Fashion Forward: Exploring Sustainable Innovation in the Apparel Industry

This course examines the dynamic intersection of fashion, sustainability, and innovation. Through a blend of interdisciplinary theoretical framework and practical application, students will critically analyze social, economic, and environmental impacts of the apparel industry while creating cutting-edge solutions to reimagine the future of the fashion industry. Drawing from ethical design, economic perspectives, and responsible environmental practices, students will develop innovative solutions to address the main challenges facing the apparel industry today such as unethical labor practices, pollution, microtrends, and fast fashion. 

Students will collaborate in teams on a project: Designing The Sustainable Wardrobe of Tomorrow to design a sustainable fashion collection for the future. Small groups will apply higher-order thinking to envision the transformative possibilities of the fashion industry, while demonstrating their ability to integrate multidisciplinary perspectives to propose innovative solutions that have the potential to change the apparel industry and lead to a more equitable and sustainable apparel industry.  Each team will create a comprehensive proposal that outlines the theme of the collection, production approach, sustainable source strategy, and present the line from start to finish. In addition, teams must complete a peer review of their classmates' presentations assessing the creativity, feasibility and potential impact of each design solution fostering critical discussion and feedback on their presentations. Sources will include: The Myth of Sustainable Fashion from the Harvard Business Review and Fashionopolis: The Price of Fast Fashion - And the Future of Clothes by Dana Thomas.