Are we preparing emerging fashion designers for a circular fashion industry?

White Paper, 2024, Redress

CONTEXT

Fashion has always been about change, speed and delivery. In recent years, however, sustainability has been an increasingly constant topic as the industry, and its stakeholders,  have become increasingly aware of its alarming environmental and social impacts. 

On the environmental front, fashion’s impact is undeniable, and must be tackled urgently: 

• Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions: The fashion industry contributed to an estimated 1.8% of global GHG emissions in 2021. Assuming business-as-usual growth for the apparel sector, emissions are projected to increase 42% by 2030, but to stay within a 1.5°C trajectory the sector would need to reduce by 45% by 2030. Meanwhile the fashion industry is projected to use a quarter of the world’s carbon budget by 2050. 

• Water: The volume of freshwater consumed by the fashion industry is nearly 79 billion cubic metres, enough to fill nearly 32 million Olympic-size swimming pools. This figure is predicted to increase by 50% by 2030.

• Waste: Every second, the equivalent of one rubbish truck of textiles is landfilled or burned. In Hong Kong, an average daily quantity of 388 tonnes of textiles were landfilled in 2022 of which 50% is estimated to be clothing. Redress estimates this to be the equivalent of 16 T-shirts landfilled every second.

The way we have been traditionally doing business, in a linear model of take-make-use-waste, is clearly unsustainable and quickly becoming outdated. Today, the fashion industry, from brands to manufacturers and across the entire value chain, is under pressure – from consumers, investors, and impending government legislation around the globe – to address this. 

The industry must shift from a complex and fragmented linear business model into a transparent circular model, where materials never become waste and nature is regenerated, and where responsibility is taken for the product’s entire lifecycle and its impact on the planet.

To successfully implement circularity at every stage of the fashion value chain, the industry not only needs to lean on the experience of established brands and manufacturers but also on new expertise and innovative thinking, coming through the new generation of fashion professionals. 

In turn, this means that if fashion design academia want to continue to be relevant and effective as a launchpad for incoming generations – training them to be industry-ready – they must be at the forefront of circularity knowledge, delivering state-of-the-art expertise and getting students geared up for the huge challenges the fashion industry must necessarily tackle.

THE VISION

At Redress, we believe in the positive power of fashion. We envision a future where the fashion industry is a solution to the climate crisis rather than a contributor.

Curbing fashion’s carbon footprint must happen now.

We know that to prevent irreversible climate change, global greenhouse gas emissions must be cut in half by 2030, and two-thirds of proven reserves of fossil fuels need to be kept in the ground by 2050. 

To avoid obsoletion, fashion companies have no choice but to act now, implementing climate resilient solutions that reduce or avoid GHG emissions while bringing economic, social and environmental benefits. 

In line with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), and the numerous upcoming legislations around the world targeting fashion’s environmental and social impact, many fashion companies have already started to develop sustainability strategies. 

Amongst these is the transition to a circular fashion system –  where materials never become waste and nature is regenerated, and where responsibility is taken for the product’s entire lifecycle and its impact on the planet.

Upskilling and training current and future fashion workforce is critical to the success of the circular fashion industry.

To effectively and efficiently ramp up the implementation of circular solutions, fashion companies must invest in technology, of course, but first and foremost in their employees’ skills and knowledge – especially the ones who make design decisions. With around 80% of a product’s environmental impact locked in at the design stage, design teams have a critical role to play in driving the shift towards a circular fashion economy.

There is an urgent need to train this generation of fashion designers, and the future ones to come, to deliver the fashion value chain of the future. In turn, the fashion industry’s new needs must be reflected within the curricula that fashion academic institutions develop and teach. 

THE CURRENT SITUATION

Today, most graduating fashion design students are not industry-ready.

Academic institutions have a responsibility to the next generation of fashion designers in enhancing their knowledge, skills, and mindsets to allow them to become deeply committed to building a sustainable future.

Universities and other institutions are critical to nurturing the skills and interests of future fashion professionals and to shift mindsets, behaviours and awareness to build a sustainable future. However, most of today’s fashion curricula around the world are failing to do so. The prevailing fashion design educational offerings in the business and academic world emphasise creativity and innovation, and topics of sustainability and circularity are far less represented. 

