A total of 47 fashion and textile projects have been selected in Tunisia by the local STAND Up! partner CITET to join the Growing Innovation Program. In this sense, they will be participating to the advanced training focused on building a validated Green Business Model following the SwitchMed methodology.

With almost 70% of female presence and more than half of entrepreneurs who are less than 35 years old, the selection stands out for the prominent presence of early stages ideas and prototypes in the development phase. All projects are therefore remarkably suitable to receive support from ENI CBC Med Programme by implementing their solutions to become successful green businesses in the textile and fashion industry.

There are two main threads that recur in the key concepts underlying the selected Tunisian projects. On the one hand, selected entrepreneurs imagine eco-design and sustainable production into all aspects of people's daily lives, from work to leisure, from important occasions to the most intimate dimension, highlighting the importance of practices such as upcycling, reselling and the second hand.

Examples among the many selected are the production of casual leisurewear using recycled fibers such as fishing line developed by the MY-OYA project for its swimwear, GDP Tunisia producing footwear made from recycled tyre powder or GuyaGang project guaranteeing a 100% ecological process from production to delivery of yoga clothing. Cauri would be another example offering specific undergarments for women, no longer disposable but completely recyclable.

In addition to all this, another idea is the one suggested by Mercy for Fashion: using a circular approach for collections of clothes reassembled from discarded models never used. Last but not least, Green Blue Denim proposes creating ecological denim that is healthy for the environment through new technologies such as ozone treatment, e-flow and laser technology and Barbecha wants to launch an online concept store that supports responsible shopping through re-use and re-sell practices.

On the other hand, the entrepreneurs will merge the cultural, environmental and know-how universe of Tunisia with the new needs of a responsible and sustainable production. Here then are some experiences such as the project AZDAD that promotes Berber culture by making high-end clothing and accessories obtained using natural dyes and textile applications.

Another example would be TAZDAYET, a high fashion collection that uses eco fibers 100% biodegradable and compostable, PalmFil, obtained from the pruning of date palm in Tunisia and ETTANTOURA, a strategic initiative for sustainable local development, serving productions and handicraft creations based on natural fibers, textiles and crafts, through the promotion and re-appropriation of responsible territorial know-how.

Common to all nearly fifty entrepreneurs involved is a clear stance on supporting and implementing greater circularity in the textile and clothing sector promoting production that emphasizes social inclusion and ethics, as is the aim of the project.

STAND Up! is an EU-funded project under the ENI CBC Med Programme aiming to promote eco-innovative business projects in the textile, clothing and fashion sectors that positively contribute to an environmentally and socially responsible circular model in 5 participating countries (Egypt, Italy, Lebanon, Spain, and Tunisia). The Regional Activity Centre for Sustainable Consumption and Production (SCP/RAC) is the project’s Lead Partner.