The green revolution starts on the higher education level

In collaboration with leading European design universities, Design School Kolding has developed a pedagogical teaching tool for teaching students about sustainable fashion design.

Fashion is a global industry that feeds more than 50 million people and globally generates thousands of billions of dollars every year. But the industry is based on systems that cause serious damage, both to the environment and to society.

The industry is threatened economically, because in practice it fails to take the decline in resources into account. Therefore, if profound and sustainable changes are to be made in the fashion industry, there is an urgent need for radically new thinking when it comes to the education of future designers.

This is why Design School Kolding, for three and a half years, has worked with leading European design universities to develop a new, pedagogical tool that teachers can use to train students in green transition. The tool is the internet-based platform FashionSEEDS.org, which is now 'live' and freely available online.

- The platform makes a significant contribution that can actually help transform the education of future designers, says Ulla Ræbild, Ph.D. and Associate Professor and Karen Marie Hasling, Associate Professor and Head of Subject, both at Design School Kolding and both members of the FashionSEEDS project team.

Generating change
In a complex world with an increasing amount of new knowledge within the field of sustainability, it is difficult to stay up-to-date and not least to translate knowledge into practice and instruction in the field. Therefore, targeting the training of fashion designers will undoubtedly make a fundamental shift and create radical change.

– There is no future in continuing to train designers in a system that is outdated and unsustainable. There are multiple theories – articles, videos, books – within the field of sustainability, but a unifying platform is lacking, where knowledge is translated and concrete actions are specified on how to teach students to design sustainable clothing, footwear, bags etc. in practice, so that sustainability does not just become a theoretical application, but an integral part of the design process itself, Ulla Ræbild and Karen Marie Hasling emphasize. 

FashionSEEDS has been created for use by educators at all levels. Whether you are just starting to integrate sustainability into your teaching or have in-depth expertise, the platform offers instructions, advice and guidance that ranges from simple provision of knowledge about the application of the tools to working with radical paradigm shifts.

Design for Planet
Design School Kolding's contribution to the project is based on many years of experience in teaching sustainability and not least on the school's special Master's programme, Design for Planet, where sustainability has been fully integrated into the programme and – unlike a number of other educational institutions – no longer primarily acts as a theoretical superstructure.

– The novelty about this platform is that we link the pedagogical with the design field and make it accessible in a teaching context. Obviously, it is important that future designers learn to use tools to create change, especially if it is going to have an effect over the long term, Ulla Ræbild and Karen Marie Hasling conclude.

About FashionSEEDS.org
FashionSEEDS is equipped with a brand-new guide, Tutor's Toolkit, to help educators place sustainability at the heart of their teaching:

• Course Designer: The purpose is to enable educators to position sustainability principles at the centre of fashion design teaching.
• Design Canvas: Supports academics, managers and practitioners in identifying their strategic priorities through a sustainable, holistic approach to fashion design.
• Cards: Provide educators with practical examples of sustainability-oriented course content with the intent to reform, transform or complement current teaching and learning.
• Learning Activity Tool: Sharing of 24 teaching activities designed to be integrated into existing courses or to be used as inspiration to develop new course content. 

FashionSEEDS has been created by a network of leading European design universities, i.e.  University of the Arts in London, Politecnico in Milan, the Estonian Academy of Arts and Design School Kolding chaired by professor Dilys Williams, Director of the Centre for Sustainable Fashion at the London College of Fashion. 

Project team: University of the Arts London (Professor Dilys Williams, Nina Stevenson, Julia Crew, Natasha Bonnelame); Politecnico di Milano (Federica Vacca, Chiara Colombi, Erminia D'itria), the Estonian Academy of Arts (Reet Aus, Piret Puppart, Harri Moora, Julia Valle–Noronha) and Design School Kolding (Vibeke Riisberg, Karen Marie Hasling, Louise Ravnløkke, Ulla Ræbild). 

The project has received support from Erasmus+ and from the Programme of the European Union for co-funding. https://www.fashionseeds.org