Connecting identities. How traditional fashion know-how promotes social innovation

The paper presents a new approach to fashion design that, referring to local identities and traditional know-how, can stimulate social innovation, supporting the active integration of socially excluded groups into public economic life and the introduction of new product values and consumption meanings on the international market. Case-studying a research experience, the paper aims at presenting a second design experience for I was a Sari, a project of social and sustainable design innovation kicked off in 2013. Within the socially ‘fragile’ Indian territory, I was a Sari recognizes textile-manufacturing skills that are evidence of a tacit knowledge held by female artisans living in Mumbai slums as possible resources for the improvement of their socio-economic status.