The Fashion & Textile Living Lab – Too Cool to Go Wasted is a distributed laboratory of the Politecnico di Milano, dedicated to research, innovation, and dissemination in the field of sustainability within the fashion and textile sector. It brings together universities, industry, public institutions, and citizens according to the quadruple helix model, working with companies on the circular transition and with citizens on building a culture of sustainability. Its distinctive value lies in the ability to test innovative solutions in real-world contexts, transforming the community from a passive recipient into an active participant in innovation processes.

The lab operates across a dual dimension: a physical space located within the Department of Design, and a network that connects diverse skills and stakeholders, fostering collaboration and synergies within the framework of open innovation.

Objectives

The Fashion & Textile Living Lab was established with a twofold objective: on the one hand, to support businesses in renewing their processes and products from a circular perspective; on the other, to foster a culture of sustainability capable of guiding the daily practices of citizens and social actors throughout the entire supply chain. The circular transition requires not only new tools or processes, but also the ability to question the underlying assumptions that shape how actors in the fashion system assign value to materials and practices. The lab therefore pursues transformative learning that goes beyond mere information, contributing instead to restructuring these frameworks of meaning among participants – businesses, citizens, and institutions. To achieve these goals, the lab addresses the entire textile value chain through three complementary lines of action:

• promoting more responsible consumption models and the spread of sharing practices that extend product lifespans;
• the valorization of secondary materials and resources, through regeneration processes capable of breathing new life into what would otherwise become waste;
• the creation of virtuous recovery and recycling processes, transforming the textile sector into a widespread laboratory of the circular economy.

Activities

The lab is designed as a hybrid, multifunctional space that fulfills three distinct roles:

• a collaborative space where diverse stakeholders come together to jointly develop new sustainable products, services, and processes;
• an innovation platform that supports businesses in their circular transition by providing research tools, consulting, and training;
• a place for raising awareness and fostering culture, capable of making the principles of the circular economy visible and understandable to a wider audience.

The laboratory fulfills these roles through a diverse portfolio of initiatives – public events, narrative tools, instrumental platforms, workshops, and research activities – that are interconnected so that the lessons learned are not confined to individual projects but become embedded over time.

Project Context

The Fashion & Textile Living Lab – Too Cool To Go Wasted was developed and conceived as part of the MUSA project – Multilayered Urban Sustainability Action, funded by the European Union – NextGenerationEU, PNRR Mission 4 Component 2 Investment Line 1.5: Creation and strengthening of 'innovation ecosystems', development of 'regional R&D leaders' (Spoke 3 and Spoke 5). The lab was born from a collaboration between three departments at the Politecnico di Milano – Design, Management Engineering (DIG), and Architecture, Construction Engineering, and the Built Environment (ABC).