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ITALY / Milan: White launches White Street Market
by Modem – Posted June 04 2018
© Modem

At White Man & Woman, an innovative and unique format for the Italian panorama, an absolute novelty dedicated to sportswear and streetwear brands around the globe, is all set to debut at Ex Ansaldo | Base in via Tortona 54: White Street Market.

The first Fashion and Street Culture Festival is due to be premiered in Milan and gather buyers from across the globe, in Milan for the Milano Fashion Week, and end-users. White Street Market represents a great opportunity for sportswear and streetwear labels, which are granted a change to meet both the buyers and the consumers, as well as sell directly to the end-users. Not only collections, but also workshops, exhibitions, showcases and music events are going to enliven the Tortona Fashion District. The special format has been developed by White with Paolo Ruffato - founder of Probeat Agency - and Walter D’Aprile, Co-founder & CEO of nss factory, digital media agency specializing in top street sport & fashion.

"The goal of White Street Market – said Walter D’Aprile – is to offer a brand-new class of event, far from the trade-fair archetypes. The actual development of the project has confronted us with hard and important challenges, with ensuing courageous, and never obvious, decisions and choices. Today, the names partaking in White Street Market show that we have been able to involve brands that widely differ one from another, some of which had deserted tradeshows, like Adidas Originals, G-Schock and Patagonia. These are joined by creative and independent labels, like Gabber Eleganza.

Fashion needs Milan and Milan needs fashion, the traditional Fashion Week must avail itself of the new technological and communication tools to reach the audience, who is given a chance to simultaneously discover and choose what to buy. White Street Market is, and will certainly be, one of these tools. All ones need to do, is to be part of" continues Walter D’Aprile.

Paolo Ruffato goes on: “White Street Market represents an evolution of the trade-fair concept. Buyers and consumers interact in the framework of an event with marked cultural connotation, where fashion, art, food and talk merge to produce an exceptional experience. The audience will come into contact with the brands, as if it were an out-and-out “Fuori Salone of Fashion”. The buyers will have a chance to benchmark the impact of a brand on the end-users, thus gaining vital insight on the newest trends, and on how the latter are perceived by those who make their sell-out possible.”

Aiming to attract the general public and embrace the city, some partners have been selected, like Club to Club, the leading Italian electronic music festival, which will curate White Street Market’s sound design by organizing concerts and Dj-sets with the best international artists. A wealth of happenings, from photography exhibitions in collaboration with Ricky Powell, to the charity auction organized with Ground Zero Project by Massimo Sabbadin - Bad Spirit in favour of Only The Brave Foundation, which will donate the proceeds to the non-profit Piccolo Principe.

At the first edition of White Street Market, two recurring themes at the core of the wealth of skills and strategic initiatives launched in collaboration with the brands and with the partners that have joined the project: subculture and sustainability. WSM wants to celebrate the subcultures and their ability to bring together people sharing the same passion. The goal is to represent the most iconic subcultures, their story, their power, and what they mean and have meant to the people who played a role in them. This theme has been devoted the show “WITHIN THE CULTURE” by GETTY IMAGES, with a selection of priceless repertoire images from the Getty Images’ archives, with focus on the different subcultures divided into: Break-dance, Punk, Mod, Surfers, Teddy Boys and Skaters.

The second theme at WSM regards the concept of sustainibility and the change needed for a sustainable coexistence, also through the development of design projects conceived to actively help safeguard our planet. Among the protagonists in this area Patagonia, always at the forefront when it comes to environmental protection. The brand is going to partake in WSM with the campaign Blue Heart, a talk and a collection of signatures to give a voice to and to help the local communities protect the Balkan region from over 3.000 hydro- electrical projects, and thus avert an environmental disaster. To this aim, the brand has also launched a campaign with the hashtags #SaveTheBlueHeart #TheDamTruth. Also in the vein of sustainability, WRAD - upcoming eco-friendly label founded by Matteo Ward, Silvia Giovanardi and Victor Santiago - will be at the core of one of the several scheduled talks, and will stage, in via Tortona 27, the international début of the Mint Fiber, a fibre derived from mint.

Several prominent players have decided to support the WSM project, like Radio Deejay with radio and digital promotion, Rolling Stone, with a live social media coverage and dedicated special reports, and Video Games Party, which is going to set up a gaming area in which all the users can entertain themselves during the fashion days, marked by events, talks and shows.
NABA – Nuova Accademia di Belle Arti, is the protagoniston Monday 18th June of a didactical event, during which the Fashion and Design students will be offered a chance to learn from true fashion professionals (media, PR agencies, trade-fairs, buyers and businesses) how to organize their brand and set up a modern and successful business model.

© Modem