Service Learning on Sustainability in Textile and Fashion Education – Stocktaking Report

TexUnite (Service Learning on Sustainability in Textile and Fashion Education) is an EU co-funded project under the Key Action “Strategic Partnerships” of the Erasmus+ Programme. The project runs from September 2024 to August 2027 and is coordinated by the University of Education Freiburg. Partner universities include the University of Applied Sciences Albstadt-Sigmaringen in Germany, Gheorghe Asachi Technical University of Iaşi in Romania, Trakia University Stara Zagora in Bulgaria, the University of Ljubljana in Slovenia, and Ege University in Türkiye. At the core of the project is the development of an online further education module titled Sustainable Textile Lab (SusTexLab). The module aims to expand the didactic and methodological repertoire in higher education by supporting the implementation of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) within textile, clothing, and fashion study programmes through service-learning (SL) projects. This objective is pursued by assisting educators from the partner universities in implementing SL projects through regular meetings that include training input, reflective sessions, and collegial exchange. The SL projects are connected through international virtual exchange (VE). A workbook was developed to accompany the SL seminars. For each SL project an introduction and PowerPoint presentations are provided together with further teaching and learning materials. These best practice examples are available as Open Educational Resources (OER) through the open-access repositories ZOERR and the European platform EPALE. The comprehensive Stocktaking Report provides an overview of the concepts of sustainability and ESD, highlights the need to integrate ESD into textile and fashion higher education, and examines the added value of SL as well as VE in this field. Furthermore, the report provides an overview of EU sustainability regulations relevant to fashion and textiles and introduces the SusTexLab module. The report also presents the results of the stocktaking process regarding the integration of EU regulations and SL in higher education in the partner countries, including a comparison of EU sustainability legislation in the textile and fashion industry and an analysis of its potential for implementation in educational contexts. The report concludes with a summary of the findings and recommendations for integrating SL into higher education programmes in fashion and textile studies. Overall, this Stocktaking Report contributes to advancing ESD in the field of fashion and textiles focusing on SL and VE.