Report from the professional excursion in Florence-Italy

In the period from 23.9. until 26.9.2024. eleven students of the Clothing Engineering study program, led by Assoc. Dr. Marija Pešic, Assoc. Dr. Nadia Bukhonka, Assoc. Dr. Ineta Nemeša, and associate Valentina Bozoki, visited textile companies and museums in Florence, Italy. The professional visit was supported by the city of Zrenjanin through a part of scholarships for students and the National airline company Air Serbia with a 50% discount on airline tickets.

As part of this professional excursion, the students visited:
- Gucci Garden, a museum that was opened in 2011 on the ninetieth anniversary of the fashion house and shows the evolution of the development of the luxury fashion brand Gucci.
-     The company Dell'orco & Villani, which since 1964 has been engaged in the production of machines for the textile industry for the recycling of textile waste generated in the production or after the use of clothing. Our delegation was welcomed by the owner of the company Sergio Dellorco and his daughter, the director of the company Sara Dellorco and Mr. Aleksandar Zekovskiy, who will be one of the lecturers at the TNP2024 conference. The company is located in Prat.

- Visit to the textile museum (Musseo del Tessuto Prato). The museum is the largest cultural center in Italy dedicated to the promotion of historical and contemporary textile production and art. The museum follows the production of textiles from the Middle Ages to the present day, which is evidenced by the old examples of machines for the production and processing of textiles. As part of this visit, students had the opportunity to see an exhibition of works by designer Walter Albini.

-    Visit to the luxury fashion brand Ferragamo in Florence. The Ferragamo company focuses on the production of footwear, clothing and fashion accessories. The company has 447 stores around the world and their products are and were worn by famous Hollywood and world figures such as Marilyn Monroe, Ava Gardner, Sophia Loren, Princess Kate Middleton, Angelina Jolie, Demi Moore and many others. The visit to the company was organized in the period from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. During this period, students and teachers had the opportunity to visit the finished goods warehouse with quality control, which is fully automated and equipped with modern robots.The students were shown the production line of model prototypes and the line for making sneakers. Then the archive where they had the opportunity to see unique examples of shoes of famous people such as Marilyn Monroe, Angelina Jolie, Andy Warhol as well as a fashion accessory made of silk. This part of the archive is otherwise closed to the public.

In the second part of the visit, an exhibition was shown in the Museo Salvatore Ferragamo in the center of Florence in the Spini Ferroni Palace, where Ferragamo's headquarters are located. After visiting the museum and the palace, students were addressed by James Ferragamo, grandson of the famous designer Salvatore Ferragamo and owner of the company. Future cooperation with this fashion house and the possibility of sending OI students to an internship in Florence were agreed upon.