Apparel industry is a diverse sector that plays an important role in European manufacturing industry. According to the European Commission, this particular industry employs over 1.7 million people and generates a turnover of EUR 166 billion per year. Although a constantly evolving sector, trying to maintain its competitiveness and quality through products with added value, apparel products do have damaging impact for the environment. According to United Nations Environmental Programme, today, fashion accounts for up to 10% of global carbon dioxide output – more than international flights and shipping combined. It also accounts for a fifth of the 300 million tons of plastic produced globally each year. As commonly known, the word “polyester” – encountered in most apparel products is a ubiquitous form of plastic deriving for oil, overtaking cotton as the backbone of textile production. Moreover, garments made from polyester and other synthetic fibres are a prime source of microplastic pollution – especially harmful to marine life. These negative impacts have their roots in a linear model that is characterized by low rates of use, reuse repair and fibre‐to‐fibre recycling of textiles and that often does not put quality, durability and recycling as priorities for the design and manufacturing of apparel. On the other hand, and taking into consideration technological progress and global trends, it is vital to put effort on the alteration of the fashion industry. The radical shift towards more sustainable practices demands skilled and educated persons who are able to understand negative environmental footprint and drive towards change. Vocational education and training could play a key role into setting the foundations of creating “the green designers” of tomorrow, interested not only on the final products but the whole production oriented into more sustainable habits, including material collection processes, design & sewing, energy consumption and distribution.

Portugal, Spain and Romania’s VET system offers several profiles/qualifications in the clothing field, which are disproportionate/insufficient to accomplish today’s companies needs and challenges: quick response capability, products high quality, eco-friendly solutions, digital competences, I&D+I, WBL methodologies for workers. These challenges require human resources with updated competences and qualifications. To act upon urgent need felt by the textile and clothing industry and qualification gap, the CosTUmE project, in alignment with the Skills Agenda for Europe, created and updated the Clothing Technician profile and skills, in order to: - Identify needs, trends and patterns in demands for skills and jobs (skills intelligence) for T&C sector; - Improve the attractiveness, quality and relevance of training in the clothing area; - Create and update a Clothing Technician profile and skills more visible and comparable facilitating the mobility of qualified people in the EU; - Increase the textile and clothing sector attractiveness and capture of talents, contributing, at the same time, to increase the employability of young people; - Produce information to enable people make better career choices in UE and help them to find higher quality jobs and improve their life chances; - To reinforce networking, partnerships and VET policy coherence among different stakeholders at European, regional and country levels among project implementation and after the end of the project.Following the above challenges, the CosTUmE project was implemented between the three countries, which were united under 2 years of structured work in Key Action 3 of the Erasmus+ program. The extensive effort of the consortium and a great number of consultations with key stakeholders of the sector, allowed the following results to be achieved:Mapping Qualification needs and WBL good practices for the textile and clothing sector;Clothing Technician Profile and Qualification – updating the necessary skills connected to fashion, technical textiles, sustainability, introduction of new materials and industry 4.0; Matrix ECVET - following the descriptors (knowledge, skills, responsibility, autonomy) and defining levels in the EQF and present precise guidelines for the profile match in Portugal, Spain and Romania; Tutorial guide for mobility - orientations for VET institutions and trainees on how to participate in a mobility period, including contacts of different existing VET institutes in the three partner countries and textile companies open to receiving apprenticeship in future;Training Package about Clothing Technician Profile and Qualification for trainers - resources to trainers of the textile and clothing sector in order to empower them in delivering this new Clothing Technician profile. A dedicated work enclosed a great deal of outreach actions from the partners to disseminate the results achieved, managing to mobilise more than 13 Representatives from the national authorities, 209 Representatives of the textile and clothing companies, 172 VET experts and 98 Sectorial social partners. All took part into the activities and in real time contributes to the develop and validate the answers to the challenges identified. During the project lifetime, the collective efforts of the CosTUmE consortium have achieved an estimated 88521 views and 8535 face to face engagements. All the above, allowed CosTUmE to reach the finalisation of the project work and conquer two major achievements that elevate its impact: - The officialisation of collaboration between partners and the National Agencies for the Qualifications (MoU);- The recognised contribution with an updated skillset and programs to the EU field of the clothing sector.

