Abstract:

The current context of profound social and economic changes resulting from the contemporary climate crisis led the European Union to the Green Deal approval towards the establishment of a genuinely sustainable, modern and self-efficient economy. The strategy adopted to tackle this change and strengthen social and economic resilience, rooted in the Twin Transitions (digital and green), makes it clear how Industry 4.0 technologies can be a valuable ally in achieving the sustainability goals imposed by the European Commission. The topic's relevance inevitably impacts the education system, which is required to question its role and how new professionals' knowledge transfer and training could support the ongoing paradigm shift. A sense of awareness and principles of modernisation has yet to fully permeate the academic structure, which still today proposes teaching models far removed from the needs and concerns of contemporary society.
Through a literature review, this article intends to investigate the evolutionary path of the current Fashion Design Curricula and identify a possible trajectory of innovation in academic didactics to train new professional profiles capable of interfacing with the challenges of the modern context through transversal and interconnected skills.

The paper suggests a Universities - FabLabs Networking perspective in which knowledge does not remain confined to the academic sphere but seeks to break through its barriers to extend to the local tissue through collaboration with the FabLabs network. The vision indicated will introduce new teaching strategies to trigger reflection on the need for a profound and more viable redefinition of the Fashion System, often at the centre of controversy for its unsustainable production and economic model. To this purpose, the hybridisation between Fashion and digitalisation will be explored to define novel sustainable development paths supported by the application of new technologies. Within the university context, a paradigm shift is required from a passive learning model to a Learning-by-doing strategy, in which the transmission of theoretical knowledge becomes concrete experimentation by employing the technological equipment made available by the local FabLabs, and in which Collaborative learning provides students with the opportunity to circulate ideas and knowledge within working teams. This University - FabLabs Networking programme aims to integrate sustainability principles within the fashion academic structure by transferring fundamental skills in digital prototyping methods and in the research and application of new bio-materials and modern production techniques, to operate on the current fashion model criticalities. In conclusion, emphasis will be placed on the empirical question concerning the network of knowledge to be transmitted to fashion designers' future generations to empower them to operate in the fluidity of contemporary society to find a profitable collaboration between humans and technology for the earth's and workers' prosperity.

Keywords:

University – FabLabs Networking, Fashion Design Curricula, Industry 4.0 technologies, Sustainable Fashion, Collaborative learning, Learning by doing.