Students from our Fashion Design & Technology programme collaborated with students and staff at Beijing Institute of Fashion Technology to produce garments exploring culture and sustainability.

Over the last 2 years students from our Fashion Design & Technology programme have collaborated with students and staff at Beijing Institute of Fashion Technology to produce garments exploring culture and sustainability.

Academic staff jointly devised the project during Covid19 lockdown, resulting in a successful ongoing collaboration since its initiation in 2019. Students worked together in pairs to design capsule collections in response to negotiated briefs, exploring global cultures and sustainable practice. The project enabled students to have design discussions with peers from different countries and cultural backgrounds, expanding their understanding of fashion design and international perspectives.

Dr Patsy Perry, International Lead for Manchester Fashion Institute commented that "collaborative international projects are integral to fashion education at Manchester Fashion Institute as a way of enriching the curriculum, preparing students for global citizenship and enhancing their skills through exposure to other cultural perspectives and practices. We value our longstanding relationship with BIFT and we are proud of the students’ excellent collaborative outcomes".

As part of the project students were encouraged to work as industry professionals, communicating their designs through technical specification, working with Ella Wong from Manchester Fashion Institutes’ technical team to produce their garments to industry standard. The creative project outcomes have been showcased in both digital and physical exhibitions in Beijing and Manchester.

Fashion Design & Technology student Antonia Wojtaszek said of the project;

“I strongly believe collaboration is one of the key elements, when it comes to the future of fashion. The BIFT collaboration has sparked this realisation in my mind and it’s been becoming more and more apparent for me now, 2 years after. To be able to creatively co-fuel one another is a beautiful thing and I hope projects like this can spark a bigger global conversation.”

All fabrics were kindly donated through the Graduate Fashion Foundation and pieces from the collection have most recently been exhibited in the Benzie building at Manchester Metropolitan University, which was on display for a number of weeks coinciding with a visit from Max Mara creative director Ian Griffiths. Ian was able to see the garments up close and was extremely impressed with the design and craftmanship of the garments.