Education for Fashion-Tech design and technology for future fashion creatives Chiara Colombi, Livia Tenuta (eds) 1 Education for Fashion-Tech EDITORS Chiara Colombi, PhD, Associate Professor, Design Department - Politecnico di Milano Livia Tenuta, PhD, Assistant Professor, Design Department - Politecnico di Milano CONTRIBUTORS Chiara Colombi, PhD, Associate Professor, Design Department - Politecnico di Milano Livia Tenuta, PhD, Assistant Professor, Design Department - Politecnico di Milano Susanna Testa, PhD, Assistant Professor, Design Department - Politecnico di Milano Josè Teunissen, Dean of the School of Design and Technology, London College of Fashion, UAL Ann Vellesalu, PhD Student, Swedish School of Textiles - University of Borås EDITORIAL BOARD Daniel Ekwall, PhD, Professor at Swedish School of Textiles - University of Borås, Associate Professor at Hanken School of Economics Daria Casciani, PhD, Assistant Professor, Design Department - Politecnico di Milano Michele Danjoux, School Research Coordinator (Academic), London College of Fashion, UAL SCIENTIFIC COMMITTEE Scientific committee members served as reviewers of the contents of the present volume. Carl Berge, CEO of Berge Consulting Birgit Freundorfer, Design Director at Adidas Nicolas Henchoz, EPFL+ECAL LAB design and technology for future Pauline van Dongen, Wearable technology designer fashion creatives Lutz Walter, ETP European Textile Platform © 2020 Creative Commons - attribution - noDerivs CC BY-ND Chiara Colombi, Livia Tenuta (eds) Education for Fashion-Tech, www.e4ft.eu GRAPHIC DESIGN Susanna Testa, PhD, Assistant Professor, Design department - Politecnico di Milano EDITING Nadia El Gabry, School of Design & Technology, London College of Fashion, UAL PUBLISHER Nielsen Book ISBN 978-1-906908-64-5 The European Commission’s support for the production of this publication does not constitute an endorsement of the contents, which reflect the views only of the authors, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein. 2 3 Education for Fashion-Tech Digital has disrupted many industries. New values, new vision, new business models… and new actors! E4FT provides today’s fashion leaders a unique opportunity to be in the driving seat for the next decades. The outcome of this European initiative express the challenge well beyond technologies: we tend to forget that innovation is not only about technology, but also about adop- tion. It includes social, cultural, emotional dimensions. Although these dimensions are obvious for the creation of a new product, they are usually forgotten when we start to speak about innovation. This essay express the strong connections between research, education, industry. Disruptive innovation requires new thinking, new tools, new skills, new profiles. It must be sustainable to provide return on investment. It means to create solutions, but also to educate and understand the impact, to make it last. E4FT is ambitious and pragmatic, inspiring and reliable. It’s the new corner stone of an exciting and productive relation between the worlds of research and industry. Nicolas Henchoz Founder and Director of EPFL+ECAL LAB This roadmap is a great resource for those involved in fashion education and more broadly for companies, policymakers and individual designers in the clothing and textile industry. It clear- ly highlights the environmental, social and societal urgencies and how they are intertwined and expressed within fashion. It reflects on the opportunities that technology has to offer, while also holding a critical stance towards the role and effects of the merge of fashion and technology. It provides new ways of looking at the human body and emotional needs within a rapidly changing environment that challenges design students to reevaluate the fashion system as well as individ- ual relationships with clothing. By giving both theoretical grounding and practical guidance, it can accelerate the convergence of disciplines that is necessary in order to bring new perspectives into the fashion system and promote conscious innovation. The proposed shift in education generates a new awareness and perspective for action for a new generation of students. Pauline van Dongen Wearable Technology Designer, Founder & Creative Director of Pauline van Dongen 4 5 Education for Fashion-Tech CONTENTS Executive Summary 9 01. Fashion-Tech Today 11 L. Tenuta, S. Testa Education Goes Fashion-Tech: Companies Academy and New Educational Courses 16 Fashion-Tech Products, Processes and Services: an Update 23 The Two Sides of Emergencies 39 Tech Giants Taking Position in Fashion-Tech 43 02. Learners and Trainers: Fashion-Tech Pedagogy and Skillset 45 C. Colombi, A. Vellesalu Fashion-Tech Hackathon. Observing the Current State of Skills