ITS Contest 2026 Selections

We have a new generation of emerging talents, ready to shape the future of the fashion industry. It is a generation that uses fashion as a laboratory of identity, where transformation replaces definition and the body becomes a political arena. A plurality of cultures intertwines local traditions and global sensibilities in a critical approach that asserts the freedom to express oneself while rejecting all forms of restriction and narrow-mindedness. The past, for this year’s contestants, remains a lesson we have yet to learn. Chaos becomes a method: craftsmanship, awareness, and multiplicity shape the language of a new generation. During two packed days of project viewing, this is what members from the ITS Contest 2026 Jury witnessed, before settling on the 10 designers who will travel to Trieste, Italy in March next year to take part in ITS Residency, a ten-day creative residency composed of one-of-a-kind workshops and networking with industry leaders. We would like to thank the ITS Contest Jury for their commitment in evaluating all the projects and coming up with this new generation of designers: Barbara Franchin - President of Fondazione ITS Carlo Giordanetti - CEO, Swatch Art Peace Hotel Luca Rizzi – Pitti Immagine Tutoring & Consulting Director, e-P Summit Project Leader Stefania Ricci – Director, Museo Salvatore Ferragamo and Fondazione Ferragamo Andrea Rosso – OTB Sustainability Ambassador Orsola De Castro – Author, activist, creative director at Estethica Matteo