Today, fashion design educators recognise that students’ knowledge is still critically lacking: the students’ everyday experiences and values do not necessarily align with those that drive the circular fashion movement, which make the adoption of circular practices difficult (but even more urgent). As a result, future fashion designers have very little expectation or awareness of the skills they need to be industry-ready. 

“From my perspective, the current state of individual designers in terms of sustainable design ability is quite limited. Their knowledge and information mostly come from being consumers in the industry rather than having a comprehensive understanding of how [and why] to create truly sustainable products.”

Redress has played an important role over the years to support academic institutions and their educators, particularly in Asia, to complement existing curriculum with circular fashion design knowledge.

At Redress, we are committed to educating and empowering fashion designers to participate in the circular economy - so they have the knowledge to design products that regenerate nature, are made without waste and pollution, can be (re)used for as long as possible and are recyclable.

Redress has partnered with over 170 academic institutions across the world, each engaging at a different level with our organisation. Based on a survey of our 40+ closest partner institutions, carried out from June to September 2024, we have identified that they particularly value the academic support Redress provides, with 60% of them coming to Redress looking for supplementary information to what they know in Sustainable Fashion.

Amongst them are institutions that have consistently engaged with some or all of the following Redress resources in the past 3 years (2021 - 2024).

The primary modes of engagement have included:

• Developing and delivering circular fashion knowledge in the classroom:

• 50% of the institutions booked in-class educational talks and workshops delivered by Redress for their students to attend. Between 2021 and 2024, Redress delivered 57 in-class educational talks and 10 workshops. Additionally, over 7700 China-based viewers joined the Redress online education talks during these three years.

• The educators used the Redress Educator Sustainable Fashion Packs (34% partially and 7% fully), the Redress Academy online resources (54%) and the Circular Fashion Design Course (30% partially and 7% fully embed in the curriculum) to get inspired for their own in-class teaching

• Redress has regularly engaged on feedback with a variety of educators through one-to-one interviews in order to provide them the most relevant support

• Encouraging students to showcase and deepen their circular fashion knowledge via the Redress Design Award:

• The institutions promote the Redress Design Award competition to students

• The students from the institutions apply to the Redress Design Award, submitting year-on-year consistent high-quality applications

Particularly in 2023-24, there has been a significant interest in having some form of teaching and exposure to sustainable fashion, especially across Asian institutions. Talking with fashion educators in 2023 gave us encouragement that things are shifting: there has been more awareness and an increasing impetus for educators and students alike to ramp up knowledge about sustainable fashion – whereas in the past, typically sustainability was taught to business or textile engineering students and less so to fashion design students.

A year on, educators are not only asking for more talks on circular fashion, but also workshops and experiences to encourage more understanding of how students can apply such techniques in their work. Redress has been providing outlets as mentioned above, but we have also seen a growing number of opportunities for institutions. In Hong Kong alone, there are more and more competitions promoting general sustainability to students and general public, such as:

• The “衣衣不捨” Eco-friendly fashion design competition, organised by Hong Kong Electric and the Fashion Design Program of Technological and Higher Education Institute of Hong Kong (THEi) and the Clothing Industry Training Authority (CITA)

• The “My green space” student competition, organised by the Hong Kong Green Building Council

• The “CityUHK SEE Sustainability for Future” video competition, organised by CityU HK

• The “Green Energy Dreams Come True” competition, organised by Hong Kong Electric

• The “Sustainable HK Proposal: Digital Solutions for Waste Management” competition, organised by the Communications Association of Hong Kong (CAHK)

• The "Gotta GO! Sustainable Explorer Challenge 2024”, organised by HKUST and HK Express!

When it comes to fully embedding sustainable fashion design knowledge into the curriculum, there is still some progress to be made. Only a quarter (12 out of 45) of Redress’ closest partner institutions have committed to teach their students about sustainable fashion, not only relying on the support Redress provides but in the form of a full course or a module. Amongst them, half are located in Europe whilst the rest are in the US, Oceania and Asia (with Hong Kong and India). Outside of the Redress academic institutions network, we have identified only a few more institutions globally offering sustainable fashion design courses or modules. This is encouraging, but insufficient to cater to all fashion designers entering the workforce year on year.

