Higher Education undergraduate programmes of study have a responsibility to educate learners within their discipline, bridging the gap between education and the real world. Never before has it been so important to equip learners who can adapt and accommodate change within their practice responding to external socio-economic, cultural, political and environmental concerns. With sustainability a key global concern, it is imperative that educational institutions educate its learners to help change the direction of a throwaway and environmentally unsustainable industry.
“Fast Fashion Is the Second Dirtiest Industry in the World, Next to Big Oil” Sweeny (2015)
This paper is a case study of second year undergraduate learners on a UK fashion design degree programme who were challenged by the luxury brand Ted Baker to design a collection of men's formal wear suits, combing sports detailing with traditional tailoring for the brands DNA and customer demographic. The primary argument of this paper arises from the need to further develop the theoretical aspect of the design process to improve learners understanding of the key principles of design, consumer behavior and basic human phycology. The inquiry adopted a practice based approach gathering data from workshop/seminar observations, client feedback and assessment of student 2D and 3D outcomes. Learners were exposed to the technical challenges of tailoring and encouraged to embrace and experiment with CADCAM technologies and unorthodox design and pattern cutting methodologies as well as traditional methodologies in order to affectively communicate a considered narrative. While assessment of outcomes indicate an improvement to the depth of thinking and creative application of story telling by the majority of learners, surface learning was still evidenced as a concern, encouraging further analysis of future pedagogy approaches.