Abstract:

How do we prepare students for the fashion industry in the face of an ethical awakening when issues of climate change are complicated by political turmoil and social injustice? What if those working in the fashion system had a deeper sense of responsibility for their product creation within a more conscious economic model? As the fashion industry shifts, awareness of ethical implications has become a necessity and responsibility not only for industry professionals but for educators who are teaching the next generation.

Based on research, literature reviews, and various adjustments program pedagogy, this paper explores the exchange of ideas and intersections between the fields of ethics and entrepreneurship in design and merchandising education. It asserts the importance of this exchange regarding how problems in the fashion industry are understood, how solutions are executed and how education develops the next generation of professionals for the fashion and textile industries. Fashion design and merchandising curricula may skim the surface of ethical design and strategy but often falls short on how to integrate ethical decision-making into coursework.

The authors seek to design an experiential and transdisciplinary pedagogy with ethics and entrepreneurial frameworks and will conduct qualitative studies in order to understand the students’ perspectives on ethics prior to and after the course and into their early careers. The goal is to evaluate and evolve how this approach might help to prepare a new generation of transformative professionals.

Keywords:

Ethics, fashion design, merchandising, social entrepreneurship, sustainable fashion.