Course 2023-2024 a.y.

Classes: 31 (II sem.)

Instructors:
Class 31: FRANCESCA ROMANA RINALDI

The course “Fashion collections and sustainability” offers CLEACC students the opportunity to understand the world of fashion & luxury by providing an overview and general framework of the sectors, the companies, and brands, then delving into two key areas: the sustainability and circularity management focus and the merchandising process (from the point of view of brand building of the seasonal offerings). Both topics are strategic today: sustainability has become a key factor for the fashion system; collection development has to be adapted to the industry evolution and the omnichannel approach.

The course:

- provides an overview of the fashion system and a detailed industry analysis;

- analyzes the main business logic and business models in fashion;

- provides an overview about opportunities and challenges related to sustainability and circularity management in fashion;

- introduces key tools to manage sustainability and circularity in fashion, to create a competitive advantage based on differentiation;

- deepens the concept of the fashion cycle and innovation, the pipeline and its timing;

- describes the seasonal strategies at the level of the product, with relation to distribution and communication;

- describes the role of merchandiser, the collection plan, the sales campaign, the role of buyer.

 

At the end of the course student will be able to...

At the end of the course students will be able to:

- Understand what is behind the fashion and luxury brands in terms of variety of business models and brand typologies;

- Understand the concept of sustainability and circularity in complex value chains;

- Understand the complexity of the process related to the development of the new seasonal offer;

- Learn about different key roles in fashion companies, including merchandisers, buyers, sustainability managers.

At the end of the course student will be able to...

At the end of the course students will be able to:

- evaluate if they would like to get a job in the fashion industry and to acquire the basic competences and skills to start as junior role;

- recognize some of the main issues and problems that characterize fashion companies;

- understand and navigate the complexity related to sustainability and circularity applied to the fashion industry;

- apply strategic concepts, such as: growth strategies, industry analysis, brand positioning, consumer segmentation.

• Face-to-face lectures
• Online lectures
• Guest speaker's talks (in class or in distance)
• Case studies /Incidents (traditional, online)
• Individual assignments
• Group assignments
• Interactive class activities on campus/online (role playing, business game, simulation, online forum, instant polls)
• Participation in external competitions

Lectures: theoretical concepts and managerial models.

Case discussions and role playing: application of theories and managerial models to real cases.

Guest speaker's talks: managers/entrepreneurs/professionals will be sharing what they have learned from practice.

Group assignment: group work on a business case. The companies involved will be invited to class for the brief presentation, tutorship and final presentations.

Individual assignment (optional): the focus will be on Milan as a sustainable and circular fashion & design capital.

	Continuous assessment	Partial exams	General exam
Written individual exam (traditional/online)			x
Group assignment (report, exercise, presentation, project work etc.)			x
Optional individual assignment			x

For attending students, the final grade will be based on:

-60% written exam composed of multiple-choice and true/false questions, aimed at testing all the learning objectives of the course.

-40% group project (team made of 4-6 people), aimed at improving the learning process through the application of concepts and models to a real brand and at facilitating the relations among students and the so called "soft skills".

The written test will be based on the teaching material distributed in class which are available on BB and the two books listed below:

-F. R. RINALDI (2019): Fashion Industry 2030, EGEA - Bocconi University Press

-N. MISANI, P.VARACCA CAPELLO (2017), “Fashion Collections: Product Development and Merchandising”, EGEA

The group assignment will be a short report (PDF format, 20 slides). It will focus on the critical analysis of one of the course topics, applied to a concrete business case. The brief will be provided in class at the beginning of the course and the guidelines will be uploaded on Blackboard.

Attending students need to attend at least 75% of all classes.

An optional individual assignment will be graded +1 on the final grade.

For non-attending students the final grade will be based on a written exam (composed of multiple-choice and true/false questions) on the three books listed below:

-F. R. RINALDI (2019), “Fashion Industry 2030”, EGEA - Bocconi University Press

-N. MISANI, P.VARACCA CAPELLO (2017), “Fashion Collections: Product Development and Merchandising”, EGEA

-F.R. RINALDI, S. TESTA (2014), “The Responsible Fashion Company. Integrating Ethics and Aesthetics in the Value Chain”, Routledge - Greenleaf Publishing

The final grade will be the result of the following: 100% final written text.

An optional assignment will be graded +1 on the final grade.

 

-F. R. RINALDI (2019): Fashion Industry 2030, EGEA - Bocconi University Press

-N. MISANI, P.VARACCA CAPELLO (2017), “Fashion Collections: Product Development and Merchandising”, EGEA

-F. R. RINALDI (2019), “Fashion Industry 2030”, EGEA - Bocconi University Press

-N. MISANI, P.VARACCA CAPELLO (2017), “Fashion Collections: Product Development and Merchandising”, EGEA

-F.R. RINALDI, S. TESTA (2014), “The Responsible Fashion Company. Integrating Ethics and Aesthetics in the Value Chain”, Routledge - Greenleaf Publishing