Closing the gaps - challenges and opportunities

Although embedding circular fashion design knowledge in the curriculum is still a challenge, some initiatives are gaining traction.

Challenge: Updating curriculum to align with future industry needs is difficult.

First, the industry itself is still developing its sustainability and circularity goals and strategy, while necessarily also prioritising the bottom line. Brands tend to be ambitious and aggressive with their sustainability roadmaps, while the rest of the value chain is having to keep up. A Hong Kong fashion industry expert says, “There is a gap between brands and manufacturing in terms of sustainability knowledge. There is a need for better communication and knowledge exchange to bridge this gap and improve sustainability efforts.” This is reflected in how academic institutions teach about the fashion industry, with very little cross-over between different fashion disciplines.

Second, updating and developing new modules or fully-fledged programmes tends to be very slow. Based on Redress’ experience and that of its partner institutions, it can take two or three years to open a new course. In some regions, where governmental institutions are involved in the curriculum development, it can even take longer – the approvals can be extremely slow, and therefore deterring for the educators.

Opportunity: Education programs integrating circularity are successful and attractive.

In Hong Kong, Redress has supported The Hong Kong Polytechnic University over the years and in 2023 was asked to join the Validation panel for their new MA in Sustainable Fashion and Innovation. The purpose of the programme is to develop leaders in sustainability for fashion, textiles and creative industries. Launched in September 2024 as the first of its kind in the region, it has attracted hundreds of students from Hong Kong, Mainland China and other Asian regions. This is definitely a positive sign that the topic is in demand by students who gradually become more aware of the skills they need to succeed in the fashion industry.

While other academic institutions in the region have not fully embedded circular fashion design in their curriculum, they have been actively working with Redress to offer more knowledge to their students, from ad hoc activities to more systematic integration:

• Redress participated in several industry events organised by academic institutions, offering insights and knowledge on circular fashion.

• CITA invited Redress to share our expertise during the seminar “Together We Knit the Future Fashion”. 

• The Hong Kong Design Institute (HKDI) invited Redress to deliver a masterclass on circularity to the Global Denim Talent Program (GDTP) winners. 

• Redress was invited to judge the final collection presentation of the BA students from THEi.

• Redress has been organising tailored talks, design workshops and experiences for students:

• THEi students joined Redress’ clothes sorting session activity to raise awareness of the increasing volume of post-consumer textile waste in Hong Kong.

• Also at THEi, another Redress workshop inspired learning and confidence: select students went on to apply for another local design competition using their newly-acquired sustainable design techniques.

• Redress took Shanghai College of Fashion students to meet relevant yarn mills to support the institution’s module on material innovation. The student feedback was very positive, not only about the outing but also regarding the opportunity to hear from designers and the job expectations. This kicked off discussions for a renewed engagement in 2025 onwards.

• Redress’ online educational resources have been increasingly integrated into lessons, giving their students access to Redress’ free resources during their tutorial classes.

• Redress piloted a 2024 summer internship programme with CITA and HKMU Li Place, embedding the online Redress Circular Fashion Design Course into a mandatory element of the 90-hour internship as a way to pass deeper meaning and purpose to the education of their fashion students. Educators involved were motivated by their students' feedback and will encourage more students to join in 2025, stating it is helpful for their confidence and exposure to sustainable fashion. Intern feedback included ideas such as a “pre-internship workshops and activities especially now that [they have] seen the preparations and behind-the scenes [of the Redress Design Award].”

Last but not least, the Redress Alumni who have experienced the importance of educating and mentoring emerging designers through their own experience during the Redress Design Award challenges and industry insights, have in turn chosen to support their own local institutes by providing circular design technique workshops. Such examples are:

• Juliana Garcia Bello, for the Buenos Aires City Government in Argentina

• Ngoc Thu Le, for the London college of Fashion in Vietnam 

• Pei-Wen Jin, for Shih Chien University in Taiwan 

• Tiffany Patterson, for the Hong Kong Design Institute 

• Tulika Ranjan, for the National Institute of Fashion and Technology in India

• Meiyan Chan, for CFW Fashion Design 

• Wen Hangzhou, for CFW Fashion Design

• Jasmine Leung, for the Technological and Higher Education Institute of Hong Kong 

• Svetlana Tkacheva, for Bunka Gakuen in Japan

• Janus Ha, for the Hong Kong Design Institute 

• Tsang Fan Yu, for Bunka Gakuen in Japan

• Patrick Lam, for Hong Kong Caritas

• Cris Mrianda, for the Beijing Institute of Fashion & Technology in China

Recommendations for fashion educators and next steps for Redress

The fashion education landscape needs to shift faster and in bigger ways in order to better support the industry’s climate goals.

