in the future it will also be possible to do so in other sectors, if a social need is identified in the area.
And it is precisely from the territorial community that considerable rewards come. Because we feel that people are fond of our products. Not only because they are of quality but also because they believe in the project. By purchasing the items, they contribute to the financial support of the project itself.
The winning model of Social Business
The aspect of the "re-valorization" of the product that allows the "re-valorization" of the person. Outline a winning social business model. On the one hand there is the economic sustainability of the project and on the other hand a mechanism of social inclusion is triggered.
The project manages to finance itself, investing in both machinery and employees. To date they manage to give work to 40 people and even in prison there are inmates who work for them. They initially used their economic skills to develop a business model. A growth path that has allowed him to get here.
Thinking about the Quid project, concludes the President, I believe that the strength is due to our ability to know how to combine the social, environmental and economic aspects in a new way, to create quality products, competitive on the market, through the recovery of the person. The primary interest is to create social inclusion. Above all through the formation of social and economic networks that can collaborate and invest in the project.
http://futuro.coop/index.php/9-storie/21-quid-la-moda-e-etica
