Diego RINALLO

This AlpTextylesdeliverable explores how textile producers in the Alpine region can strategically communicate the value of products rooted in circularity, cultural heritage, and collaborative value chains. It emphasizes the role of marketing communications as a key enabler for consumer engagement. 

Context and Objectives. Many producers engaged in sustainable and heritage-based textile practices struggle to make their value proposition visible and intelligible to consumers. Traditional product labelingoften fails to convey the depth of cultural, ecological, or territorial significance embedded in these goods. This deliverable investigates how to bridge this gap by: 1) Identifying effective communication strategies; 2) Evaluating consumer perceptions of origin, heritage, and sustainability claims; 3) Highlighting innovative practices, from narrative labelling to crowdfunding; 4) Offering actionable insights for small-scale or community actors across Alpine areas.

Key Findings. 1. Heritage and Circularity Must Be Narrated to Be Valued. Consumers rarely perceive heritage, sustainability, or local origin unless these qualities are explicitly communicated. Heritage must be translated in contemporary narratives, focusing on the people, processes, and places behind the product. Similarly, circularity benefits from storytelling and educational approaches, explaining for example how to extend product life, care for natural fibers, or support local communities and biodiversity. 

2. Cross-border Value Chains Can Be a Narrative Strength. Alpine textile producers often rely on cross-border collaborations, combining resources and expertise from multiple partners and taking advantage of territorial specialization. Rather than being perceived as fragmented, these value chains can be framed around shared heritage and common identity elements, exploiting the resonant image of the Alps and the similar environmental challenges. 

3. Certifications can reassure consumers of product quality and compliance with standards. Many certifications exist dealing with origin, sustainability and to some extent also heritage claims. Being typically verified by independent third-parties, they can reassure consumers of the veridicityof these claims resulting in greater trust. Some of these certifications are however little known or understood, and limited research exist on the impact of combining multiple certifications on consumer behavior. 

4. Certifications and Message-driven approaches are complementary. While third-party certifications remain useful for signalingquality and compliance to standards, they are often complex and less emotionally resonant. Message-driven approaches, when well-executed, can engage consumers more directly, especially when integrated into broader communication strategies that include labels and packaging, web sites and social media, events, personal selling, and direct to consumer approaches.

5. Beyond Short-Term Promotional Goals, Educating Consumers is Key. Educating consumers is essentially to ensuring that circular and heritage-based products are properly understood, valued, and cared for. Many consumers lack the knowledge to recognize the authenticity, quality, or environmental benefits of products. Producers must therefore invest in simple, engangingand accessible communication, explaining for example how to recognize handmade goods, extend product life through proper case, or why supporting some products contributes to cultural, social or environmental sustainability.

6.Narrative labels, Crowdfunding and Symbolic Adoptions can drive consumer engagement- Innovative approaches can contribute to educate consumers, cultivate relationships, and drive emotional engagement. Narrative labels beyond legal requirements can humanize the product and tell its story. Crowdfuningcampaingsand symbolic adoptions of animals and plants can encourage consumers to feel personally connected, permitting to obtain significant financial resources.

Recommendations for Alpine Textile Producers:

- Select wisely among the many possible certifications those which are better known, understood and resonant with targeted consumers. Combine them wisely. 

- Leverage origin and heritage in storytelling. Frame products not just as goods, but as experiences, stories, and acts of care, aligned with slow fashion, circularity, and regional resilience.

- Communicate your value chain, highlighting its strengths. Consider emphasizing fiberorigin or place of production. Promote cross-border Alpine value chains as an advantage based on common values, do not hide it as a liability. 

- Invest in educational messaging to teach consumers how to recognize, care for, and value your products

- Use affordable but high-engagement tools such as narrative labels, adoption schemes, crowdfunding, and behind-the-scene storytelling.

Consumers can drive the market to support circular, sustainable value chains in the Alpine textile sector, disrupted by globalization. While people do not tend to immediately associate the Alps and textile products, the “place brand” is strongly positive. Critical views against the current globalized textile chains and a willingness to buy local, artisanal, and environmentally friendly products are widespread phenomena, providing an encouraging outlook for the promotion of Alpine textile products.

Knowledge of the textile heritage and production history in the Alps is fragmented at the local, regional, and national levels. ZRC SAZU has researched the production and use of textiles in traditions and current practices in the Alpine region, focusing on wool, linen, and silk, as well as aspects of aesthetics and costumes. The research also shows how resource sensitivity rooted in local customs can inspire current circular practice, highlighting key milestones and traditional aspects of textile production to promote sustainability across the industry.

