Laying a foundation of design education and community for FTD cohorts
This year-long program immerses incoming fashion and textile design (FTD) students in the fundamentals of design and the creative process. They learn design, language, elements, principles and theory. They’re taught to be purposeful about their concept, context, material and process. They become accustomed to the critique process and learn to design within constraints. In other words, they learn how to think like designers.
Projects focusing on color, shape and form help them begin to apply this newly honed way of thinking to textiles and apparel. Throughout these projects, student designers familiarize themselves with studio methods, practices and equipment.
First-year studio classes only have one section and are only open to first-year FTD students, which allows these new students to build community and trust.
Layered on top of this design education is an understanding of the materials students will use during their time here. In TT 105, first-year students learn about the structure of and production methods for fabrics, yarns and fibers. It’s part of the comprehensive apparel education that makes them more competitive upon graduation.
First-Year Experience in Pictures
Click through this gallery to look at what our students make in their first year and see some examples of projects they work on in our industry-grade studios and labs.
Fashion and textile design students spend their first year mastering the fundamentals: color, line and form. For the line project, students develop a portfolio of 25 pieces. Five subjects are each drawn or painted in five different styles of art. Art by Harper Wilcox.FTD students spend a large portion of their first-year studio learning about the artistic and design process, which means a lot of sketchbooking.For their final fall semester project in first-year studio, students create avant-garde garments in half scale. Designers have to incorporate 10 different shapes, as well as surface design and texture elements, into their final product.First-year FTD students dip their toes into 3D Computer-Aided Design (CAD) for apparel in this project. Students use hand painting techniques to translate this inspiration into apparel designs. Those designs are then brought to life with CLO 3D software to create a cohesive virtual collection. Designer credit: Abby Galbo. For this project, first-year fashion and textile design students are split into groups and given a customer demographic to research. Each student makes a tossed and complex stripe textile pattern painted with gouache, edits it in Photoshop, then designs it in the Kaledo Print software. Afterwards, they texture map these patterns onto potential products. Designer Credit: Grace Avery.In the spring, students are tasked with modifying a t-shirt sewing pattern into their own unique design. These garments are a culmination of what the students have learned thus far in the course, from pattern manipulation techniques to garment construction. Designer credit: Clara Jelenevsky.T-shirt project design by Bella Cybulski. For this project, students were tasked with creating their own jacket completely from upcycled fabrics and materials. Each designer had to source the fabric themselves and adapt a basic flat pattern to create unique, marketable and sustainable garment. Designer credit: Anna Lia Ritchie.In studio course FTD 200, groups of students are tasked with creating three-look collections with at least 75% upcycled materials. They collaborate to make a cohesive collection and learn more about the sustainable design process. Designer Credit: Colin Tran, Sarah Grace Simas and Neely Mallik. Another FTD 200 final project. Students typically approach projects by sketching and then selecting a textile, but for this project many students had to overcome the challenge of selecting their textile first. Designer credit: Kate Ergenzinger, Ethan Sadler and Lucy Dewolf.
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Fashion and textile design students spend their first year mastering the fundamentals: color, line and form. For the line project, students develop a portfolio of 25 pieces. Five subjects are each drawn or painted in five different styles of art. Art by Harper Wilcox.
