Fashion Education for Sustainability: Incorporating Sustainable Practices through Zero-Waste and Minimal-Waste Fashion Design in Design Curricula

Educational programs in fashion design are essential in supporting the global transition toward sustainable fashion. The goal of fashion education is to cultivate a mindset of sustainability among future designers, providing them with the essential information and abilities to develop ethical consciousness and apply it practically. We cannot resolve sustainability problems using the same mindset that led to its creation. As such, it is essential to teach students to be creative and to come up with novel ideas and solutions to the current challenges. Thus, it is vital for future designers to acquire the knowledge, skills, and expertise needed to implement sustainable practices throughout the garment design and construction process. While there have been many theoretical and practical initiatives in recent years aimed at fostering sustainable product development, there remains a shortage of effective teaching methods focused on sustainable garment construction. Incorporating zero waste (ZW) and minimal waste (MW) pattern cutting techniques pared up with the problem-based pedagogy into design education can advance the way we teach sustainable fashion. This presentation will discuss the results of the ethnographic study exploring the current approaches in fashion design education, and what students and designers feel they need to become more sustainable practitioners. We will look at how creative thinking and problem solving can be developed within the Higher Education settings and how that can lead to the development of more sustainable fashion designs. Studying design involves the pursuit of improving the world and influencing the future by emphasising the creation of novel solutions rather than just products.