and Knowledge in 49 Fashion-TechT at UAL Train the Trainers. Engaging Teachers in the Fashion-Tech Approach at HB 61 IAMlight. Experiencing with Additive Manufacturing at POLIMI 67 Designing Wearables. Intensive Programme for Learners at LCF 83 Smart textiles. Intensive Programme for Learners At HB 101 A Critical Analysis: Learnings from Hands-On Experiences 114 03. Fashion-Tech Curriculum: a New Framework 117 C. Colombi, J. Teunissen Tuning Document: Outlining Points of Convergence for MA Level Curricula in 119 Fashion-Tech Design Learning Units: Mix and Match Subject Areas 137 Teacher’s Toolkit: Resource for Teachers with Appropriate Methods and Approaches 141 to Teaching and Learning Fashion-Tech 04. Future Scenarios 149 L. Tenuta, S. Testa Apocalyptic Life 157 Extra-Humans 195 AI Feels 215 Phygital Self 235 05. Higher Education Institutions’ Transnational Partnership 255 C. Colombi, J. Teunissen, A. Vellesalu Envisioning Future Scenarios for Transnational Partnerships in Higher Education 256 within Fashion-Tech Field: FTalliance Ideas for Implementation 263 Bibliography 268 6 7 Education for Fashion-Tech EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The present volume is a comprehensive reflection on the research conducted within the framework of the Erasmus+ Strategic Partnership Project “Education for Fashion-Tech (E4FT)” and offers trainers, practitioners, students, Higher Education Institutions (HEIs), stakeholders, opinion leaders and policymakers research data and reference points for developing an integrated Fashion-Tech approach into curricula, didactic and learning approaches, product development processes, and programmes for social and economic growth. The volume highlights the benefits of the adoption of such an integrated approach into higher education and the labour market, thanks to the development of better-qualified professionals. Additionally, it envisions an enriched cross-disciplinary European higher education system and a more competitive transnational labour market, where fashion and technology ware fused boosting knowledge and economic growth. Based on the data and results produced along with the E4FT project, the present volume defines the framework for the adoption of an integrated Fashion-Tech approach, identifying desirable steps of change and how these can support HEI practices. Based on research findings of the Benchmarking Report, on the evaluations of Training and Learning Pilot activities, and project outcomes, the essay: • identifies key areas that need to be addressed on the European policy level to support actions of development both at an educational level and market labour level in order to support the positive growth of European societies and market; • reports on trainers’ and learners’ experiences and acquired knowledge and expertise; • inspires HEIs across Europe to embrace the Fashion-Tech curriculum pedagogical meth- od, include Fashion-Tech topics and approaches in their curricula, and to tap into innovative learning tools towards skills for employment in complex transnational and fast-changing Smart textiles, Wearable technologies and Digital manufacturing sectors; • offers examples of didactic configurations of contents modules and simulations of ap- plications and results in relation to the different level of skills and competencies of trainers and learners, and different industrial and business contexts and opportunities; • encourage further experimentations and transnational partnerships for the exchange of good practices and the development of synergies and to nurture public debate. FASHION-TECH; APPLIED RESEARCH; DESIGN DIDACTIC MODEL; TRAINERS; LEARNERS 8 9 Education for Fashion-Tech 01. FASHION-TECH TODAY L. Tenuta, S. Testa n February 2018, the Benchmarking Re- and more comprehensive definition. port - a foundational intellectual output 01. of E4FT project - described the state-of- are on body products such as Wearables the-art of Higher Education programmes clothing, footwear, accessories and jewellery andI other high-qualitative didactic experiences, designed to create communication and inter- FASHION Research Centres and Companies. The report action, enabled by technologies (digital and analysed the intersection between fashion and virtual) to amplify and extend the natural abili- digital technologies in different steps of the ty and performance of the human body or add fashion processes: measuring, designing, pro- new functions to the user connecting them to TECH ducing and testing, embedding, communicat- their body, other persons or objects and with ing and retailing. Through desk research, com- the environment. plemented by face-to-face and long-distance TODAY interviews to HEIs, research centres, and com- Smart textiles are knitted,