Between February and March 2026, the FASHIONAISE project successfully conducted a series of stakeholder focus groups across its five partner countries: Germany, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Greece, and Türkiye. These sessions served as a validation tool, designed to ensure that the evolving FASHIONAISE curriculum remains practical, highly relevant, and aligned with the rapid evolution of the fashion design industry.
Each partner organisation conducted focus group discussions engaging in a diverse range of expertise to ensure comprehensive feedback. By convening industry professionals from the textile and fashion design fields, educators, AI experts, and sustainability specialists, the project aimed to refine its syllabus structure. The overarching objective of this consultation process was to ensure that the developed educational materials address current industry needs and integrate AI-driven innovation with sustainability principles effectively.
To facilitate high-quality feedback, the discussions were structured around four critical areas: Relevance and Industry Needs, Sustainability Integration, Practical Application, and Future Trends and Recommendations. Through these discussions, the invited experts evaluated the feasibility of practical AI assignments, the implementation of circular economy principles to minimize textile waste, and the ethical considerations surrounding contemporary design workflows.
Stakeholder Focus Group - Czech Republic
The Technical University of Liberec (TUL) structured its focus group into a three-hour physical session on February 10th and a two-hour Zoom meeting on February 19th, 2026, evenly splitting its six participants between the two formats to ensure a balanced perspective from academia, VET, and industry. The resulting feedback confirmed the high relevance of integrating generative design and virtual fitting into fashion education, with participants strongly urging that sustainability be embedded as a core component across all syllabus modules rather than treated as an isolated topic.
Stakeholder Focus Group - Germany
On February 16th, 2026, Technische Universität Dresden (TUD) conducted a two-hour online focus group via the Zoom platform to explore the meaningful integration of artificial intelligence and sustainability into fashion design higher education. Тhe discussion centered on identifying current curriculum gaps and unlocking opportunities for interdisciplinary collaboration. The session successfully outlined critical strategies and highlighted emerging digital tools needed to equip future designers with both advanced technological skills and environmentally responsible competencies.
Stakeholder Focus Group - Greece
The International Hellenic University (IHU) gathered its comprehensive feedback across three distinct two-hour focus groups conducted on February 7th, 13th, and 18th, 2026. The consultation combined two remote Zoom sessions with a physical meeting held directly at the premises of a software company providing AI solutions for the fashion industry. To ensure precise data collection, the remote meetings and the mobile-recorded physical session were fully transcribed using advanced AI assistant tools, effectively bridging technical software expertise with creative fashion perspectives.
Stakeholder Focus Group - Turkiye
On February 12th, 2026, Ege University (EGE) conducted its stakeholder focus group through a two-hour online meeting held on the Zoom platform. The session engaged a specialized panel of academics, designers, R&D specialists, and industry professionals from both universities and textile companies to evaluate the proposed training modules. Supported by digital recording and automated transcription, the discussions focused on mapping innovations like AI-based pattern making, virtual prototyping, and consumer behavior prediction directly onto current higher education curriculum needs.
Stakeholder Focus Group - Bulgaria
Between March 10th and 17th, 2026, Tetra Solutions conducted a series of individual interviews with academic lecturers and professionals from associated partner universities across the country to validate the draft curriculum and integrate the key Bulgarian academic perspective. Through this structured process, Tetra successfully gathered highly specialised expertise in the fields of textile engineering, the design of knitted and smart textiles, fashion CAD systems, and sustainable production technologies, making a valuable contribution to the finalisation of the international FASHIONAISE report.