Maria Antonia Salomè

Maria Antonia Salomè is a fashion designer and researcher. Her research focuses on ecodesign strategies for the fashion system, with particular attention to the prevention and valorisation of pre-consumer textile waste, zero-waste and less-waste design, digital pattern cutting and the transition towards more sustainable and circular production systems.

Her work combines qualitative methods, research through design, digital and physical experimentation, and the analysis of fashion production processes. Alongside her academic activities, she has a background in sartorial practice and professional experience in collection development, pattern making, prototyping and fashion project communication.

She holds a PhD in Design from the Sustainability and Innovation for the Built Environment and Product System Design programme at the University of Florence. Her doctoral research, funded by the Italian PNRR–NextGenerationEU programme, investigated ecodesign strategies for the fashion system and textile waste generated during the marker-making and cutting stages. Her thesis, Re-Think. Re-Design. Re-Start. Rethinking Textile Waste in the Fashion Design Process, was supervised by Prof. Elisabetta Cianfanelli and co-supervised by Dr Paolo Franzo.

She graduated with honours from the Master’s Degree programme in Visual Arts and Fashion at Iuav University of Venice and from the Bachelor’s Degree programme in Fashion Design at the University of Campania “Luigi Vanvitelli”. Her education also includes fashion and costume studies, sartorial practice, Haute Couture pattern making, grading, CAD design and digital prototyping.

She participated in MICS – Made in Italy Circolare e Sostenibile, a PNRR-funded extended partnership, contributing in particular to RE-WASTE and RE-WASTE 2.0, which investigated circular strategies for the textile and fashion supply chain and the integration of textile waste into design processes. She also contributed to EMOTIONAL, ECODeCK and other MICS research activities addressing sustainability, communication and innovation in Made in Italy industries.

In 2026, she was awarded a research grant for the activity “New Entrepreneurship and Digital Transition in the Fashion Sector”, contributing to IDEAL – Innovation-Driven Entrepreneurship and Academic Learning for Creative Industries, under the scientific supervision of Prof. Elisabetta Cianfanelli.

She previously worked as a research fellow on the VAPETAN project at the University of Campania “Luigi Vanvitelli”, investigating the design-led development of high-performance leather products through lower-impact processes. She also contributed to the European WORTH Partnership project E-Tex – The Haptic Library, developing virtual textures and haptic-rendering applications for digital garments.

From September to December 2024, she was a visiting researcher at The Swedish School of Textiles, University of Borås. Supervised by Prof. Clemens Thornquist and Dr Anna Lidström, the collaboration included practice-based research at DoTank, prototype development, digital cutting experimentation and a student workshop addressing negative spaces and textile waste.

In 2026, she was awarded an individual mobility grant under Culture Moves Europe – Call for Individual Mobility 2025–2026 for the REWEAVE project, to be developed at The Swedish School of Textiles under the supervision of Dr Anna Lidström. The project investigates the relationship between fashion design, circularity and the valorisation of textile resources.

Her teaching activities focus on fashion design, sustainability, pattern making and digital prototyping. At the University of Florence, she contributed to teaching activities within the Fashion System Design and Textile and Fashion Design programmes, coordinating workshops and supervising student projects and theses.

She has delivered teaching and research seminars at The Swedish School of Textiles and taught digital fashion design and CLO3D within the Master’s programme in Street Culture & Fashion Design at Iuav University of Venice. She has also taught courses at MITA Academy on pattern making, garment development and prototyping, collection planning, fashion cultures, green marketing and textile upcycling.

She is the author and co-author of peer-reviewed articles, book chapters and international conference papers addressing fashion design, textile waste, zero-waste design, material culture, collaborative practices and sustainability.

Her work has appeared in Fashion Practice, DIID – Disegno Industriale Industrial Design and Springer publications. She has presented her research at international conferences including PLATE, EIMAD, CIMODE and Making Futures and acts as a peer reviewer for design journals and conferences.

Since 2023, she has collaborated with Fashion Highlight, a scientific journal published by Firenze University Press, supporting editorial workflow, preliminary manuscript review, platform management and publication activities.

She has also managed communication activities for the REI Fashion Lab research group at the University of Florence and previously contributed editorial content on fashion, design and visual culture to online publications.

Before entering academia, she worked as a fashion designer for apparel companies, undertaking trend research, collection development, technical specification, material and accessory selection, supplier coordination, sampling and commercial communication.

Her professional experience in fashion product development and her sartorial background inform a research and teaching approach that connects theoretical knowledge, production processes and design experimentation.

In 2025, she received first prize in the University of Florence Green Week photography competition “Scatta il lato oscuro della moda”. In 2023, she received first prize in the Consumer Goods category of Hacking the City: Design a Circular Future. Her projects have also been selected and exhibited in events dedicated to design, digital manufacturing and visual arts.

She is a member of the Italian Design Society and of its research group “Design for the Fashion Ecosystem”.