Pedagogy and Professional Development

Towards Equity: Creating Capacity for Continuous Student Engagement with Slow Fashion

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Abstract

Slow Fashion draws attention to localism. Although farmers with sheep, alpacas, and goats are interested in local clothing and textile production, there are several challenges. This conveys equity issues that limit local clothing and textiles economic growth. From a fashion education perspective, continuously engaging undergraduate students in US wool research and creative activities can provide an opportunity for greater equity for farmers and students. Course-Based Undergraduate Research Experiences (CUREs) provide an opportunity to apply critical thinking, problem solving, and collaboration skills for students to address real-world issues. The purpose of this project was to engage minoritized students from underrepresented groups in a CURE and provide experiential learning opportunities to meet USDA Strategic Goal 4 to facilitate rural prosperity and economic development. Practice-based approaches with student development of a US sheep and mill database, GIS mapping, wool sourcing, yarn-textile development, and community engagement are efforts to expand equity in slow fashion.

Keywords: slow fashion, wool, textiles, undergraduate research, community engagement

How to Cite:

Trejo, H. X. & Andrade, I., (2025) “Towards Equity: Creating Capacity for Continuous Student Engagement with Slow Fashion”, International Textile and Apparel Association Annual Conference Proceedings 81(1). doi: https://doi.org/10.31274/itaa.18714