PILOTING FASHION-TECH EDUCATIONAL STRATEGIES Proof of Concept for Innovative Fashion-Tech products and Services

This publication is the result of a didactic research process involving students, teaching staff and industry experts from across Europe in three (3) learning experiences implemented over a period of almost one year (2021-2022). It aims to identify and describe the major lessons learned from the testing and piloting of three innovative Fashion-Tech learning experiences in order to discuss opportunities for FashionTech (i) Strategic Innovation, (ii) applied Research for the future Education Agenda and (ii) cooperation, networking and partnership opportunities. The work has been organised and synthesized by Politecnico di Milano as leader of the activities related to designing and piloting Fashion-Tech learning experiences (WP2), and project coordinator of the Fashion-Tech Alliance, a 3-years European academia-industries partnership project aimed to facilitate the exchange, flow of knowledge, and co-creation within the Fashion-Tech sector to boost students’ employability and fashion-tech innovation potential. This project specifically involves five renowned Higher Educational Institutions Academic partners (Politecnico di Milano, Dipartimento di Design, ESTIA École Supérieure Des Technologies Industrielles Avancées, Högskolan i Borås, University of the Arts London - London College of Fashion, Technische Universiteit Delft), one Fashion-Tech research Centres (Centexbel) and seven industrial partners (Decathlon International, Pangaia Grado Zero, Pauline van Dongen, Pespow, Stentle / M-Cube Group, We Love You Communication, and PVH Europe). The aim of this project is to provide an evidence-based perspective on the Fashion-Tech education reporting on the relationship between advanced teaching/learning approaches about design, business management, and engineering that can be applied to the future generation of fashion-tech professionals. This publication consists of five chapters presenting the learning experiences’ workflow starting from the research premises, the implementation, and evaluation, followed by a reflection on the results with concluding remarks and future perspectives on Fashion-Tech education. Chapter 1 sets the premises of the Fashion-Tech educational research, meanwhile, the following chapters (2,3,4) present the case studies of the three piloted learning experiences describing the contents, objectives, and outcomes, reporting the methodology and lesson learned in terms of Fashion-Tech emerging topics, and reflections on the phases of the didactic experiences. Each of these chapters is followed by visual charts that present the results showcasing the portfolio of innovative Fashion-Tech concepts of products/services developed during the learning experiences. Finally, chapter 5 sets out the findings and future trajectories for Fashion-Tech education and collaboration. It discusses how the research findings led to setting the premises for prospective scenarios of the Fashion-Tech education, which serve as an invitation to open a collaborative discussion on the future of Fashion-Tech educational models, collaborative engagement between different stakeholders of the sector, and all concerned about the skills of future Fashion-Tech professionals.