The goal of the High-Tech Fasion project was to create an interactive clothing line for a professional fashion show, guided by the theme “Like Insects”. For the Fontys students, this presented a unique challenge: to act as technical consultants and educators for our fashion-focused counterparts from Summa, while also conceptualizing and producing our own complex, technology-driven look.
Project description
The primary project goal was to integrate technology with fashion by supporting students from Summa Fashion Design in creating a tech-infused fashion line. The project was executed under the creative direction of fashion-tech designer Anouk Wipprecht.
The Fontys team’s role was twofold. Firstly, they provided essential technical support and education to the Summa students, who had limited experience in electronics and programming. This involved judging the feasibility of fashion concepts, advising on components, and delivering two Arduino programming courses. Secondly, the team was tasked with designing and realizing their own advanced, technology-enhanced look, the “Butterfly, to showcase their engineering skills.
Project results
The project provided a rich environment for personal and professional growth. Team members significantly advanced their skills in Arduino programming, PCB design, 3D designing and project management. The experience of teaching technical concepts to a non-technical audience was a unique and valuable challenge that improved our communication and instructional abilities. Working through demands of sourcing components, meeting deadlines for multiple events and troubleshooting technical issues on-site during photoshoots and shows provided a real-world experience.
This project was more than an academic assignment; it was a comprehensive and practical exploration of the entire wearable technology design cycle. From ideation and prototyping to final execution and public presentation, the journey was challenging yet immensely rewarding. We successfully transformed conceptual ideas into functional and aesthetically compelling fashion pieces, contributing a unique collection to the growing field of high-tech fashion.
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Acknowledgements
The student project team (Mark, Mathijs, Fiyo) would like to thank our client and creative director Anouk Wipprecht for her inspiration and guidance during the project, and our Fontys project tutor Alison van Loenen for her creative and technical insights that helped us achieve such remarkable results.