On 17 and 18 October, Modacc – the Catalan Fashion and Textile Cluster, hosted the plenary meeting of the CRAFT-IT4SD project.

CRAFT-IT4SD revolves around the circular economy and aims to guide the design industries towards the green transition, drawing on the rich cultural heritage and strong creative traditions that underpin the European creative industries ecosystem.

Organised by Modacc, the project partners from Denmark, Finland, Romania and the Basque Country reflected on the legislative changes that will affect the textile sector and explored in depth the design of the pilots for companies that they will carry out in spring 2025, which will focus on digitalisation, virtualisation and 3D simulation, and new business models.

During the stay of the international CRAFT-IT4SD delegation in Catalonia, they visited Leather Cluster Barcelona and the leather craft workshop Nubuckcuir, a member of the cluster.

At the Adoberia Bella, headquarters of the leather cluster, the project partners attended a presentation by Mònica Santamans, project manager, on the development and future strategic challenges of Leather Cluster Barcelona, reviewing the various projects developed within each of the cluster’s strategic lines of action: circular economy, sustainability, talent, innovation, craftsmanship, best practice (including animal welfare and traceability, among others), and communication, all on the basis of shared value.

During the meeting at Leather Cluster Barcelona, the representatives of the CRAFT-IT4SD project were able to experience the artisanal production process of leather accessories at first hand through their visit to the Nubuckcuir leather craft workshop.

At the Nubuckcuir atelier, Mon Soler showed the international delegation how she develops her designs and creates her accessory collections, produced one by one by hand using quality leather.

This day with the partners of the CRAFT-IT4SD project, hosted by Modacc, the Catalan fashion cluster, forms part of a context of inter-cluster cooperation. It is likewise an opportunity to strengthen the leather-fashion connection and broaden the international profile of Leather Cluster Barcelona.

Leather Cluster Barcelona is an environment of competitive cooperation for promoting cross-cutting, transformative strategic projects with the aim of driving forward the ecosystem of the Catalan leather sector within the framework of Shared Value policies. The cluster is an accredited body within the Catalonia Clusters programme and has the support of Acció.