Posted October 21, 2015

 

PHILADELPHIA – Philadelphia University announced the establishment of its Fashion and Textiles Futures Center.

 

The Futures Center, which will include a $3 million investment in facilities, will advance the university's innovative and highly regarded fashion and textiles curricula and enhance partnerships with industry leaders to more closely connect students to current and future jobs in an evolving marketplace.

 

The center will focus on the university's unique integration of education, research and practice. It will provide state-of-the-art facilities to support student learning and foster collaboration, facilitate industry-sponsored projects, increase research opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students and help attract and retain world-class faculty.

 

Work on the physical space will begin in late spring and will be completed by the start of the fall 2016 semester.

 

“The Fashion and Textiles Futures Center will expand experience for our students, faculty and partners,” said Ron Kander, executive dean of the Kanbar College of Design, Engineering and Commerce. “PhilaU fashion programs are internationally ranked and our programs in textiles and textile engineering are regarded as among the best in the nation. The new center will enable us to continue our leadership in providing the best possible 21st century professional education for our students and helping to define the industry needs of the future.”

 

The plan includes enhanced collaborative design studios for students, fabrication laboratories, computer-aided design facilities and flexible active-learning classrooms. The educational programming will be further supported by the university’s advanced digital printing facilities, among the best in the world, and the Grundy Materials Evaluation Laboratory.

 

A peek inside

 

The Textiles Futures Center will include a retail-like space designed to mirror the workings of modern fashion and textile design firms and reflect the industry environments that students will work in after graduation. This area will be used to showcase the creative work of students and the university’s industry partners and give fashion merchandising and management students the opportunity to hone marketing and merchandising skills by working on displays and presentations.

 

“Customers are always looking for new and innovative products and, as the apparel industry evolves, speed and flexibility are key factors that drive today’s successes,” said Matt Mandracchia, vice president for design technologies and process for PVH Corp., one of the world’s largest apparel firms that includes such brands as Calvin KIein and Tommy Hilfiger. “Philadelphia University’s Futures Center seeks to capitalize on these factors, providing a learning environment that promotes innovative thinking. Innovation supports speed and flexibility, helping students to learn and prepare for a fast-changing, product-centric career.”

 

The physical space will reflect and support the innovative curricula of these programs as part of the university’s signature Nexus Learning approach: teaching and learning that is active, collaborative, tied to the real world and infused with the liberal arts. A critical component of Nexus Learning is the development of learning spaces that support interdisciplinary collaboration.

 

Educational opportunities

 

“The Fashion and Textiles Futures Center creates excellent educational opportunities for our students, modeling industry trans-disciplinary trends as well as forward-looking projects,” said Marcia Weiss, the Harold Neuman Textile Design Chair and director of PhilaU textile design programs, who has been named director of the Center. “In the Futures Center, our students will benefit from world-class curricula, access to the latest technologies that support the creation of new knowledge and increased opportunities to work with industry partners on real-world projects.”

 

More than 700 Philadelphia Univesity students – 20 percent of the student body – major in eight academic programs related to the Futures Center, including bachelor’s programs in fashion design, fashion merchandising and management, textile design and textile materials technology; master’s programs in global fashion enterprise, textile design and textile engineering; and a doctoral program in textile engineering and science.

 

“The Fashion and Textiles Futures Center will reinforce Philadelphia University’s prominence in the world of fashion and in textiles,” said Mike Leonard, academic dean of the Kanbar College School of Design and Engineering. “The Futures Center will further enable our students to collaborate in state-of-the-art open studios, which will enhance research on materials and techniques to advance the fashion and textiles industries,” Leonard said.

 

Source: Philadelphia University