School of Design Innovation Te Kura Hoahoa

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Fashion Design Technology

When technology intersects with fashion and textiles, we see cutting-edge results in science, sports, architecture, and aerospace.

A ballerina in a luminous dress lit with blue fluorescent lighting
'Ester' by Flavia Rose Wilson and Ashleigh-Jean King, which won the People’s Choice Award at the World of Wearable Art Awards (WOW)

Fashion Design Technology investigates the multitude of ways that technology intersects with fashion and textiles. This exciting field merges digital and physical methodologies for application in science, sports, architecture, aerospace, and other areas.

The Fashion Design Technology research group explores the practices, skills, and materials associated with clothing the body. The context for our research incorporates social, industrial, and technological innovations.

Current focuses include: generative and computational approaches to textile design; animated performance and the challenge of preserving authenticity in the virtual space; and designing with digital fabrication technologies such as laser cutting, 3D printing, CNC weaving, and 3D knitting.

Researchers draw on backgrounds as diverse as anthropology, material science, data visualisation, history, and biology.

Research topics

Research topic Staff who can supervise research in this area
Generative textile design Hannah Goldblatt, Bobby Luke

Virtual fashion design /
Digital and physical fashion design workflows

Hannah Goldblatt, Bobby Luke

Wearable technology

 Anne Niemetz, Hannah Goldblatt
Character design and digital costumesHeli Salomaa
Cloth simulation and digital textilesHeli Salomaa
Fashion Product Service-SystemsJennifer Whitty
Sustainable consumption, wardrobe studies, craft of use, emotionally durable design, cultivating "fashion-abilities" amongst wearers/users.Jennifer Whitty
Indigenous led fashion/textile systemsJennifer Whitty, Bobby Luke
Sustainable Fashion DesignJennifer Whitty
Fashion Design ActivismJennifer Whitty
Waste-led Fashion Design, regenerative design, circular designJennifer Whitty
Co-design, open-source products, and new models of distributed manufacturing, repair and remanufacturingJennifer Whitty
Radical transparency by DesignJennifer Whitty
Fashion for transitions - fashion for degrowth, regenerative systemsJennifer Whitty
Designing Green Business Model for sustainable transformationJennifer Whitty
Fashion Design for Social Justice & EntrepreneurshipJennifer Whitty
Ethics, Values, Sustainable Systems and the Politics of MakingJennifer Whitty
Fashion futuring - speculative design, forecastingJennifer Whitty

Academic staff

Name Research interests
Hannah Goldblatt
  • The use of technology in garments and accessories
  • Procedural and generative approaches to textile design using digital and physical methodologies
  • Digital pattern making and 3D simulation design tools for fashion design
Bobby Luke
  • Procedural and generative approaches to textile design using digital and physical methodologies
  • Digital pattern making and 3D simulation design tools for fashion design
Anne Niemetz
  • The use of technology in garments and accessories.
Heli Salomaa
  • Parallels of digital and physical workflows in digital productions
  • Fashion, costume, and character in Virtual/ Augmented/ Extended Reality
  • Player's relationship to game characters' costume through dress-up mechanics and somatic displacement in the video game context in comparison to film and stage arts.
Jennifer Whitty
  • Sustainability and justice in contemporary fashion systems underpinned by progressive economics
  • Rethinking and reimagining fashion practice, and methods for systemic social and environmental justice and change
  • New mindsets, models, and systems for wearers & makers based on values of care, inclusion, empathy, and equity.
  • Radical transparency and interdisciplinary fashion practices across the entire value chain
  • Speculative visioning for preferable futures through design methods and practice - fashion product, service, materials, experiences, systems
  • Preferable futures for fashion: new materialism, post-humanism, speculative design, forecasting and design fictions
  • Development of new methods of making and production for waste minimization/zero waste, remanufacturing, upcycling, decolonisation, circular economies, degrowth, made -on demand, open source, co-design, human-centered design, and slow fashion strategies
  • Living fashion, as part of nature, seeking a symbiosis between natural and social systems, embracing Indigenous Knowledge, challenging the industrial paradigm

Study options

The following postgraduate programmes allow you to pursue research in the area of fashion design technology:

Master of Design (MDes)

The MDes allows you to further develop your critical thinking and discussion skills, increase your understanding of design, and learn to express your own ideas and conclusions within a theoretical framework.

Find out more about the Master of Design (MDes).

Master of Design Innovation (MDI)

The MDI delves deep into the process of innovation, from conception to design to construction. Through independent research, you'll gain the specialist skills and knowledge you need to be a successful professional in the design industry.

Find out more about the Master of Design Innovation (MDI).