Experts Dwell on Importance of Research and Innovation in the World of Fashion
A 7-Days Online Faculty Development Programme organized from 2-8th February 2021 by UGC-Human Resource Development Centre (HRDC), Panjab University, Chandigarh (under the aegis of RUSA) And University Institute of Fashion Technology & Vocational Development on the theme ‘Research and Innovation in the World of Textiles, Apparel, Fashion and Lifestyle’
Around 40 faculty participants from different States of India -Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Assam, Maharashtra, Karnataka etc. and disciplines as Fashion, Textile, Marketing, Management, Home Science, Anthropology etc.
Prof. Deepti Gupta, Department of English and Cultural studies was the chief guest of the valedictory function. She emphasized that teacher has to evolve with time and it is the responsibility of the teacher to continuously update with recent researches and innovations in the field. She appreciated the rich content and acclaimed resource persons of this FDP and commented that many activities at UIFT are regularly undertaken where students are trained towards the concept of Circular Fashion.
Prof. S.K Tomar, Honorary Director, UGC-HRDC congratulated the Coordinator FDP Dr Anu H. Gupta, Co-coordinators Dr Rita Kant and Dr Avanish Kumar from UIFT for the success of the programme. He remarked that teacher can transform the personality of the learners if updated and deliver teachings, experiences, researches etc. and emphasised the role of UGC-HRDC in updating teachers.
Earlier, the Co-ordinator FDP and Chairperson UIFT, Dr Anu H. Gupta elaborated the uniqueness of this FDP which has multidisciplinary approach. Many interesting topics related to the theme were dealt in the programme like: Innovations in fabrics and finishes; forecasting, blogging, traditional textile and designs, sustainability, digital marketing, brands and retail, quantitative and qualitative analysis, etc.
Two participants presented the review of complete FDP programme: All sessions were highly engaging and interesting and very relevant to the area of study. Some eminent resource persons who gave input were:
Mr Sujeet Dutta, Programme Manager Target USA spoke effectively on Sustainable Retailing, he emphasized on how sustaining during COVID 19 became so critical for most retailers by delivering the right blend of saving time, solving problems and creating experiences for the customers.
The role of writing a research paper and then publishing it – Collecting data, analyzing it and the use of data analyzing tools, with better analysis and better visuals was discussed by Prof Shalina Mehta. Prof Sudha Dhingra from NIFT Delhi took the participants on an enchanting journey of the most amazing museums around the world housing the most magnificent textile collections in her session on ‘Making of Textile Histories’.
Another very relevant session on Fashion Trends and Forecast : Know What’s Next by Mr. Puneet Dudeja, Sales Director, South Asia, WGSN, Gurgaon, a trend forecasting company highlighted the impact of corona pandemic and how it has changed the way one looks at things and that it has surely diverted the fashion sector away from what it used to be.
Participants got some taste of Luxury Brands and hi end fashion by Dr. Kingshuk Mukherjee, Dean, School of Design, Woxsen University, Hyderabad which was very well illustrated with examples from history of fashion , boutiques, hi end luxury stores and about the so called importance of a label in the fashion industry.
Ms. Beena Rao, Co-founder and Creative Head of Social Business in Sustainable Fashion and Textile, Creative Bee, Hyderabad enlightened the learners with the topic ‘Business in Sustainable Fashion & Textile’. The talk was deliberated on how to become entrepreneurs while adopting sustainability in fashion and textile . She presented, the idea of our green earth and also referred to the 3 R’s i.e., Reduce, Reuse and Recycle, talking about sustainable livelihood.
Not only this but also extensive sessions on Fashion Photography , Blogging , Research and Development, Sustainable Fashion, Curriculum development, Technical Textiles, Digital Marketing and many more with the very latest in the fashion and apparel industry were delivered.
The key take away from all the sessions was that “Research and Innovation in Apparel, Textile, Fashion and Lifestyle is important for all stakeholders of this Industry-whether producer, consumer, retailer, designer or an academician”.
