The designer as an agent of change

After 34 years offering higher education in Textile Design and Fashion Design, in 2020, IBERO (Ibero-American University Mexico City) decided to merge the two degree programs with sustainability as their common thread. In August 2021, the Sustainable Fashion and Textile Design degree program was finally launched with the aim of transforming education with a more sustainable approach from the very conception of ideas. The publication Ethical Fashion for a Sustainable Future helped them understand and validate the program and was the reason they invited us to collaborate with them. First with a conference and later as guest lecturers in the course CLOTHING AND FASHION DESIGN VIII.

Far&sound’s participation sought to reinforce some of the course’s objectives: identifying the economic, social, and environmental factors that determine a designer’s activity; learning to devise textile design projects with an innovative and strategic vision; and gaining in-depth knowledge of various design strategies for sustainability. We designed a series of masterclasses following a structure that responds to the ingredients needed to become an agent of change: WANT/KNOW/CAN. WANT: understanding what drives designers, what are the ethical foundations behind their purpose as individuals and professionals, is the basis for ensuring the integrity, authenticity, and ambition of future actions or projects. KNOW: delving deeper into the environmental/social, legislative, and economic context helps to better understand the challenges facing the world and identify opportunities to address them through design. BE ABLE: knowing the wide range of strategies that allow design to contribute to the shift towards a more ethical and sustainable fashion industry.