Education for the circular economy: analysis of the high school curriculum for fashion design courses in Portugal

Abstract

An education for the circular economy is increasingly vital these days, especially if we consider the training of future fashion designers. This is because, as is commonly known, fashion is one of the most polluting industries in the world, and like all young people, future fashion designers are required to rethink not only the way garments are experienced (purchased, handled, and discarded) but specially how they are designed. Unrestrained consumption, driven by Fast Fashion's linear model of “take-makedispose” [1], one-way model "from cradle to grave" [2], still prevails and it is essential to change the way fashion is perceived. The circular economy thus presents itself as an undeniable guideline for the fashion industry - in the search for more sustainable behaviours, researchers, politicians, and educators are determined to close the cycle ("from cradle to cradle" [2]). The Circular Economy, unlike the Fast Fashion model, “is intended to be restorative and regenerative by having better product design and processes to promote maximum reuse of resources and prevention of waste” [1]. Thus, this circular model aims to reduce as much as possible the amount of waste during the entire production chain, and its design ends up being the basis for waste reduction to be possible. For this reason, it is essential that the education of young fashion designers take on a more sustainable component, in which design for the circular economy is at the heart of the curriculum. For this to happen, it is important to understand how the curriculum of fashion design courses are structured and the importance this subject assumes. This article intends to analyse whether the curriculum of fashion design courses in high schools address the theme of circular economy in fashion and if so what methodologies and strategies are used for its implementation in the classroom context. It is aimed to study how the guidelines proposed by the Ministry of Education for the sustainable development in fashion are approached by educators with students of this age group (generation Z or Zoomers). With this goal in mind, a survey of all fashion design courses in Portugal will be carried out at this level of education.