Teaching Pattern Making in the Digital Era: Integrating Craft Kniowledge and Digital Product Creation in Fashion Design Education

The digital transformation of fashion, propelled by Industry 4.0 and Digital Product Creation (DPC), has elevated the need for integrated digital and sustainability competencies. Despite this, fashion design education faces significant challenges in reconciling traditional, craft-based pattern making with virtual prototyping and responsible design. This paper investigates the pedagogical challenges of this transition through a comparative analysis of selected international fashion design curricula. Employing a qualitative documentary analysis, the study maps how institutions position and integrate traditional pattern making, digital tools (2D/3D), and sustainability within their programs. Findings reveal consistent fragmentation patterns where these domains operate as parallel or sequential modules rather than an integrated ecosystem. Specifically, pattern making is often front-loaded as a static prerequisite, digital technologies are taught as isolated technical skills rather than methodological processes, and sustainability remains a detached theoretical concept rarely embedded in prototyping workflows. This research identifies critical educational gaps and misalignments with evolving industry requirements. It contributes to the field by proposing pedagogical guidelines for a hybrid model that unifies tacit knowledge, methodological digital agility, and lifecycle thinking. These findings offer pedagogical directions for training future professionals capable of navigating increasingly complex, "phygital," and ethically conscious production environments.