Lessons Learned: Why it's time to Re-write Fashion Education for a Sustainable Future

By Hanna McDonough

As efforts to achieve a more sustainable fashion industry are on the rise, it seems a crucial area for improvement has been overlooked: fashion education. With COVID-19 causing an upheaval of the way practically every fashion course was delivered in 2020, a shift from physical to digital working occurred almost overnight. This poses the question, why can’t we make dramatic changes to the way fashion is taught when it comes to sustainability?

I myself am fortunate to have benefitted from sustainability focused teaching and incredibly inspiring tutors whilst studying fashion at university. The problem lies however, in the fact that responsible, sustainable practice is often optional, and is not widely implemented throughout fashion education. Current figures show that in the UK there are 96 universities offering 433 courses related to fashion. Making changes such as new classes exploring materials and their environmental impact, or the damage to human health caused by dangerous production methods would reach thousands of students. Equipping the next generation of designers and creatives with an embedded knowledge of sustainability is integral to the future of fashion.

This is not to say that previous or current students are uninformed – in my experience it has been quite the opposite. I do think it is important to recognise that working within certain sustainability parameters can be difficult, especially as a student. Using only recycled clothes in collections, working with natural dyes, avoiding materials considered unethical comes at a cost, both physically and financially. Many students carry out additional sustainability research outside of module requirements, or opt to source fabrics with considerably eco-friendlier credentials, and whilst this is celebrated in the studio, it is often not expected of students.

I spoke to stylist and fashion educator, Sophie Benson, who shares the belief, “we have to stop treating sustainability as a stand-alone topic. It's not enough to do one sustainability project and then move on. The longer we do that, the longer students will treat it as a separate, optional issue.” It seems that whilst sustainability is encouraged, putting it into practice in the classroom is another story. Benson agrees, “styling students shouldn't be encouraged to buy and then return their shoot clothes from fast fashion brands, they should be pointed towards sustainable brands and designers.”

The traditional course model, particularly in design education has been to design, prototype, and produce a final collection usually presented in a physical fashion show. Completing my degree at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic resulted in a complete re-writing of this process, not out of choice but necessity. Thousands of students including myself, with the help of incredibly supportive staff, found ourselves quickly readjusting to the challenge of completing a significantly important part of our degree in isolation and online. Paired with a time of heighted uncertainty and worry, the final few months of my degree were not at all how I had imagined them, but they did make me consider how resilient and adaptive we need to and can be. 

If we have been able to make drastic changes in such pressing times, I believe that we can further alter fashion education to benefit people and the planet. Benson adds an important final message: “Universities need to start thinking very carefully about who they're partnering with. Should they really be doing live briefs with fast fashion companies or bringing in guest speakers from corporations with a history of human rights violations? The way we teach has the potential to shape the industry over the coming decades, we should take that responsibility very seriously.” 

If every future cohort of students is equipped with the knowledge to contribute to a more humane and environmentally friendly industry, there is no limit to what could be achieved. I have no doubt that changes made in the classroom can shape the future, but these changes need to start now.