Carlo Capasa

Carlo Capasa is the Chairman of Camera Nazionale della Moda Italiana (CNMI), the Association that groups Italian fashion houses to promote this high performing sector of Italian industry.

Appointed a director of Camera Nazionale della Moda for the first time in 2010 and elected Chairman in 2015 to orchestrate a relaunching of the Association, Capasa has introduced a strategic vision focused on sustainability, diversity, equity & inclusion, training, promotion of new brands, storytelling and institutional relations.

CNMI, owner of the Milano Fashion Week brand and organizer of Milan’s fashion weeks, has become, under Carlo Capasa’s guidance, a world-leading force amongst fashion associations on the subject of sustainability, with the publication in 2016 of the first “Guidelines on eco-toxicological requisites for articles of clothing, leather goods, footwear and accessories”; “CNMI principles for sustainable retailing” (2017); “Guidelines on eco-toxicological requisites for chemical mixtures and industrial waste” (2018); “Scientific research into the bio-availability of carcinogenic aromatic amines” (2018); “Global Sustainability Report – Sustainability matters, but does it sell?” (2019) in collaboration with McKinsey & Company; “Diversity and Inclusion Manifesto” (2019); “Social Sustainability Report” and “Social Sustainability Roadmap”(2020) in collaboration with the Fair Wage Network, and “Good manufacturing practice – Guidelines on the use of chemical products in fashion production chains” (2021), based on work by CNMI’s Chemicals Committee.

Carlo Capasa organized the first three editions of the “International Roundtable on Sustainability”, an international convention for CSR managers from fashion companies all over the world; the first four editions of the “Green Carpet Fashion Awards” and the first three “CNMI Sustainable Fashion Awards”; the first CNMI Summit – “Crafting the Future” – organized with Bain Company and The Business of Fashion; and the following exhibitions: “Crafting the Future of Fashion, stories of Crafts and Innovation”, curated by Franca Sozzani; “Italiana. Italy as seen by Fashion. 1971-2001”, curated by Maria Luisa Frisa and Stefano Tonchi; “Memos. Talking of fashion in this millennium”, curated by Maria Luisa Frisa, and “Memorabile. Ipermoda”, in collaboration with MAXXI, National Museum of 21st century Arts and curated by Maria Luisa Frisa.

Other posts

Carlo Capasa has been on the management committee of Altagamma, of which he is vice-president Fashion, since December 2020, and a director of the association INDICAM since May 2021. He has been president of Consorzio Re.Crea (recycling and reuse of fashion products) since October 2022 and president of the Milano Fashion Institute since December 2023.

Career

He was born in Lecce (Puglia), where he studied classics before moving to Milan. In this city, he embarked on a successful business career and contributed to the growth of some major fashion brands. In a joint venture with Novara-based Zamasport, he launched Romeo Gigli and produced and distributed it at global level from 1984 to 1988. Under the same partnership, from 1993 to 1999, he produced and distributed Gucci women’s prêt-à-porter worldwide. Carlo Capasa was also CEO at Costume National till March 2016, when the maison he had founded with his brother Ennio in 1986 was sold to a Japanese group.