Italy is so well-known for fabrics that it has multigenerational companies, and something that has so much richness and heritage. Council of Fashion Designers of America has just teamed up with Milano Unica, famous bi-annual Italian textile tradeshow to launch The Fabric Program.

A core tenet of the CFDA is to provide their designer members with unique opportunities to strengthen and evolve their business said Steven Kolb, CEO of the CFDA. Their partnership with Milano Unica is a perfect example of this as it gives emerging American designers the chance to create custom fabrics with Italy's best production houses.

The new initiative will team select designers up with Italian mills to create exclusive textiles for their collections.

The New York City leg of the Milano Unica Fair was held on from Jan. 24th to Jan. 26 at the city's Jacob Javits Center.

Womenswear designer Ryan Roche and accessories designer Gigi Burris have been selected for the first round of The Fabric Program. Additionally, a men's designer will be revealed in the next few weeks, WWD reported.

The first products will be incorporated into their spring/summer 2017 collections shown in both New York and Milan.

THE CFDA hopes that the new Fashion Program will also raise awareness of the "Made In Italy" aesthetic and techniques.