As the Alps are associated with nature, heritage, tradition, adventure, exploration, performance, and luxury, brands strategically use geographic locations to infuse their products with symbolic meanings. This paper examines how brands connect themselves to the Alps in their marketing communications, showing that some brands emphasize the Alps as a place of production, while others depict Alpine landscapes as a site of consumption.

This document was produced in the framework of the 100% Local project. The project is co-financed by the European Union in the framework of the European Union strategy for the Alpine macro-region (EUSALP). The funds are delivered through the Alpine Region Preparatory Action Fund II (ARPAF II). More information here. This work is the result of a theoretical reflection and a practical process that has involved 4 project partners and 5 local communities. Contemporary agri-food supply chains have undergone a strong process of de-territorialisation due to the modernization of agriculture and food production, the globalization of market exchanges and the growth of modern distribution, which have resulted in a disconnect between the places of production and those of consumption. In the Alpine region, these trends have resulted in downsizing or disappearance of some agro-food supply chains, loss of biodiversity and productive know-how, and difficulties in safeguarding productive landscapes. In countertendency with respect to these prevailing conditions, many local communities in the Alps and elsewhere are experimenting with territorial development models based on the commercial valorisation of agri-food products fully produced and processed locally. Based on the analysis of existing best practices such as the 100% Valposchiavo initiative (Switzerland) and a test in 5 pilot areas (Parco delle Prealpi Giulie and OberVinschgau/Alta Val Venosta in Italy, Bohinj/Triglav National Park in Slovenia, Pitztal in Austria, and Valsot in Switzerland), the ARPAF project 100% Local identified the characterising elements of such approaches with the goal of ensuring its replicability in other areas willing to strengthen their local agri-food supply chains. The resulting 100% Local Model is based on a future envisioning participative methodology in three stages: (1) Analysis of the current situation; (2) Future envisioning with stakeholders and collective decision making; (3) Implementation of initiatives and monitoring of results. Building on methods developed in the context of future studies, the 100% Local Model favours a collective envisioning of the future by relevant stakeholders and ensures that governance structures and planned interventions are designed to accommodate structural future changs. This constitutes one element of great innovativeness of the model with respect to other approaches to territorial development/branding, and makes it useful to deal with megatrends affecting the Alps, including climate change, acceleration of technological innovation, and growing urbanisation. To facilitate the visualisation of the building blocks of the territorial development strategy emerging from the application of the methodology, we developed the 100% Local Territorial Development Canvas, printable in large formats, that will help local actors exchange perspectives and make decisions in participative manners. The model can benefit from the establishment or development of territorial brands, which we consider as a useful instrument to coordinate local actors, facilitate dialogue with policy makers, attract public funding, and communicate a coherent image for local agri-food products to clients and stakeholders.

The toolkit was co-created as part of a project funded by the British Academy (UK) involving three artist communities in West Bengal, India, a non-profit organization (Contact Base) and a team of researchers from Italy, France and the UK. Community planning for sustainable development through intangible cultural heritage Heritage knowledge and skills (known as intangible cultural heritage, or ICH), such as traditional crafts, cooking skills, dance, poetry or songs, can be used to generate income. Many communities wish to use their heritage skills and knowledge to support local livelihoods as well as maintain identity and meaning. This can support the Sustainable Development Goals under Agenda 2030, for social, cultural, environmental and economic empowerment of communities. This toolkit aims to help communities who want to promote their heritage products and services in the market. It will be most helpful to those who have already entered the market and wish to refine their approach. It offers some ideas that can be used to maximise benefits and mitigate risks, for example around overcommercialization.

Research report written in the context of the Interreg Alpine Space European Project 'AlpFoodway' Founded in 1997, AFTALP is a second-level promotional association that regroups the trade organizations responsible for the promotion of the eight Savoyard cheeses protected by geographical indications (PDOs and PGIs): Abondance PDO, Beaufort PDO, Chevrotin PDO, Emmental de Savoie PGI, Raclette de Savoie PGI, Reblochon PDO, Tome des Bauges PDO, and Tomme de Savoie PGI. Specifically, AFTALP promotes these traditional Savoyard cheeses by valorising the common elements at the base of their quality: the links to the natural and cultural landscape, the indigenous cow and goat breeds, and the traditional cheese-making practices. By fostering the engagement of different local actors and communities, the association encourages a collective and collaborative marketing approach that helps to preserve and safeguard the traditional Savoyard cheese heritage. In addition, thanks to its two main promotional activities – the Route of Savoyard Cheeses and the Festival of Savoyard Cheeses - the association improves the tourist attractiveness of the Department of Savoie and Haute Savoie and supports local business activities.