ME YOU US – building digital 3D competences in fashion education for diversity, inclusion, and a green transition

We applied for Me You Us to address urgent sustainability challenges in the fashion industry, such as overproduction, waste, standardised sizing, and lack of representation. The aim was to explore how digital 3D technologies could support a green transition, social inclusion, and cultural diversity while equipping future designers with relevant 21st-century skills. The three HEIs recognised different levels of digital readiness and the need to strengthen digital pedagogy across programmes. By collaborating with leading industry partners, we wanted to create accessible, up-to-date learning material and ensure that students and educators could bridge traditional craft with emerging digital tools, supporting lifelong learning and future employability.

We demonstrated that digital tools can substantially reduce physical prototypes, increase creative experimentation, and improve user-centred design through inclusive and diverse representation. The cohort of students (same group for all three years) developed new skills in virtual prototyping, scanning, and immersive technologies, gaining confidence through scaffolded learning. Educators expanded their didactical methods to support digital literacy and critical awareness. The project strengthened international collaboration, improved knowledge sharing, and led to broader dissemination through events, workshops, publications, and exhibitions. We also identified gaps in assessment, digital ethics, and long-term digital adoption, contributing valuable insights for future education and policy.

We implemented digital tools across three progressive work packages: virtual prototyping (Me), body and environmental scanning (You), and advanced technologies including AI, AR, VR, and XR (Us). These were integrated into bachelor curricula using experiential learning, scaffolding, and co-creation with real end users. Training for teachers, cross-institutional workshops, and industry collaboration ensured alignment and quality. We embedded sustainability in both environmental terms (waste reduction) and social terms (inclusion and representation), while supporting cultural sustainability through identity and heritage-based design. Dissemination was ongoing and strengthened by the project’s open-source approach.

An open-source library of nine fully developed modules with lesson plans, videos, tutorials, methods, reflections, and student examples • Educator workshops and Train-the-Trainer sessions across all digital tool areas • Co-creation projects with companies and persons with disabilities or specific needs • Qualitative and quantitative data documenting knowledge progression and sustainability awareness • Increased international networks and new research collaborations • Online dissemination via website, YouTube, conferences, podcasts, and multiplier events • Clear recommendations for HEIs, SMEs, and policymakers on embedding digital sustainability in fashion education and practice