Fashion design education needs to go beyond the traditional idea of designing and crafting products, it needs to reflect the realities of the fashion industry (emphasis on industry).

“Designers should know more and take more responsibilities. It's important to recognise that being a designer is not just about sketching a design and considering it complete. There are numerous decision-making processes that need to be considered.” 

For designers to be industry-ready, and able to influence their product creation team, they must have a wide scope of knowledge and understanding of the entire product life cycle. This will enhance the creative problem-solving necessary for designers to overcome design limitations particularly in contexts where circular design approaches can be new, and sometimes costly or technologically more challenging than traditional design in a linear system.

At Redress, we have identified two main areas that, if integrated in the fashion curriculum, would empower designers to create products that regenerate nature, are made without waste and pollution, can be reused for as long as possible and are recyclable.

• Closing the sustainability knowledge gap: students today are still lacking the understanding of basic sustainability & circularity concepts

  • Starting with creating a solid foundation of ‘sustainability literacy’: each vocabulary & concept need to be well defined and understood

  • Integrating these concepts as an integral, core part of the curriculum, delving into the theory and their practical application

• Enhancing business and technical fashion knowledge: for designers to walk the talk and drive change successfully, they need to possess knowledge and awareness beyond pure design skills, and get exposure to the industry early on. 

  • Teaching, in actual manufacturing environments and in collaboration with industry experts, about technical production considerations of manufacturing garments at scale, pricing and how to build cost sheets, materials and how they are produced, recycling technologies

  • Discussing and encouraging reflection based on concrete case studies on the topics of greenwashing and marketing sustainable products

  • Teaching about current and upcoming product (particularly textile and apparel) legislation and policy locally and globally

“Designers who are not physically present in the factories, including those in China, face difficulties in exerting their influence.”

Although core changes in the fashion curriculum, such as launching new programmes, are critically necessary, educators can get started with easier and smaller steps. 

Introducing circular fashion knowledge through guest lectures, workshops and industry visits can enable students to get acquainted with the topic and spark their interest in delving deeper. Leaning on or even embedding available external resources (such as the Redress online educational resources) to supplement existing in-class teaching, and then revising design briefs calling for circular design strategies can help students to further build their skills while still following existing curricula.

In collaboration with other educators within a same programme or school, developing new introductory courses or modules can also serve as pilots for the development of fully-fledged programmes.

Finally, more than ever, educators should seek opportunities to build stronger connections with the industry world and to engage in conversations about the skills and knowledge needed for the future fashion workforce.

At Redress we are encouraging this transition by offering relevant support to academic institutions.

1. Closing the sustainability knowledge gap: Redress continues to offer resources covering basic sustainability & circularity concepts.

   • In-class engagement through talks and workshops is still critical to deliver while still most fashion academic institutions do not have more embedded sustainability content. Most partner academic institutions have been needing the support of Redress for many years now and we are not foreseeing any change in the short to medium term; rather, the demand is in some cases increasing, meaning students might engage with Redress several times before they graduate.

     As such, for the year 2024-2025 onwards, Redress’ academic talks have been revised to cater to separate year groups with four different talk options building up circularity knowledge year-on-year. This allows for students to grow their knowledge along several touch points in their academic journey, giving them time to assimilate better the content and opportunity to delve deeper into certain concepts.

     Redress also continues to offer free online educational resources, including a fully-fledged set of self-study courses covering, in 8-16 hours, foundational content about circular fashion as well as more specific topics. Educators have found these courses useful tools, however difficult to embed into existing curriculum due to their length and the restricted time allocated to fashion sustainability in the current curriculum. While the latter is not likely to change for the foreseeable future, Redress sees an opportunity to continue to offer the course content as more bite-sized learning resources.

