When it comes to education, at Centre for Sustainable Fashion we have long believed that by removing the barriers to educational content we can allow the next generation of fashion professionals to be informed, inspired and connected, working toward solving the issues at hand. We've brought together our specialists in Education, Research and Knowledge Exchange to develop a new open-source sustainability programme, Fashion Values, launched during London Fashion Week in February 2021.
Fashion Values (FV) is a sustainability education programme led by our team at Centre for Sustainable Fashion, supported by core partners Kering, IBM and Vogue Business. We’ve brought together a network of thought leaders in design, research and education, to create an online platform, and programme with sustainability at its core.
FV’s key aims are to educate, inform, inspire and connect the next generation of fashion sustainability changemakers on a global scale, through a one-of-a-kind interactive learning platform. The platform, includes a growing series of open-source online courses and content created to develop sustainability literacy, inform innovation and develop fashion products, services and systems. Hosting a three-year educational programme including events, insights and the Fashion Values Challenge, that will generate and showcase sustainable innovation. Each year Fashion Values will focus on a key element of sustainability. In 2021, Fashion and Nature is the central theme.
“Fashion Values is about changing who and what is taught and learnt – as well as to what purpose. Fashion Values is about encouraging a mass of responses to issues of mass extinction. Our aim is to recognise and support a generation of fashion professionals to understand the value of living nature and engage in restorative practices in different places and ways. Creating ways that fashion can serve nature as its beneficiary is seldom, if ever written into fashion design briefs. It involves a major compass change but fashion can be a compass of change itself. But first, we must break the mould of where, how and with whom sources of knowledge are drawn.” – Professor Dilys Williams, Director of Centre for Sustainable Fashion
The development of the programme has been led by our Knowledge Exchange team – Anna Sammarco, Head of Knowledge Exchange notes “the future of the planet is in the next generation’s hands... Awareness is key to inspire possibility, collaboration is fundamental to unlock opportunities, and all of us need to play a part to activate change and protect Nature.”
She continues, “Fashion Values gives you the tools to learn, connect, create and put sustainability into action. The programme has been designed to be as inclusive as possible and offer a real opportunity to anyone around the globe to make an impact in the fashion industry at any stage of their career.”
Nina Stevenson, CSF’s Education for Sustainability Leader adds – ‘Fashion Values marks an essential shift in how we perceive and practice fashion. A nature-centred approach must be at the core of fashion education, to ensure fashion design, business and media are contributing to the restoration and regeneration of ecosystems and species. After too long prioritising profit at the expense of our planet, it is time for us to ask the question, what can we do for nature?’
We're calling for transformational ideas from the next generation of changemakers, giving space to new voices, creating a roadmap for change and highlighting key directives for the wider fashion industry.
Stay up to date on what’s next for Fashion Values, by joining the Fashion Values community.