Shaping the Future of Fashion
A Research Companion
1st Edition
Will be published approx. on 21. July 2026
Book
Hardback
334 pages
978-1-032-99974-6 (ISBN)
Description
The book is a research-led companion for anyone seeking to understand how fashion futures are already being made. It brings together a curated collection of conceptual, empirical, and practice-based chapters that reflect fashion's complexity while remaining grounded in rigorous and reflexive research.
Organised around four interconnected themes: Innovation, Ecosystem, Education, and Values, the book explores how technological change, circular systems, community practices, pedagogy, and ethics collectively shape fashion today. Chapters explore innovation as a multidimensional process, rethink fashion as a network of relationships, position education as a driver of systemic change, and foreground values such as justice, care, and cultural accountability. Across the volume, dominant narratives rooted in extractive, exclusionary, and short-term thinking are critically challenged.
Written in an accessible and engaging style, the book is designed for fashion educators, researchers, students, and practitioners who want to think critically while remaining oriented towards action. Each chapter analyses current transformations and offers future research agendas or critical questions to support reflection beyond the page. This book benefits readers by providing intellectual depth, global perspectives, and practical inspiration. It serves as both a snapshot of contemporary fashion research and a catalyst for shaping more inclusive, equitable, and sustainable fashion futures.
Organised around four interconnected themes: Innovation, Ecosystem, Education, and Values, the book explores how technological change, circular systems, community practices, pedagogy, and ethics collectively shape fashion today. Chapters explore innovation as a multidimensional process, rethink fashion as a network of relationships, position education as a driver of systemic change, and foreground values such as justice, care, and cultural accountability. Across the volume, dominant narratives rooted in extractive, exclusionary, and short-term thinking are critically challenged.
Written in an accessible and engaging style, the book is designed for fashion educators, researchers, students, and practitioners who want to think critically while remaining oriented towards action. Each chapter analyses current transformations and offers future research agendas or critical questions to support reflection beyond the page. This book benefits readers by providing intellectual depth, global perspectives, and practical inspiration. It serves as both a snapshot of contemporary fashion research and a catalyst for shaping more inclusive, equitable, and sustainable fashion futures.
Reviews / Votes
"Shaping the Future of Fashion is a globally informed, interdisciplinary volume that brings together leading academics and practitioners to critically examine how fashion futures are being shaped across innovation, ecosystems, education and values. Featuring 18 original chapters, this collection reflects the depth, ambition and global reach of London College of Fashion. It is an essential and timely resource for fashion researchers, educators, practitioners and students committed to shaping a more responsible fashion system."Professor Karen Stanton, Vice Chancellor, University of the Arts, London, UK.
"This important book explores fashion's evolving boundaries, integrating technological perspectives and geopolitical shifts and it examines fashion's wicked problems, equity, justice, and sustainability underpinned by rigorous research. Bringing academic and practical insights together, it offers a multidisciplinary understanding of how fashion adapts to global change while confronting its most urgent systemic challenges."
Professor Liz Barnes, Head of Manchester Fashion Institute, Manchester Metropolitan University, UK.
"A timely volume that helps us envision the future of fashion more clearly through innovation, ecosystems, education, and values."
Dai Fujiwara, designer, Japan.
More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Taylor & Francis Ltd
Target group
College/higher education
Postgraduate
Illustrations
16 s/w Tabellen, 16 s/w Zeichnungen, 96 s/w Photographien bzw. Rasterbilder, 112 s/w Abbildungen
16 Tables, black and white; 16 Line drawings, black and white; 96 Halftones, black and white; 112 Illustrations, black and white
Dimensions
Height: 234 mm
Width: 156 mm
ISBN-13
978-1-032-99974-6 (9781032999746)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Bethan Alexander | Yu Lun Eve Lin | Flavia Loscialpo
Shaping the Future of Fashion
A Research Companion
E-Book
approx. 07/2026
1st Edition
Routledge
€60.49
Not yet available
Bethan Alexander | Yu Lun Eve Lin | Flavia Loscialpo
Shaping the Future of Fashion
A Research Companion
E-Book
approx. 07/2026
1st Edition
Routledge
€60.49
Not yet available
Persons
Bethan Alexander is Reader in Fashion Retailing and Marketing and Research Lead at the Fashion Business School, London College of Fashion, University of the Arts London, UK.
Yu-Lun Eve Lin is Senior Lecturer, researcher, and multi-disciplinary practitioner based at London College of Fashion, UK.
Flavia Loscialpo is Senior Lecturer and Course Leader in Cultural and Historical Studies at UAL, UK.
Kelly Dearsley is Associate Dean of the School of Media and Communication, University of the Arts London, UK.
Yu-Lun Eve Lin is Senior Lecturer, researcher, and multi-disciplinary practitioner based at London College of Fashion, UK.
Flavia Loscialpo is Senior Lecturer and Course Leader in Cultural and Historical Studies at UAL, UK.
Kelly Dearsley is Associate Dean of the School of Media and Communication, University of the Arts London, UK.
Content
Part I: Innovation Introduction 1. The Pixelated Body: Critical Perspectives on Inclusion and Exclusion in Digital Fashion Innovation 2. Consumer Acceptance of an RFID-based Garment Lifecycle Maintenance Innovation 3. Reframing Digital Fashion: From I4.0 to I5.0 in Australia's Transition to a Circular Fashion Economy 4. From Handle to Hardware: Translating Textile Behaviour into 3D Systems: Reconstructing Textile Properties in Virtual Garment Production Part II: Ecosystem Introduction 5. Weaving for Reuse: Emerging Recycling Ecosystems for Design for Disassembly 6. Empowered Stitching: Traces: Stories of Migration 7. Crafting Identities: Imagining Futures Through Making and Co-Creation with Prisoners 8. The Fashion Milieu: Becoming Together Through the Feeling Body in an Age of Social Media and Mobile Phone Technology Part III: Education Introduction 9. How to Change the World: Reflections on Social Justice and Interdisciplinarity in Fashion Education 10. Exploring Sustainability Narratives Among Textile Design Students in India 11. Re-imaging H'Mong Textiles, Integrating Cultural Heritage and Product Innovation in Fashion Education for Systemic Change 12. Creativity for Sustainability in the Context of Fashion Design Education 13. Zooming In and Zooming Out: An Object-Based Learning Approach to Exploring Garment Construction. 14. Reworlding Fashion: Insights from a Speculative Curriculum Part IV: Values Introduction 15. Reimagining Fashion Histories: Enacting Decolonial Commitments in Institutional Spaces 16. Conversations on Craft, Circularity and Colonial Hangovers 17. Values-led Designer-Artisan Collaborations as Pathways Towards Cultural Reconciliation in Fashion 18. Ethical Threads: Rethinking NHS Workwear Through the Values of Care