In Biella, a global school for tailors thanks to the partnership between Confartigianato Biella, the Municipality of Biella, and the Sartori Academy
By Cristiano Gatti, Confartigianato Biella President and Confartigianato Piemonte Vice-President
Among the officially recognized Italian excellences, the field of tailoring stands out as a genuine art, still symbolizing craftsmanship, creativity, and good taste, which make the Italian school one of the most authoritative and appreciated in the world. It’s no wonder that the expression “Made in Italy” derives from the tailors’ custom-tailoring, later extending to related sectors like fashion.
So, it’s not surprising that the 39th Congress of the World Federation of Master Tailors (WFMT), the most important global association of Master Tailors, held from July 31 to August 5 2023, chose Italy as its host country. Specifically, the city of Biella was selected by the WFMT Executive Committee, given its status as the cradle of the textile industry, another famous Italian excellence closely linked to tailoring. The Biella district alone produces 40% of all the high-quality fabric made in the world. The Congress, attended by 270 of the world’s best tailors from 34 countries, provided an opportunity to showcase a unique territory while promoting global tourism increasingly focused on culture and “made in Italy.” During the week of events, participants had the opportunity to visit some of the most beautiful destinations in Piedmont, including Turin, Stresa, the Borromean Islands, the Royal Palace of Venaria Reale, Biella, and Oropa. The actual Congress included themed conferences, visits to major Biella textile companies, tailor competitions, and fashion shows. The fashion shows held in the historic village of Piazzo were a resounding success.
The event served as a stage for the complete production chain, starting from fabric creation and ending with the artisan, the tailor, who, with their talent, crafts exclusive garments. However, in an increasingly complex world, the challenge is to create a professional figure capable of keeping pace with the times, equipped with managerial skills and fostering innovation in an ever eco-friendlier environment. Gaetano Aloisio, Vice President of the Federation and the National Sartori Academy in Rome, a well-known master of Calabrian origin who has dressed the powerful and the international jet set, took up this challenge. The National Sartori Academy, an institution with a very ancient historical origin (it was founded in the early 1575 by the order of Pope Gregory XVIII), has been committed for nearly five centuries to maintaining a craft that, despite its ups and downs, has managed to preserve a strong identity. Even today, it aims to train the Master Tailors of the future by offering educational paths for young tailoring talents looking to acquire technical, stylistic, and managerial skills.
The 2023’s world congress was so successful that it led to the idea of creating a High School of Tailoring in Biella, an operational branch of the Rome School that will involve students from all over the world and is expected to be ready by 2024. The partnership between the city with unparalleled textile heritage and the knowledgeable Master Artisans of the Rome School already anticipates further success in one of the most esteemed sectors in the world of “made in Italy”.
