Training and innovation with a charitable ethos: the new identity of Accademia HModa
The organisation led by Valentina Vaccarini offers free courses designed to get people straight into production. In one year, both the number of students and the number of teaching hours have almost doubled
It was founded six years ago to train staff within the HModa Group, comprising 19 Italian companies in the textile, clothing, leather goods and footwear sectors, with almost 2,500 employees, which manufacture for major international brands. Today, however, the HModa Academy has undergone a transformation in terms of its identity, scale and structure: it has become a Benefit Corporation, committed to the environment and the community as well as to profit; it has ‘distributed’ sites within or near the group’s production facilities, in the main fashion districts; it runs training courses (including) for the market, funded by fashion brands, European funds, regional calls for proposals or inter-professional funds.
A fully-fledged training organisation, led by Valentina Vaccarini, which has already been accredited by the Marche Region, is in the process of obtaining accreditation from the Tuscany Region, and intends to apply for it in Veneto.
“We focus on the specific needs expressed by businesses,” explains the director. “In fact, even the courses launched at the height of the crisis, such as the one on footwear in 2024, have been very well received. All courses are free of charge: they range from hemming to prototyping, from tailoring to pattern-making, from handbag assembly to technical skills related to production processes. The training is designed to enable participants, once they have completed the course, to join the production department.”
This year, Accademia HModa will train 419 students, totalling nearly 8,500 hours of training; last year, there were 272 students, with nearly 5,700 hours of training.
“The trainers are craftspeople, mostly ‘young’ pensioners who have a passion for passing on knowledge, combined with the skills and ability to manage a class,” adds the director, explaining that the HModa Academy also collaborates with brands that have their own training schools, such as, for example, Kering’s Accademia per le Eccellenze. The contribution HModa can make is its first-hand knowledge of industrial processes, a unique strength of those who actually produce bags, shoes and clothes: “We want to raise young people’s awareness of the opportunities still offered by the high-end manufacturing sector,” concludes Vaccarini, “which is why we also provide career guidance.”
