During a time of virtual experience and a lack of social interaction our Fashion Design & Technology students were given the opportunity to build an International collaborate project with RMIT in Australia. The students were asked to collaborate with their peers across institutions on opposite sides of the world.

During a time of virtual experience and a lack of social interaction our Fashion Design & Technology students were given the opportunity to build an International collaborate project with RMIT in Australia with the Aquaterro customer in mind. The students were asked to collaborate with their peers across institutions on opposite sides of the world.

The second-year students were asked to design and create at least one garment that had to be ‘multipurpose’ and had a capacity to house one or more objects that any/or all force persons may need to carry. It was imperative that the students considered the end user functionality whilst maintaining a contemporary forward thinking fashion aesthetic.

Aquaterro provides protective solutions to the most elite users in Australia, whether that may be a profession that involves threat of attack, extreme cold, marine environments, fire and explosions or even a risk of infection.

Together the students were asked to respond to the brief that was presented by Aquaterro founder & managing Director, Graeme Bulte. Our students were paired with other students across the world from RMIT, focusing on similarity or contrasting ideas, with eleven pairs in total.

Successfully, all the students spent time with their partners, with the difficulty of time zones and virtual interactions, deciding what they were going to collaborate on and how their individual projects would develop.

All students submitted an initial visual design proposal, digital process journal, filmed account of process, digital design portfolio, digital technical portfolio, artefact/virtual outcome and their manual/digital patterns.

As the collaboration came to an end, all students presented their individual final design portfolios and Aquaterro carefully selected students for the following Awards.

Congratulations to both Sophie Hirst and Connor Read for successfully winning the best innovative individual work, with Rebecca Dignan and Eliza Veal winning the award for the best commercial viability. In addition, a massive congratulations to Catherine Ward and Isobel Barrie for winning the best product development research award.

Sophie Hirst, said: “… I really did love the project & it was so interesting to design with lifesaving gear in mind! It has really opened my eyes to all the opportunities out there! I was super happy & very surprised with the award I won - thank you so much!”