Advanced and Systemic Design Approaches to Smart Packaging for the Made in Italy Fashion Transition

This paper explores the potential of design to drive circular transitions in the Made in Italy fashion system, with a particular focus on digital innovation and packaging as a strategic interface for circularity and sustainability. To address contemporary challenges—such as environmental degradation, regulatory shifts, and digital transformation—this work aims to reframe packaging from a technical object to a multidimensional artefact that supports knowledge exchange, encourages collaboration across sectors, and helps stakeholders make informed decisions. By combining systemic and advanced design approaches, the study investigates how smart packaging can align technological innovation with ethical responsibility, promoting transparency, traceability, and value regeneration. The research includes an experimental project involving a group of universities and companies from the fashion, packaging, and information technology sectors. Using a co-design methodology, the project developed a smart, reusable packaging prototype incorporating blockchain infrastructure. This solution responds to both logistical and communication needs while anticipating and aligning with upcoming European sustainability policies such as the Digital Product Passport. This paper shows how theoretical insights can be connected with applied innovation to highlight the central role of design in steering systemic transitions. Smart packaging, therefore, can be seen as a catalyst for distributed innovation, serving as a bridge between physical systems, digital tools, and cultural values across the fashion supply chain.