Young talents
Ratti and young people
For us in the Ratti group, believing and investing in the younger generations, working shoulder-to-shoulder with Italian and international schools and universities, means fostering growth and mutual enrichment. Two worlds – Ratti and schools – that in recent years have often become intertwined, giving life to ideas and projects created from stories, talents and, above all, by people united by a shared path that is not a goal, but a small part of the journey.
These relationships consist of:
- Company visits
- School Work Experience
- Collaborations and Sponsorships
- Lectures at schools / universities
Company visits
Every year, we open the doors of our manufacturing site, organising ad hoc company visits. The aim is to make our production cycle known: from the initial design to the printing of the fabric.
Guided directly by our plant managers, the tours are dedicated to Italian and international textile high schools, as well as to universities and fashion academies around the world.
Collaborations and Sponsorships
Over the years we have cultivated numerous relationships, seeking to strengthen collaborations with fashion and design high schools and universities through activities such as:
- inclusion of young talents in internships through competitions and project work;
- support ai for graduating students for selected thesis projects;
- sponsorship of events, exhibitions and competitions organised by schools and universities.
Lectures at schools / universities
We participate in training meetings to nurture our relationship with students.
Among the latest are the meetings in the corporate strategy course of the Executive MBA of the Il Sole 24 Ore Business School; the Sustainable Luxury Academy of the Polytechnic of Milan; the Executive MBA di ALTIS ALTIS Executive MBA course at the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart of Milan and the Polimoda in Florence.
Looking for designers
In 2014, our group launched the 1st Looking For Designers Project with the aim of identifying creative young people from all over the world who want to pursue a career in the textile industry. After an initial training phase, which plots a course through the departments of the factory, the students were placed in internships in the Group’s creative offices.
In 2017, the 2nd edition of the project took place, which placed another 5 graduates in the Marzotto Group facilities.
Young Engineers
In 2010, the Group launched the 1st Young Engineers Project with the aim of placing talented young people in its production facilities. By means of a six-month training course, the aim is to familiarise students with all the manufacturing facilities, production processes and organisational dynamics of the group.
Every year, the course culminates in the assignment of the participants to specific project work at our group’s sites, in Italy and abroad.
Sales
Investment in young people is also fuelled by the Sales Project. Starting in 2012, its aim was to introduce into our group’s multifaceted world of textiles, talented young people, curious to learn, eager to grow and ready to get involved.
In 2015 and 2017 (3rd edition) we replicated the project, welcoming into the company other graduates who want to pursue a career in the commercial sector.
National Chamber of Italian Fashion
After the success of past editions, we have chosen to be a partner of the National Chamber of Italian Fashion. The 8 talents, the cream of the Italian fashion schools, called upon to create a collection to be worn on the catwalk, have learned to understand and respect the dynamics of the system, measuring themselves for the first time against the working world. Ratti was with them in their choice of the fabrics to be transformed on the basis of their ideas and their creativity, with the primary purpose of cultivating their talents. Ratti has done all this together with Camera Moda, for Milano Moda Graduate, demonstrating the active commitment of Italian fashion in supporting talent.
ComON
As a group we support ComON, in bringing together, in Como, the brightest talents from the most prestigious European design schools, stimulating the circulation of ideas and the blending of young local students with the companies in this area; in general, we promote culture and the passion for the world of the arts. This is why, every year, we host, young talents in internships, strengthening the interaction between the business world and training schools in an intertwining of creativity, experience and sensitivity.
Paolo Carcano Setificio I.S.I.S. (Paolo Carcano High School)
The collaboration with Paolo Carcano High School is an important educational partnership, constantly creating opportunities that offer schooling combined with work experience, company internships and visits, as well as creating synergies for training projects in the classroom and on the job within the company.
Costume and Fashion Academy of Rome
Ratti is a partner of the “Fabric Innovation Design” master’s course. A master’s course designed with the aim of defining and training future textile designers who will work alongside the creative directors of the fashion houses, contributing to research and the creation of the collections. The course provides the fundamental technical knowledge that also revolves around the themes of sustainability as well as innovation so as to broaden the perspective of individuals in their realisation of creative projects.
Bocconi University – MAFED
The Master’s Degree in Fashion, Experience and Design Management (MAFED) at Bocconi University, in collaboration with the Group, has devised a means of contacting fashion students in schools worldwide in order to provide the fabrics needed for their work and to create solid partnerships. Thus was born Fabric The Future, a project dedicated to supporting and developing young talent during their academic career, laying the foundations for a relationship between the students of today / designers of tomorrow and the Group.
Galli Academy
The result of the collaboration between the Aldo Galli Academy of Fine Arts, Unindustria Como (the Association of Manufacturers and Enterprises), the Chamber of Commerce of Como and important local companies, Career Card is an initiative aimed at introducing students to companies, through the implementation of projects developed in parallel to education and of use to business enterprises. Ratti, a partner in the project, guided the students through to the completion of their studies, involving them in daily activities and offering a scholarship to the most deserving student who was most in tune with the company philosophy.
Laba and AFWM
On the occasion of the fourth edition of AFWM (Afro Fashion Week Milan) Ratti was a sponsor in the production of the wax fabrics that were exhibited during the Milan fashion week in September 2019. In addition to promoting cultural exchanges, AFWM nurtures emerging designers by giving them the chance to present their collections to an audience of buyers. The designers who presented are the students of the Laba Douala Academy who attended the Fashion Design course. The Academy offers the opportunity for emerging young designers to acquire information and experience at an international level, providing knowledge and methodologies for research, analysis and project development which are essential for becoming accomplished designers. The graphics classes and workshops, one of which is on textile printing, alternate with the design and prototyping of a collection directly within the company.
TexSelect
TexSelect guides and promotes young and talented textile designers who have graduated from the most prestigious English fashion academies and schools. As the Ratti Group, we are proud to have participated as the exclusive partner in the project at the TexSelect London Preview. It is a bridging event between companies and the designers entering the working world. It gives young people the opportunity to present themselves and establish collaborative relationships, as well as enabling companies to find new talent, the invaluable lifeblood of business activities.
Work together
to grow together
Teamwork is of strategic importance, especially in a competitive world such as ours, which is constantly searching for new creative sparks, innovative ideas and successful solutions. We try to surround ourselves and work with those who reflect and embrace our values, to make our business grow, alongside those who nurture this deep passion for the world of textiles.
Craftsmanship and tradition must be handed down from generation to generation so that they are not lost, but rather used as a starting point to give life to ever new projects, built on study and research and developed thanks to innovation.