Trend-setters at work

A study by Tracy Kennedy and Tania Allan-Ross shows that our graduate fashion designers are disrupting the status quo in the fashion industry.

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Recent research by Tracy Kennedy and Tania Allan Ross has identified similarities in the modus operandi of emerging fashion designers. They undertook a study of the online presence of the six recent fashion graduates from Otago Polytechnic who had established businesses within five years of graduation.

  • The emerging designers are all using social media platforms to inform and communicate with their customers. They are connecting directly with customers through skilled management of promotional platforms.
  • They all engage with socially and environmentally sustainable practices and principles across a range of models including upcycling, ethical practices, slow fashion and conscious systems with consideration for materials selection, low waste and a transparent supply chain. 

Together these trends position the fashion designers as change agents within the fashion industry. Each of them is developing and maintaining a economically viable business alongside promotion of ethical and environmental concerns. They are building a community of practice, collaborating with like-minded people concerned about the future of the fashion industry and sustainability politics. 

March 2022

Tracy Kennedy

Principal Lecturer
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Tania Allan-Ross

Principal Lecturer
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Published on 10 Oct 2023