‘The fashion industry is rapidly embracing digital technologies, but education often lags behind these developments. FashionTEX aims to close this gap,’ says dr inż. Magdalena Owczarek, the project coordinator, from the Institute of Architecture of Textiles at TUL. ‘Universities are at different stages when it comes to digital fashion education: some are teaching advanced courses, while others are just getting started. FashionTEX addresses these disparities by adapting curricula to meet current market needs’.
The integration of digital fashion will be achieved through several initiatives: ‘atelier’ courses at each partner university, joint makerspaces, and public fashion shows. ‘Only the top two students from each course will have the opportunity to participate in international makerspaces and prepare the first spectacular digital fashion show, which will feature both digital and physical elements. This event is scheduled for 2025’, adds dr inż. Magdalena Owczarek.
The project’s outcomes will be incorporated into the curricula, boosting graduates' competitiveness in the job market by equipping them with expertise in digital fashion and international collaboration experience.
In mid-September 2024, the second project meeting and workshop took place in Amsterdam, attended by dr inż. Magdalena Owczarek and dr Maciej Jabłoński from the Faculty of MTTD. The first meeting had been held in March in Lisbon.
‘We will soon be launching digital fashion ‘atelier’ courses at our Faculty for our students’, notes dr inż. Magdalena Owczarek.
The project FashionTEX European Academy for Young Designers to Study Innovative Technologies in Digital Fashion Design will run until October 31, 2026, and is funded by the European Commission’s Creative Europe Program CREA-CULT-2023-COOP-3.
The project is led by Europäisches Kulturforum e.V. (Germany), with the following partners: University of Lisbon (Portugal), Amsterdam Fashion Academy (Netherlands), Accademia Koefia (Italy), Vilnius Academy of Arts (Lithuania), Art Academy of Latvia (Latvia), Estonian Academy of Arts (Estonia), Kyiv National University of Technologies and Design (Ukraine), Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design in Prague (Czech Republic), University of Applied Sciences Zwickau (Germany), and University of Zagreb (Croatia).