2. Enhancing business and technical fashion knowledge: Redress plans to offer students opportunities to get exposure to the industry.

   • Redress is planning to pilot ‘Educational Industry Experiences’, first in Hong Kong, and with the vision to replicate them in other regions if successful. These will be a way for educators to link their teaching content to real industry practices. 

     The ‘Educational Industry Experiences’ are a series of half-day to full-day events to visit various best-in-class facilities and factories, initially in Hong Kong and the Greater Bay Area, who are excelling in the transformation of their production to more sustainable, circular practices. Students and educators will get to experience the fashion industry value chain from end to end, gaining insights into the operations of textile and garment manufacturing, and an understanding and appreciation for automation, standards and technical expertise, as well as the scale at which the industry operates. Each experience will include a tour of one or more facilities, and an in-depth session with experts to build knowledge and understanding for the role and consequences of design decisions in a wider context.

     Through this activity Redress aims to continue to engage with and provide support to educators to continue building the capacity to have sustainable conversations within the classroom in order to close the knowledge gap for circular design. 

     Redress is also hoping to be able to offer a new platform in the format of a student summit where student designers and industry leaders can interact meaningfully. Collaboration and communication within the value chain have been clearly identified as critical for the fashion industry to move forward with their sustainability goals. We believe this practice has to start early on. The purpose of such an event would be to empower incoming generations of designers to have influence and drive important conversations, while giving them an opportunity to confront the challenging realities of the industry. This event would also aim to facilitate conversations between academia and industry about the skills and knowledge needed for the future fashion workforce.

     Finally, Redress will continue to get student designers as ‘industry ready’ as possible by growing the reach and influence of our various existing resources and of the 15-year-strong Redress Design Award programme, particularly within Asia, and by providing internship opportunities to students of Hong Kong academic institutions. Based on the successful 2024 pilot with CITA, we have already started conversations on replicating and adapting the programme with other institutions.

Conclusion

We believe in the positive power of fashion. We envision a future where the fashion industry is a solution to the climate crisis rather than a contributor. To be able to turn this vision into reality, every stakeholder of the fashion value chain has an important role to play – including fashion academia. Upskilling and training current and future fashion workforce is critical to the success of the circular fashion industry.

Are we preparing emerging fashion designers for a circular fashion industry?

Redress has played an important role over the years supporting academic institutions and educators by developing and delivering circular fashion design knowledge. We have seen good traction, and some success stories of academic institutions fully embedding sustainable fashion design knowledge into their curriculum, but there is still a long way to go - with challenges being mostly on slow and difficult approvals to change curriculums. The reality is that today most graduating fashion design students are not industry-ready.

Fashion education needs to evolve more quickly and in bigger ways in order to see the industry reach the UNFCCC climate goals. Fashion design education needs to shift from teaching the conventional, linear model of designing and making products, to reflecting the realities of the fashion industry and its current impact. 

We need to close the sustainability knowledge gap and enhance business and technical fashion knowledge for graduating designers. Redress is encouraging this transition by offering relevant support to students and academic institutions, including but not limited to in-class talks, various experiences and activities, online and extracurricular resources, and a global circular fashion design competition for emerging designers.

In conclusion, are we preparing emerging fashion designers for a circular fashion industry? Yes, but far from what we should be doing. At Redress, we remain committed to educating and empowering fashion designers to participate in the circular economy until every fashion design student is equipped for the new circular fashion system.

COMPLEMENTARY INFORMATION

About Redress

Redress is a Hong Kong-based, Asia-focused environmental NGO with a mission to accelerate the transition to a circular fashion industry by educating and empowering designers and consumers in order to reduce clothing’s negative environmental impacts.

https://www.redress.com.hk

For Academic Enquiries, please contact:

Morgane Parizot
Strategic Education Director
morgane@redress.com.hk

For Media and Press Enquiries, please contact:

Shirley A. Wong
Communications Manager
shirleyaun@redress.com.hk

Sustainable fashion in academic institutions

Find the full list of Redress’ network of academic institutions here.

Based on Redress research, find below the list of academic institutions offering sustainable fashion design courses or modules. If your institution is missing from this list, please reach out to us at education@redress.com.hk so we can update our database.