AUTHOR=Vacca Federica , Vandi Angelica TITLE=Fashioning cultural entrepreneurship. The role of heritage in dissemination, didactic and research activities among stakeholders JOURNAL=European Journal of Cultural Management and Policy VOLUME=14 YEAR=2025 URL=https://www.frontierspartnerships.org/journals/european-journal-of-cultural-management-and-policy/articles/10.3389/ejcmp.2024.13577 DOI=10.3389/ejcmp.2024.13577 ISSN=2663-5771 ABSTRACT=

As a Cultural and Creative Industry (CCIs), Fashion promotes the establishment of cultural ecosystems, defined as environments in which different actors are driven to produce and consume artefacts, services, and strategies highly dependent on heritage. However, fashion heritage, encompassing tangible artefacts, technical know-how, and socio-cultural meanings embedded in territorial traditions, is often locked within private and corporate archives, limiting its accessibility and potential for broader societal impact and cultural accessibility. This study addresses the challenge of decoding and mobilizing such implicit heritage to drive cultural entrepreneurship, interdisciplinarity, and the development of new professional figures capable of bringing the intrinsic value of CCIs back to life. In light of this scenario, the article addresses the role of fashion heritage within cultural entrepreneurship initiatives, focusing on three main actors – fashion companies, public museums, and academia – and providing an overview of the types of dissemination, didactic and research programs adopted and the pursued objectives. The strategic model of the Gianfranco Ferré Research Center at Politecnico di Milano will be presented as a best practice in integrating fashion cultural heritage within a comprehensive framework of research, education, and dissemination activities within academia and with spillover effects on the entire fashion system. By highlighting the potential for heritage to impact and benefit the broader CCIs contexts, this study contributes to the literature on fashion heritage and cultural entrepreneurship by offering a replicable model for leveraging archives as drivers of educational value as well as cultural and social sustainability in fashion.