The Department of Textile and Fashion Design founded in 2001, is one of the first departments in our university. Considering the increasing importance of design issues in our country, the aim of the Textile and Fashion Design Department is to educate young talent as potential employees for the industry, and to graduate them with the know-how to create international fashion brands. In the 2020-21 academic year, eighteen students will graduate from the Fashion Design specialization track. The students developed their graduation collections, coordinated by Lec. Jörn Fröhlich and Assoc. Prof. Dr. Arzu Vuruşkan, under the broad umbrella of the "Future Perspectives" theme, carried out jointly with Sun Tekstil. They created their collections to raise awareness about environmentally friendly and sustainable designs against excessive consumption in fashion. Within the scope of the project, Sun Tekstil provided the students with surplus/waste fabrics, finished product and accessory support to be used in their collections. This cooperation, which sets an example for university-industry integration, was also reflected in education; Sun Tekstil executives both in Turkey and the UK shared their knowledge and experiences as guest speakers in the classes for eight weeks. Considering the current COVID-19 pandemic, students examined how they would react to the "new" changes developing in all areas of daily life. “Design for change” has never been so “real” for the students. While preparing their graduation collections in relation to sustainability, students were forced to push their boundaries and reevaluate their design identity. On behalf of all the academic and technical staff of the Textile and Fashion Design Department, we would like to congratulate our students on their graduation and wish them success in their upcoming professional life.

Prof. Elvan ÖZKAVRUK ADANIR Department Head of Textile and Fashion Design