Due to the specialized nature of retail and fashion, training “on the job” has always been an integral part of the industry. In some cases, this learning was informal, particularly in family run businesses, but it was also formal through apprenticeships, where young people were hired to learn a trade at an atelier with the goal for them to...
2 Dec 2021
In this episode, “The Shadow Industry of Internships” part of “The Future of Fashion Education” series, we investigate the complexity of internships and how they tend to favor the economically advantaged and facilitate an unpaid, or low paid, work culture in fashion.
Fashion as an academic discipline is relatively new. It’s not to say that people haven’t been researching the intersection of clothing and economics, clothing and psychology, or clothing and culture–to name a few–for quite some time, rather that it hasn’t been taken seriously as its own discipline. However, with formalization of fashion as a...
25 Nov 2021
In this episode, “Bridging the Knowledge Gap,” part of “The Future of Fashion Education” series, we discuss ways that researchers and companies may better collaborate to the deeper benefit of both.
Christopher Raeburn is a design-led, London-based womenswear, menswear and accessories fashion brand. Christopher works with certified organic materials, recycled polyester, and a lot of surplus materials, particularly military surplus. According to Sass Brown, Christopher’s aesthetic comes from, “a fascination with military materials and...
18 Nov 2021
Each month Sass Brown, an expert in ethical fashion, sustainability and craftsmanship, shares a fashion brand that approaches business differently and innovatively or operates outside of the main fashion systems and capitals. Sass is the former Dean of Art and Design at the Fashion Institute of Technology and the founding Dean at Dubai Institute...
For many years, the onus of educating employees in the fashion industry was primarily that of the employer. Firstly, the industry relied heavily on women and because higher education was not generally available to them, companies had to train them with the skills they needed to do their jobs. Secondly, most fashion companies were family run...
11 Nov 2021
In this episode, “Relying on the Institution and the Degree,” part of “The Future of Fashion Education” series, we discuss how a shift needs to happen that puts employers more in control of training their employees, rather than relying on the degree system.
Traditional higher education is a self-perpetuating system, in which degrees dictate which level of education a professor can teach their students. For example, a master’s degree is typically required to teach an undergraduate program and a doctoral degree is typically required to teach at the graduate level. On top of this basic scaffolding,...
4 Nov 2021
In this episode, “Part Time Instructors Carry the Weight of Fashion Education,” part of “The Future of Fashion Education” series, we explore why fashion education lacks trained faculty to support their programs and what this means for students and employers.
In the mid-1990s, fashion education became more fully integrated into the academy, allowing students of fashion to receive more than vocational training. Their studies in fashion design or fashion merchandising were now combined with a traditional liberal arts or business education, leading to a bachelor’s or baccalaureate degree. This had the...
29 Oct 2021
In this episode, “Fashion Education Meets the Academy,” part of “The Future of Fashion Education” series, we explore the shift from vocational learning to academic degree, which has led to less specificity in skills learning and comes with a more expensive price tag.
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