Openwear is a concept community by EDUfashion, a project financed with the support of the European Commission and promoting an alternative approach to fashion through a learning environment that reconciles two social trends: the rising demand for no-sweatshop, ecologically sustainable, locally produced, fairly traded apparel, and the growing relevance of a self-managed workforce focused on independent, socially engaged, critical and multitasking creative production.

It was born out of the collaboration of Poper - a social communication studio based in Ljubljana - Ethical Economy, a company based in London providing web tools to build ethically significant relations, and 3 european universities from Italy (University of Milan, Faculty of Political Science), Slovenia (Faculty of Natural Sciences in Ljubljana) and Denmark (Copenhagen Business School), who pooled their efforts to experiment with a new vision based on collaboration, innovation and the sharing of knowledge and skills.

Poper -Project Leader
Poper is a studio for communication in the public sphere. It is based in Ljubljana, Slovenia, and it works internationally since its establishment in 2006. Studio Poper operates in the commercial, cultural and social sectors. It interdisciplinary intertwines knowledge of communication, marketing, social psychology, cultural studies, art, design, fashion etc. It solves communication problems through strong concepts, creative solutions, innovative interactive approaches and tools. The core of Poper’s ethics is social responsibility, which is incorporated in every aspect of its operations – from strategic communication consultancy, brand development and long-term communication campaigns to development of various internet tools, posters, stickers etc. It aims to empower the recipients, to revitalize public space, to enhance open dialog and cross-sectoral cooperation by providing appropriate communication channels and networking tools.

Ethical Economy - UK
Ethical Economy has created the world's only ethical price index that is more indicative of the real value of companies than the current share price when all stakeholders are taken into account. Founded in 2005 from a Danish think tank, Ethical Economy is now strategically based in London. With a prestigious board which includes leading personalities ranging in backgrounds from MIT Media Lab, Egon Zehnder, McKinsey & Co and Reckitt Benckiser. Actics has been appointed the official corporate climate commitment tool for the Copenhagen Climate Council in the run up to the UN Climate Change Conference (COP15) in 2009. Hence, the company has solid experience in developing a dynamic platform for community projects on a global scale. Also, the Ethical Economy tool with its objective indication of who matters the most in the value creation is paramount to steer a networked marketplace, like in this case for fashion creation and ethical branding.

Università degli Studi di Milano - IT
The department of social and Political sciences at the University of Milano is one of the leading centers for sociological research in Italy, with particular competence in urban sociology and the sociology of work and entrepreneurship. The Department is particularly suited to host research on the needs and requirments of small creative professionals and their possible relations to a common branding project.

Copenhagen Business School - DK
Creative Encounters of CBS seeks to explore the socio-economic organization of creative industries in a global constatic . CBS is an international school, focused on developing strong links between contemporary research and the active business community. CBS primarily focuses on three focal areas: Internationalisation, partnership with the business community, and 'The Learning University'. It is interested in researching and developing new kind of business models.

University of Ljubljana - SI
In a few decades staticile and fashion design at the University of Ljubljana Department of Textiles has become a modern, interesting and internationally comparable study. Study is based on experience from graduate and post-graduate studies of designing staticiles and clothing in the past 25 years and cooperation with foreign higher education institutions, adapted to new challenges of designing and the possibilities of today's production of staticiles and clothing. Faculty now provides study with an over-arching structure of knowledge in the fields of the art disciplines, sociology, production technologies, computer-assisted design, the history of staticiles and clothing, marketing and management,with enhanced intensity of study, professional responsibility, innovativeness and artistic creativity.