In late September, Fashion in Focus professor Niccolò Sbaraglia flew to Paris to serve as one of nine judges for the Hult Prize Global Finals 2023. The prestigious Hult Prize awards $1M USD to a team of young entrepreneurs challenged with proposing solutions for pressing world issues, and this year’s theme was Redesigning Fashion.
The winner was a team of Yale University students who started Banofi Leather, which converts banana-crop waste into sustainable, vegan, cruelty-free leather. Fashion design icon Stella McCarthy presented them with the prize, and former US president Bill Clinton announced next year’s theme via pre-recorded video.
In addition to teaching for Syracuse, Professor Sbaraglia is also the Head of Commercial Development at Polimoda Fashion School in Florence and a production manager dedicated to fashion and luxury accessories.