We sat with Stefania Ghidoni, President of Art Lining.
Established as a workers buyout in 2009, Art Lining is the testimony of its members’ strong willingness to preserve their know-how. Following poor management and dubious financial choices, the previous entity was supposed to be dissolved. In this context, workers united and opted for the cooperative model by buying their company, thereby protecting their jobs and their unique skills. Now, the company is 8 worker strong and seeks new young talents to ensure Art Lining’s continuity.
As an interlining manufacturer, Art Lining produces more than 50 different types of fabric through a combination of canvas weaves and cotton. And, thanks to its state-of-the-art cutting technologies that ensure precision and fabric resilience, workers can produce interlinings tailored to their clients’ wishes. The quality of the fibres used together with their cutting technology clearly sets Art Lining apart from its competitors.
These unique skills combined with the cooperative model make Art Lining much more than an interlining manufacturer. Thanks to the cooperative model, the profits workers make are not sent to the pocket of external investors. Instead, they use this money to continuously improve the quality and sustainability of the company’s products through research and innovation. Moreover, the workers buyout not only allowed Art Lining’s jobs to be protected, but also prevented the bankruptcy of Art Lining’s direct suppliers and maintained the economic activity of the Sant'Ilario d’Enza region.
While the buyout already bore fruit, the workers wanted to ensure that their impact on broader society would be aligned with their values. As such they have maintained high ethical standards, especially pertaining to social rights. Such standards are directly reflected in Art Lining’s choice to refuse partnerships with actors coming from the fast fashion industry. The choice to invest in recycling technology equally reflects the workers’ commitment to environmental protection.
However, buying their own company has come with several hurdles. The transition period between the former entity and worker-owned Art Lining led to a loss of confidence of traditional business partners, obliging workers to double down on their professional commitment. Moreover, managing the company constituted a genuine challenge for workers who had never been investors or managed a firm. They had to follow classes to build up the necessary management skills to run their company. And, as with other businesses, the COVID-19 and energy crises represented considerable obstacles to their growth and even threatened Art Lining’s survival.
Yet, Art Lining remains today a key pillar of the region’s economy. Its growth is spurred by the genuine partnerships that the workers established. As a member of the social economy family, Art Lining benefited from the support of other socially engaged entities, such as Legacoop Emilia Ovest and CCFS Coopfond. Together, workers established a strong network of mutual support, which is crucial to safeguard jobs and protect skills from deindustrialisation. While the workers buyout initially arose from a necessity to protect jobs, it is now clear that cooperatives’ values play an increasingly crucial role in Art Lining’s identity.
Art Lining is affiliated to CECOP’s Italian member Legacoop Produzione e Servizi.
Check the presentation video of Art Lining in English and Italian.
