INTED2024 Proceedings

The fashion industry produces significant environmental impacts. Awareness of the system's influence on the environment underscores the importance of taking concrete and innovative measures to ensure that fashion is not only an expression of style but also an industry actively engaged in promoting environmental sustainability. Therefore, it is essential to carefully examine each stage of the fashion product life cycle, from conception to production, from marketing to recycling, to identify and implement meaningful interventions that make all of the industry's complex operations sustainable. This paper presents the results of a teaching experiment carried out jointly by the courses of "Materials and Technologies for Fashion Design" and "Fashion Design Laboratory II" (a.y. 2023-24), of the three- year Fashion Design degree program. The structure of the courses is based on revised Bloom's taxonomy and Learning by doing. The didactic experimentation concerns creative upcycling in the use of leather and sustainable printing techniques, including Green-printing, on natural materials. The teaching action is part of the research project "CONSCIOUS LEATHER +_ Fashion Alive 2_ MUTATION," which promotes concepts such as simple living, inclusion, environmental awareness, self- production, slow fashion and manufacturing. Students are encouraged to develop creative thinking by considering the implications of the design process and its impact. The collaboration between the University of Campania Luigi Vanvitelli and the Lineapelle Association created an opportunity for knowledge exchange and synergy between education, research and industry, focusing on innovation and the adoption of a low-impact ecological approach. Students experimented with the Green-printing technique to design textures and patterns using organic or geometric shapes and colours obtained from plant materials. The training aims to consolidate a new environmental awareness by promoting integration, inclusion, reclaiming local artefacts and valuing traditions, quality and durability against the culture of fast consumption. Fashion, more than other industries, can serve as a medium to represent diverse individualities, contributing to meaningful expression in harmony with a conscious and sustainable approach.