Researchers Lea Vene and Ivana Čuljak, within the projects implemented by CIMO - Center for Research of Fashion and Clothing, participated in the 4th International Non Western Fashion Conference (NWFC), entitled Local Fashion Communities, organized by the University of Antwerp, Belgium, from November 24 to 26, 2016 with a paper: Case study Kamensko: Textile industry, privatization and local community engagement
In 1945 Kamensko, a former textile factory based in the center of Zagreb (Croatia), was opened with an aim of producing garments intended for mass consumption. It was an important economic and cultural engine during the socialist period in Yugoslavia and it contributed to the local economy and community employing more then 500 workers. After the break-up of Yugoslavia and the end of socialist regime the company undertook structural changes in the economic transition and privatization in the 90's and finally went bankrupted in 2010. The whole case didn't go unnoticed. Textile workers who hadn’t received salary for five months went on strike in the public place of Zagreb. It was one of the rare cases where textile workers occupied the public space so as to articulate their message regarding the financial problems of the factory and their position as workers there. Regardless of the community pressure and the strike the factory was closed down and the textile workers (mostly aged around 50+) were forced to find new jobs. Our research is focused on the specific case study of Kamensko and we wish to highlight the transitional phase of the factory production in the context of new social and economic changes of the 90’s but also to analyze the way local community reacted to the factory being closed down and further to reflect on how formers workers incorporated in the current social and economical system.
Link:
https://rcdfashion.wordpress.com/about/
call for papers:
https://rcdfashion.files.wordpress.com/2020/10/2016-call-for-papers.pdf
* The project is supported by the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Croatia and the City Office for Culture, Education and Sports of the City of Zagreb, for 2019.
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