Sustainability on-trend for fashion students
Ethical and responsible fashion is the focus of a new course at a Melbourne college, with students taught to navigate the new frontiers of style and sustainability.
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Sustainability is staying in style into the new decade, with arts and entertainment tertiary education college Collarts launching Australia’s first undergraduate Fashion and Sustainability degree in January 2020.
Course co-ordinator Dr Rachel Matthews said the course will help students get an in-depth understanding of emerging global fashion practices, sustainability and ethical responsibility.
“Students will learn how to create desirable fashion with a focus on sustainable, responsible and ethical consumption,” Dr Matthews said.
“A rise in jobs in the sustainability sector is already happening and this will only continue to grow.
“The need for professionals to manage green policies and sustainable supply chains while maintaining the integrity of the brand will be crucial in the years to come.”
The formal course announcement came at the same time as Oxfam released its annual ‘Naughty or Nice’ list for 2019, calling out brands for unethical practices, and praising those that are positively leading the fashion industry with responsible and transparent supply chains.
Aussie brands Bonds, Gorman and Country Road made Oxfam’s nice list, while Peter Alexander, Katies and Myer were recognised as some of the worst ethically performing brands.
Dr Matthews said students and consumers have expressed a want to align themselves with brands that have ethical and sustainable values.
“If our students don’t lead a change we won’t have a fashion industry in Australia,” Dr Mattews said.
“The fashion industry will be akin to the coal industry if we don’t transition from old ways of doing things to more sustainable and responsible practices.”
Similar fashion programs to Collarts’s new degree at the London College of Fashion and the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York claim to be gaining in popularity by looking at fashion’s future and consumption behaviours through a more sustainable and ethical lens.
Ethical Clothing Australia National Manger Angela Bell said consumers are demanding a change in the industry, and fashion education needs to reflect this.
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“What is becoming clear from consumers and others is that the industry cannot continue to operate without care or concern for the people making the clothes and more broadly for its detrimental impacts on the planet through production,” Ms Bell said.
“It is so important that students who are learning about the industry are also thinking about the impacts of the industry.”