Paper | Technology and Fashion Schools

TECHNOLOGY AND FASHION SCHOOLS

Rome, 10 July 2024. Technology is permeating the modern world, with its adoption and growth rate being exponential. But will technology save the world? Is it humanity’s ultimate goal?

As educators at the Accademia Costume & Moda (ACM), we cannot avoid monitoring, considering, and integrating technology into our educational pathways. In fields such as pattern making, fashion design, and accessories, software like Clo3D, ICad3D, andRhino3D are now essential tools. Likewise, the Adobe Creative Cloud suite has become indispensable for teaching fashion, graphic design, and multimedia arts. In the realm of knitwear, “electronic tailors” and complex production machines from companies like Shima Seiki (Japan) and Stoll (Germany) now transform yarn into finished garments (seamless, whole-garment) through electronic programming. The advent of virtual and augmented reality, along with its associated devices (e.g., Meta Quest Oculus), is set to enter our teaching practices through remote simulations, enabling lessons in pattern making, design, and more with instructors located on the other side of the world. Fashion communication has seen a significant acceleration with the arrival of ChatGPT, allowing texts and videos to be produced at previously unimaginable speeds. This impact is disruptive to both traditional and digital media. The fashion marketing and product distribution sectors are also being profoundly impacted by technology. Merchandising, logistics, supply chain traceability, distribution, and customer management are all evolving rapidly, thanks to blockchain and machine learning technologies.

Another area where technology is permeating fashion schools is at the corporate level. Consider CRM software used to manage prospective student contacts, websites now equipped with artificial intelligence (AI) to respond to inquiries (bots), and the organization and logistics of education itself, made more efficient by software managing the Academy’s daily operations.

The questions that arise from observing all this are: Is technology an end or a means? What type of education and content should we provide to ensure students remain competitive in a world that will likely be transformed again in five years, given the pace of technological development? In formulating educational products, what is the right balance between technology and ethics, culture, and project methodology? And so, will technology save the world? Or, as the Prince in Dostoevsky’s *The Idiot* suggested, will it be “beauty” that saves the world once again?

Furio Francini

Chief Executive Officer