After the fourth meeting of the THINK BAG project by Leather & Luxury and Loipell, dedicated to workshops with partner suppliers and Polimoda students, we asked few questions to Sara Filippelli, communication and style office manager at Materia Prima, to understand what drove them to be part of the project and how they will support young designers. In fact, during the workshop days, suppliers show to the students their materials, skills and techniques that will be put at their disposal to help them realize their iconic bag in a sustainable way.
What does the company do?
Materia Prima was founded on January 20th 2021, as a company specialized in research, development and sale of quality leathers, paying particular attention to customer needs and trends of the moment. It aims to rework the knowledge acquired over the years on semi-finished products, to develop collections of leather for footwear, clothing and leather goods, created in collaboration with the best companies in the sector, and with high-level professionals. Materia Prima works and distributes only hides resulting from the waste of the food chain, being very attentive to the environmental and ethical-social aspects of the sector.
What kind of materials will you make available to students?
We will present different kinds of leathers developed on different supports, such as lambs and calves. Mainly, we will provide three collections:
- "Indira", hand woven leather in various patterns;
- a range of floc, embossed and laminated printed leather;
- the collection developed in the name of environmental sustainability: "bio-pell", the biodegradable leather.
Why did you decide to participate in the THINK BAG project?
We strongly believe in the value of collaboration between professional institutions and companies. In addition, we are always very curious to see our materials giving life and shape to the creativity of designers.
We thank Leather & Luxury for considering us. We are honored to be able to get in touch with the students of the prestigious institute. We are glad to make available our knowledge and our materials to future designers and fashion managers, as well as to exchange opinions and ideas with them.
The theme of sustainability has touched the entire leather supply chain. How has Materia Prima adapted to the new environmental needs?
We believe that the issue of environmental sustainability concerns us all very closely. There can be no innovative technology applied to the product which is not looking forward to reducing the impact on the environment. This also applies, of course, to the leather sector.
In this regard, Materia Prima offers some Metal Free and vegetalized leathers, in addition to our bio-pell, (biodegradable leather). We are constantly working on the development of innovative articles with low environmental impact.
