Fashion education and the future of sustainability

The fashion industry is an ensemble of style, innovation, and creative ambition.

From custom-made designs to ready-to-wear retail clothes, fashion spans runways, our community and households.

As the industry grows, we are seeing the fashion sector focus on sustainable design practices and their importance in society.

According to Source Ready, "the Australian sustainable fashion market is experiencing robust transformation, growing at more than double the rate of the conventional clothing sector."

Moreover, Cleanup.org.au reports that the average Australian buys 56 clothing items each year, which contributes over 200,000 tonnes of clothing to landfill annually.

Education is now equally important as fashion courses provide students with sustainability knowledge, skills, and guidance.

Holmesglen Bachelor of Fashion Design graduates Jasmine Dietzel and Sarah Fotakis represent a cohort of sustainably conscious emerging designers, who have benefitted from their TAFE course and its teachings.

From having their collections featured at Melbourne Fashion Week events to student success (Jasmine was awarded the 2026 Holmesglen Higher Education Student of the Year), both graduates understand the importance of sustainable design. 

Fashion sustainability is about understanding the environmental impacts on the things we create.

For Sarah, fashion designers should view sustainability as part of every stage of the design process.

"As designers, we have a responsibility to consider the environmental impact of the things we create.

“I think sustainability and circularity should be at the forefront of the design process, rather than something considered at the end,” Sarah says.

Sarah in Holmesglen’s workshop.

Jasmine is equally supportive of the role fashion designers play in this space.

"If we, as creatives, are all aware of our impact on the environment when we are making new pieces of clothing, we can achieve more meaningful outputs that are less harmful to our planet,” she says.

Jasmine, Holmesglen’s 2026 Higher Education Student of the Year.

At Holmesglen, fashion sustainability units are taught in our fashion courses at both certificate and degree level.

This includes learning about how fashion design contributes to a:

• Sustainable circular economy
• Influences pattern development
• Supports garment production

Jasmine says the Bachelor of Fashion Design’s ‘Sustainable Design’ unit taught her about:

• Design considerations across the entire design cycle
• Reducing fabric waste
• Using natural fibres and deadstock fabrics to make designs

While for Sarah, the fashion degree unit also motivated her designs.

“It changed the way I looked at fashion and made me much more conscious of the environmental impact behind the clothes we create and consume. From there, sustainability became a priority throughout my second and third years [of the degree].”

This was evidenced in Sarah’s final-year collection, ‘Fragile Express’, which featured in a special student display at Melbourne’s Emporium during Melbourne Fashion Week.

The collection, which received industry and community praise, was headlined by sustainability. Sarah even developed her own bio textile by using:

• Tea bags
• Biodegradable glue
• Pressed flowers

“My focus was on exploring biomaterials and using materials and processes that would minimise harm to the environment.

“I also chose natural fibres such as cotton and silk, throughout the collection. I even considered smaller details, such as using cotton thread rather than synthetic thread, to maintain the same focus on circularity and avoid unnecessary synthetic materials,” Sarah says.

'Fragile Express' was an impressive sustainable fashion display as part of Melbourne Fashion Week.

Fashion designers can inspire sustainable practices through their work and promote positive environmental impact in the industry.

Jasmine was awarded our ‘Higher Education Student of the Year’ for the strong student values shown during her fashion degree. This leadership has transferred to her fashion collections.

Jasmine’s collections have featured at the Australian Fashion Awards in 2023 and at Melbourne Fashion Week in 2024 and 2025, and have brought awareness to issues including:

• Environmental policy
• Overconsumption
• Australia’s rental crisis

"My collections have been a platform for me to share my viewpoints on the rapidly changing social and environmental landscapes around us.

“By utilising fashion to bring awareness to [these] issues, I found that most responses to my work were that of recognition and empowerment.

“In a time where we are consuming fashion at an unprecedented rate, I think it is important to promote the slower, experimental, and artistic work that represents these times more than the current fast fashion trends,” Jasmine says.

In addition to fashion design, the post-production stage provides sustainable opportunities for fashion designers, brands and industry.

“I think leaning into the post-transaction side of fashion is interesting. Seeing some brands promote ways their garments can be repaired or reused,” Jasmine says.

Fashion sustainability is about having the right mindset as much as it is about having the right skills.

Sarah says sustainable fashion doesn’t preclude creativity. In fact, for aspiring designers, it can improve your overall work.

“With every design, students should be asking themselves, ‘how can I make this more sustainable?’

“It’s important to understand the environmental impact of the materials and processes we use, but also to understand that sustainable design doesn’t mean limiting creativity. There are so many opportunities to be innovative and experimental, while still being kind to the environment,” Sarah says.

Jasmine reflects on her fashion degree and says students should understand the technical side of things, too. Such as the importance of patternmaking on sustainability.

“It is the silent warrior in our war on waste. Having a strong understanding of patternmaking and garment manufacturing will not only do wonders when you have fit issues with your mock-ups; it is also incredibly helpful for internships and entry level roles in the industry.

“Starting out, you’ll likely be asked to measure loads of garments or help with sending tech packs to factories for production.

"If you can recognise where your work needs improvement, or why a garment is not fitting correctly, and then understand how to fix them at the pattern level, you reduce the amount of fabric waste and time spent making samples and in turn, reduce the impact of fashion production on the planet.”

Our Holmesglen strategic vision highlights being ‘environmentally sustainable’ as a core Institute goal. Learn more about our strategic roadmap.

Discover what sustainability impacts you can make with a fashion course at Holmesglen.