Fashion Matters

Fashion Matters focuses on bridging knowledge between environmental issues and the material and immaterial dimensions of fashion. Students take an extensive look into materials’ physical and emotional properties, performances, compositions, and environmental impacts. Starting from the knowledge gained during their exploration of Fashion and Environment, students deepen their sense of responsibility on how designers’ choices on resources and processes affect the world.

The unit encourages students to act as change makers, and to think beyond what is already known, as mainstream fashion matters, and to speculate future approaches on material matters (e.g. bio textiles, e-textiles, p2p services, etc.). They will understand the challenges, conditions and possible transitions in the field of fashion. The outcomes will be a tangible example of the knowledge learned: research informed concepts (e.g. a collection of feasible tactile samples), products designed via informed decision-making practice, methods for collecting applied research data(e.g. design ethnography), or workshops.