‘Digital Fashion Technology’ prepares students for the digitisation of the fashion industry

September 2025 will see the launch of ‘Digital Fashion Technology’: a one-year, full-time track of the Master’s degree programme in Digital Design. In this track, students will learn to explore how to implement digital technologies and what the effects of these technologies are on the entire fashion supply chain and the wider societal playing field. José Teunissen, programme manager at the Amsterdam Fashion Institute (AMFI), and Lisette Vonk, lecturer and researcher as well as coordinator of the Virtual Reality Lab, are closely involved in the track’s development. ‘We want to train students who are firmly rooted in the fashion industry while also having the knowledge and skills to use digital technology critically to innovate and change the industry.’

Interdisciplinary

‘Digital Fashion Technology’ is aimed at students from different backgrounds – including ICT, fashion and design – who will work together in an interdisciplinary context and with different areas of expertise. José Teunissen: ‘Students who transfer, such as those doing the 3D Hypercraft minor or graduating on a digital fashion project at our faculty, will have the opportunity at ‘Digital Fashion Technology’ to specialise in digital fashion technology at Master’s level. In addition, we are looking at international students – the track’s language of instruction is English – as there isn’t an ample international offer in this field yet, either.’

Digital skills

After a strong technical foundation is laid, challenges around the themes of ‘the body’, ‘fashion systems’ and ‘fashion products’ are explored in a ‘community of practice’. This approach helps students get practical experience with emerging technologies and with learning to design, create, implement and test prototypes, among other things. José Teunissen: ‘The digitisation of product development and product design is very much on the rise in the industry. You see large companies, such as PVH and Adidas, already largely developing their products digitally and not making them until they are fully developed. It saves a lot of waste and also works efficiently remotely. This means we will be needing more fashion designers who master these digital skills. Students will learn how to tackle complex issues so they can actually change things in the industry later on.

Consider, for example, research into digital workflows that are not yet aligned with each other, or the automatic generation and use of digital representations of physical fabrics. What students learn here will depend largely on their backgrounds and learning needs and on developments in the digital and fashion industry. They will be working on real issues in the fashion industry and the research field, designing concrete digital solutions by way of “research through design”. There is a lot of independent practice-based research, including in collaboration with our research groups, and students learn in a market that is required to change. Every student will be given the skills needed to apply digital technologies critically and thereby help the industry, digitise it and, it is hoped, make it more sustainable.’

Step towards sustainability

‘We often think in terms of sustainability – and we should, because fashion is a polluting industry. We see it all has to be cheaper all the time. At the same time, we find we have ever more data on individual consumers, such as exact measurements via a body scan or specific requirements via a platform. Sooner or later, we will see a shift towards ‘on-demand’ creation rather than bulk marketing. This will truly be a step towards sustainability. Digitising product development reduces waste by a lot, since you are doing everything digitally and are only making something when everybody is agreed on what it should be. This saves a great amount of waste, wastefulness and time in the production process. We will be working on this for the next ten years, and of course ‘Digital Fashion Technology’ will also play a role in this. The fashion industry finds collaboration with education very important because many innovative solutions come from new generations.’

Quest

Lisette Vonk has been involved in the development of ‘Digital Fashion Technology’ from the start. ‘We want to train students who are firmly rooted in the fashion industry while also having solid digital skills, so they can be a spider in the web as the fashion industry innovates through digitisation. We need critical thinkers who not only can drive the industry but also really enjoy looking at the range of possibilities provided by those technologies. If you start designing in a different way, what is the effect on production? And on manufacturing? What is the effect on consumers and the world? We see the curriculum also includes a crucial research layer. We will be setting up a ‘community of practice’ together with the industry, our research groups, our students and our lecturers, and perhaps with research groups from other faculties, universities of applied sciences or universities. In this community we will really embark on that quest together.’

Interesting mix

‘It may seem like this track is intended for “the student who can do anything”, but we have actually designed it such that students from different backgrounds can participate,’ Lisette Vonk explains. ‘This is also what makes it so interesting. Say you are a Fashion Design student who would like to collaborate with an Information & Communication Technology student and a Film Academy student. The three of you could embark on a project together. Students will have the opportunity to gain knowledge about the fashion industry combined with new digital technologies. It’s a unique knowledge combination that not many people have as yet, but that’s in high demand in the fashion industry. Students will build a strong portfolio, will actually work with companies in the industry and will make contacts in the research field. They will build a network that will serve them well later on.’

The future is now

‘These students will work on the future of fashion, which is a future that is already here. They will really join in the transition of the fashion industry. And let’s not forget that above all, it will be a lot of fun and very hands-on for them. They will be creating, and to a large extent they themselves will decide what to create. They will be the first students to do this track, and therefore as students they will determine its direction,’ José Teunissen says.