Innovation: the Fashion Industry

This course gave me an insight into how the fashion industry has developed over time and worked its way through tricky situations, but mostly it has been very interesting to learn different info that I never knew. The 'mini quizzes' on the course helped solidify my knowledge and was a fun way to see how much I'd learnt. I was asked to make a video or write a review about an item of my own clothing, which m=helped me to really think about the product and if it was cost effective and if it was worth what I paid for it - very good to think about that when buying items in the future in terms of price and if I really need to pay that much! Thoroughly enjoyed the course and would definitely recommend to others interested in fashion and innovative design!

I joined this course as I was interested to discover its content; I wanted to find out how it had moved on in the sixty years when I started out with similar dreams. Then girls were restricted in the paths they could take. Fortunately, times have moved on and girls are now regarded as able to embrace the whole industry.

It was evident from the start of this course that the comments of the majority of those taking part were from young people with aspirations to enlist in the ‘glamorous’ career of fashion and textiles. I would have liked to see the true nature of the industry reflected in the content of this course. It is a very hard business to work in, very poorly paid (unless you reach the top); some do of course but not many. This course did encompass the additional careers of advertising and marketing, which could be used to diversify into other specialties, therefore, making this course beneficial.

I hope the courses being taught about the rag trade – as that is what it is, as all clothes made from natural fibres end up as rags and are recycled possibly into paper. If garments are made of synthetic fibres that can be recycled (this new innovation was introduced in this course) this might be an alternative to the ‘throw-away’ society we find ourselves in today, but this would presumably use chemicals and destroy the environment, which we are trying to avoid. Perhaps we need new innovations to overcome this.

This is an easy introduction to innovation in the fashion industry but many of the ideas and guidance apply to almost any manufactured item from cars to computers.

I found the insights into design and innovation fascinating. Now we are all becoming more aware of the environment, I found the section on sustainability and recycling of clothing particularly interesting.

The interviews with professionals from M&S and Wear2 coordinated by Leeds University were clearly given by people who had actually been involved in the development of the garments and processes.

The activity examining a garment of our choice was a real eye-opener for me in many ways. Firstly in looking at the garment and its many component parts and secondly in making a video or written script about it. The clear guidance on making the video or script applies to almost any field.

Week 1 was really informative and it was really interesting about how M&S we’re developing the iconic suit and working with stitching that could break up. My own issue with this course was that the information was outdated 2014 research and the M&S heritage website didn’t really show you anything.
Week 2 wasn’t very interesting and they ask you to record an educational video about an item of clothing (goes on how to film it etc). Finally I couldn’t take the final test as you had to pay. That wasn’t clear from the onset. I thought that the payment was just for a certificate not the test.
The course/certificate wasn’t worth the cost, I’ve done 5 week in-depth fashion course which has been the same cost.
Interesting topic but this could of been done in 1 week over 3 hours.