Abstract:

Fashion, pervaded by the results of technological progress, has over time become an increasingly complex and multidisciplinary sphere, determining the need and training of new professional figures. Contemporary fashion designers are forced to operate on more levels in increasingly complex contexts; they therefore need to show a shared inclination to a high degree of flexibility which conjugates the cross-fertilisation of different kinds of knowledge and know-how.

The aim of the paper is to investigate higher education teaching methodologies to train professionals in the field in the complexity of Fashion-Tech.
First of all, the paper focuses on the fashion-tech sector, the resulting area obtained from the intersection between fashion design and digital technologies, highlighting the need for a revised educational approach to train hybrid professionals.

To this end, the paper examines the data obtained through interviews and desk research conducted as part of "Education4Fashion-Tech: Interdisciplinary Curriculum for Fashion in the Digital Era”, a three-year (2017-2020) Strategic Partnerships for higher education project co-founded by the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union (GA 2017-1-SE01-KA203-034601), outlining the state of the art in fashion-tech and investigating the transversal dynamics between universities and companies.

Subsequently a case study of experiential learning is reported: an international and multidisciplinary workshop carried out in the field of academic training with the collaboration of a company.

What emerged from the experience is that in Fashion-Tech the close and continuous relationship with companies plays a fundamental role. The experience highlights the advantages of adopting such an integrated approach in higher education, thanks to the development of more qualified professionals. The paper envisions an enriched cross-disciplinary European higher education system and a more competitive transnational labour market, where fashion and technology are fused boosting knowledge and economic growth. The research outlines a framework for the adoption of an integrated Fashion-Tech approach, identifying the advisable steps of implementation and how these can support HEI practices.

Keywords:

Fashion-Tech, university-Industry cooperation, integration, experiential learning