Simone Cipriani
Head & Founder | Ethical Fashion Initiative at the International Trade Centre
Simone Cipriani founded and manages the Ethical Fashion Initiative, a flagship programme of the International Trade Centre, a joint agency of the United Nations and World Trade Organization.
Through the Ethical Fashion Initiative, Cipriani has made it his mission to build a more responsible and sustainable fashion industry. The Ethical Fashion Initiative harnesses the power of fashion as a vehicle out of poverty by connecting artisans in the developing world to fashion’s supply chain. Since its inception, the initiative has evolved to work with emerging African designers to promote their talent at an international level and support Made in Africa production. The initiative operates in the following countries: Kenya, Ethiopia, Mali, Burkina Faso, Haiti, Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu, Afghanistan, Nepal and Jordan. A multitude of brands including Brother Vellies, Chan Luu, Karen Walker, MaXhosa by Laduma, Stella McCartney, United Arrows, Vivienne Westwood, Osklen, Carmina Campus, Yestadt Millinery, Edun, Mimi Plange and Faustine Steinmetz work with the Ethical Fashion Initiative.
Cipriani collaborates regularly with fashion colleges, universities and institutions (Manchester Metropolitan University, New African Woman, New York Textile Month, IE Business School, IHT Luxury Conference, Aspen Institute and Bunka Fashion College etc.) In 2015-2016, he managed a series of conferences on sustainability at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York. The series was called The Hand of Fashion and brought together industry leaders such as Ms. Marie-Claire Daveu (Kering), Ms. Aurora James (Brother Vellies), Ms. Bob Bland (Manufacture New York), Mr. Oskar Metsavaht (Osklen), Ms. Omoyemi Akerele (Lagos Fashion & Design Week) and many others.
Cipriani worked previously in Ethiopia, where he managed a large intervention by a UN agency to improve the national leather industry. For the same agency, he worked in both Ethiopia and Kenya to set up strategic frameworks to develop viable leather industries. He has consulted for a host of UN and international agencies. He designed and managed development cooperation projects in Indonesia, India, Vietnam, China, Tunisia and Bangladesh.
While Cipriani has years of experience working in the developing world, he was born in Tuscany, the historic centre of the Italian luxury accessories industry. After studying in Florence, the centre for “Made in Italy” quality, Cipriani worked in the Italian shoe and leather industry. As such he brings a deep understanding of quality and production to the Ethical Fashion Initiative’s objectives to create desirable fashion in some of the world’s most challenging environments. He also directed an organisation (PISIE) that offered training and capacity building to leather industry entrepreneurs from the developing world – mostly from Africa. He directed a private company CESECA, which offered services to Italian footwear and leather companies in quality control, technological innovation, training and delocalisation of production to India, Indonesia, China, Bangladesh and Vietnam.
