Some of Progetto Quid's creations can be found in the Marsilio Arte bookshops in Venice and Florence. We asked the president Anna Fiscale to retrace the history of a company that combines fashion, social inclusion and respect for the environment

Totally “Made in Verona”, Progetto Quid is the name of the social enterprise that for over ten years has been giving a future to the most vulnerable people, offering them the opportunity to shape truly sustainable garments and accessories using surplus fabrics. We spoke with its president, Anna Fiscale.

Quid was founded in 2013 and is now a fashion company with which over a hundred people are involved. Can you briefly retrace its history and the intentions that inspired the project?
Quid was born from an intuition: to enhance a traditional sector – fashion – both for Italy and for our region (Veneto) by trying to turn it into an agent of change to give a second chance to women in fragile contexts. The intuition took root, blossomed, and today that dream is Quid: a Veronese social enterprise whose mission is to give new life to people and fabrics. From 2013 to the present day, Quid designs and produces garments and accessories made from top-quality surplus fabrics through a process of recovery, design and production entirely Made in Verona, with the aim of offering a new employment opportunity to those most at risk of labour marginalisation, with particular attention to women.

Sustainability, social inclusion and safeguarding the right to labour are the cornerstones of Progetto Quid. How have you put these values into practice through your activities? And what feedback have you received from your employees and customers?
Our mission starts where others stop: where the fashion industry stops, Progetto Quid’s design and production process begins. Where the labour market excludes, that talent is nurtured at Quid. Since 2013, this mission has taken concrete form in our workshops: today there are 160 employees, active in the production site and in the production workshops in the prison of Montorio (Verona). We offer employment opportunities and professional growth to those at risk of labour exclusion in Italy with a special focus on female employment, aspiring to make the labour market more accessible to those most at risk of exclusion and discrimination in Italy. At Quid, the workplace is a universe, within which highly vulnerable, tailor-made labour inclusion paths are created through pioneering initiatives of inclusive leadership and workplace support. This is how we generate impact on the ground locally and nationally in synergy with the public and private sectors. Ours is a model based on the belief that by transforming the limits of the world and society into starting points, innovative production models are born. This is the principle of the circular economy but also the heart of social entrepreneurship for Quid.

Women play a fundamental role in Progetto Quid. What actions – training, support, involvement – have you taken to achieve this important goal?
Today, women represent over 82% of Quid’s talent and workforce. It is thanks to fashion that we are able to rediscover and nurture talent, structuring inclusive paths of training and professional growth within workshops, offices and shops through on-the-job training, inclusive leadership and global sustainable employment programmes. Our integrated model of on-the-job training and support is designed to support the most isolated and least connected workers with access to quality services and benefits, and leverages three integrated virtuous levers: on-the-job training, welfare support and leadership support. Together with the Welfare Officer and the Human Resources Department we plan personal and professional development and accompaniment paths with the aim of improving economic independence and employability thanks to Quid’s recipe for success: knowing how to understand people’s attitudes and peculiarities and trying to place them in a work context that makes them flourish and enhance their talent.

Some of your creations can be found in Marsilio Arte’s Venetian bookshops at Palazzo Grassi, Punta della Dogana, Stanze della Fotografia and in the Florentine one at Palazzo Strozzi. Can you tell us the details of this collaboration?
The collaboration between Marsilio Arte and Quid stems from the desire to expand the offer of the bookshops with original products offering a high social impact that also tell a story: that’s why together we have created a selection of shoppers, cases, purses, bags, placemats and tote bags specifically for the stores and entirely Made in Quid. The mix of textures, shades, colours and materials, made possible thanks to the recovery of surplus fabrics, best reflects the meeting of cultures and the beauty of diversity. They are accessories and furnishing accessories with a Quid element, which tell the story of cultural experience with a focus on production processes and the goals of environmental and social sustainability, values dear to both Quid and Marsilio Arte.

Interview by Arianna Testino

https://www.progettoquid.com/

BIO
Anna Fiscale, 36, graduated in economics and commerce at the University of Verona, and obtain a degree in International Relations Management at the Bocconi University in Milan and a master’s degree in Political Science at Sciences-Po University in Paris. She has three children, the third just newly arrived. On 29 December 2020, Anna Fiscale was made a Knight of the Order of Merit by the President of the Italian Republic “for her passionate contribution and the spirit of initiative with which she has worked on vulnerabilities and differences to transform them into social and economic added value”.

Cover photo: courtesy Progetto Quid