Inclusivity is one of our core principles; one that’s the very foundation of a workplace where each person can express their full potential. Conserving and valuing the diversity that each one of our employees possesses has widened our vistas, fostered innovation, and sparked out-of-the-box thinking over the years.
It’s within this framework that our latest initiative fits; one that over the next few months will see us telling the stories of our fellow staff members in an entirely new and never-before-seen way: through a fashion show. Helping us in this enterprise are two partners, both of which encapsulate Made in Italy: IED - European Institute of Design and the Tuscan textile firm Dalle Piane Cashmere.
Made in Italy creativity – serving uniqueness
Last February, we canvassed our employees all across Italy, asking them to share their stories, their hobbies, who their role models are, and what it is that makes them stand out from the rest. In just a few days we received hundreds of written entries, photos and videos, all demonstrating how our employees truly inhabit the values that we are constantly promoting, right from day one. Out of all the entries that we received – people with different career backgrounds and personal experiences, from different geographic locations and cultures, and with passions and dreams all different from one another – we selected 25 Amazonians to feature in our initiative.
Attempting to showcase uniqueness is a fascinating yet challenging adventure, and one that has spurred us on to find a whole new way to recount our differences. We were thus determined to employ a really powerful platform: the full creativity of students from the IED Fashion Design campus in Rome. We asked them to create 25 original pieces that would bring to life the stories of each one of our participants. After all, fashion has long been used to tell a story, an expression of our ever-evolving society. And so, what better channel than to use it to depict the lives of each person, through the vision of emerging stylists and produced by one of the top Made in Italy manufacturers?
Paola Pattacini, IED Fashion Rome Coordinator, said: “For our students, being able to work with a company like Amazon, with its highly structured processes and its well-defined and renowned cultural values, represents quite an opportunity in the development of their professional career paths. A virtuous collaboration with companies has always been a main element in the academic journey of IED students. And this time, our students get to unleash their full creativity into 25 unique stories, bringing them to life. We can’t wait to see the final outcome of this project and to see the 25 pieces on the runway, worn by the very people who inspired their creation.”
Ivan Flumeri, 28 years old, Team Leader at Torrazza Piemonte (Torino) fulfilment centre, said: “I read about this initiative and wanted to put myself forward – because I’d love to take to the catwalk, heels and all. It has quite a significant meaning for me. My hobbies over the last few years include ‘heels dancing,’ theatre, trekking, extreme sports and travel…Basically, trying out and learning new things.”
Mafalda Freixial, 26 years old, Brand Specialist for Amazon Fresh in Milan, said: “Over the years, I’ve dived into a whole lot of hobbies. I started playing violin as a child, I practiced Flamenco dance for ten years, even professionally, and at a certain point, I pursued military studies – an experience that led me to fall in love with sports and that taught me how to stretch my limits. I speak five languages and have lived in many cities: Lisbon, Rome, Dubai, New York, San Francisco, and now Milan.”
Roberta Alioto, 47 years old, Associate at Novara fulfilment centre, said: “I couldn’t believe my eyes when I read about this new initiative! I’m super passionate about ‘creative recycling’: I love redesigning and making objects and décor using discarded materials. I especially love working with wood and have made signs, furniture, even stage sets. I take my inspiration from nature’s beauty: its colours, the sea, the greenery of Sicily with its intense and heady palette…Really, from anything and everything that spurts out spontaneously from the arid ground, which for me signifies a force, a will to live, and the transmission of energy.”
To bring each student’s creation to life, we will rely on support from Tuscan SME Dalle Piane Cashmere, which has been handing down the art of textiles for three generations.
Leonardo Dondini, E-commerce Head for Dalle Piane Cashmere, said: “This project represents an absolute first for my company, especially from the moment we found ourselves working side-by-side with students from such an important institute as IED and with Amazon. We’re really delighted to have this opportunity and to interact with young people imbued with such a huge creative spirit and verve – two characteristics that we truly appreciate and acknowledge as having always guided my company right from the start. It’s this drive for taking on new challenges that brought us to encountering Amazon, something that has taken our Made in Italy excellence well beyond Prato.”
The final outcome of this Made in Italy collaboration will be seen next autumn when we bring the stories of our 25 participants onto the runway. They will act as models for a day, presenting the pieces that were designed and created precisely with them in mind.