<< Background >>Education and culture are essential to develop a more inclusive, cohesive and competitive Europe. Higher education plays an unique role. Demand for highly skilled, socially engaged people is both increasing and changing. In the period up to 2025, half of all jobs are projected to require high-level qualifications. High-level skills gaps already exist. Driven by digital technology, jobs are becoming more flexible and complex. People’s capacities to be entrepreneurial, manage complex information, think autonomously and creatively, use resources, including digital ones, smartly, communicate effectively and be resilient are more crucial than ever.Through its Erasmus+ and Horizon 2020 programmes, the European Union supports international exchanges for students, academic staff and researchers, as well as structured cooperation between higher education institutions and public authorities in different countries.The project will support the achievement of the general objective of the Erasmus+ Programme to support, through lifelong learning, the educational, professional and personal development of people in education, training, in Europe. According to the EUA and EHEA supporting documents, one aspect of the drive to modernise higher education is focused on the use of digital technologies to stimulate innovation, personalisation and wider access to higher education. Digitization is in a perpetual growth which inevitably affects all sectors, but though we still struggle to understand its large extent and wideness impact, just few are fully prepared for it. There is a change in the nature of the race between man and machine, and the machine is running faster.The textile and clothing industry is a diverse and heterogeneous industry covering numerous activities. It is an important part of the European manufacturing industry playing a crucial role in the economy and social well-being in numerous regions of the EU-27. Design and creativity of quality fashion products, technical goods of high added-value, smart and technical textiles have been identified as major competitive advantages of the EU textile and clothing industry. EURATEX, the official voice of about 160,000 companies, of whose interests they defend at the EU institutions level, concluded at the end of the project “Digitalisation of the skills related to industrial production in the Textile & Clothing, Leather and Footwear sectors”, that there are large gaps between the current Vocational Education and Training (VET) and Training Offer, so consequently, they identified and characterized the profiles of 9 emerging digital occupations in TCLF (Souce: http://digitaltclf.eu/). In the last decade it was noticed that the fashion industry has shifted from a resource based industry to a knowledge based industry. Preference of consumers of fashion products has shifted from mass produced items to individual customised. The partners conducted a preliminary survey based on a short questionnaire prepared by the coordinator in order to identify the common educational needs in relation to fashion for the textile and clothing industry. The results of the analysis revealed that in partner countries, there are no universities that offer training in digital fashion co-design online, so the need for a new course in digital fashion is mandatory to achieve some competitive advantages in front of expandable/unstoppable growth of digitization. Also, the students' needs for digital skills in the area of fashion design were identified. Furthermore, in the context of the COVID 19 pandemics, fashion has to be virtual. The designers have to be creative and develop fast, and new models by analysing and interpreting the customers’ demands from virtual platforms, digital body features and fashion preferences.<< Objectives >>In this context, we applied for this project to enable education providers to deliver new digital training methods, permitting students and professionals to quickly master key technologies for designing and producing personalized products in a virtual environment and fully make use of the knowledge in the entire supply chain. This knowledge mainly lies on digitization which is both a common and an important topic to all the partner countries.This project aims to:- Bride the existing gap in digital skills in fashion by introducing new teaching and learning methodology of digital fashion co-design in a virtual environment by involving 50 teachers and 150 students until 2023-2024 academic year.- Promote the collaboration within the 6 partners in online international teaching and learning by addressing the digital skill gaps in the fashion and textile programs that partner countries have in common, targeting the textile and clothing industry.- Internationalise the digital skills in fashion and technology by translating the content into 6 languages of the partner countries, by involving 50 teachers and 150 students until 2023-2024 academic year.<< Implementation >>The following activities are foreseen in order to achieve the above mentioned objectives:- Develop the new methodology for a common framework on Collaborative Online International Learning in the field on Digital Fashion. - Develop three databases (library of knowledge) of textile materials, colors and garment styles as well as two fashion knowledge bases that will be built and integrated into the platform- Develop a supportive platform that will permit fashion students and fashion teachers to design together, in an interactive way, a garment for a specific customer.The special requirements of the customer for the garment will also be communicated via the platform and taken into account in the final design- Develop a new joint online module in digital fashion with new training and assessment methods of fashion co-design based on a 3D garment visualization platform. - Training the target group by implementing the new joint online module in digital fashion. - Testing and implementation of the technology based platform for fashion design- Dissemination of the project results and project coordination and management.<< Results >>The project results are the following:- R1. New methodology for a common framework on Collaborative Online International Learning in the field on Digital Fashion. it will consist in guidance lines and required digital skills for the fashion industry for each partner country and the status of the industrial application of virtual fashion technology for each partner country. - R2. Library of knowledge (the three databases) for virtual fashion design and technology, containing a collection of materials, colors and garment styles, fashion design elements and comfort.- R3.Training platform of fashion design by personalized 3D virtual garment fitting. R4. Curricula for Collaborative Online International Learning in the field on Digital Fashion, consisting in training programme of fashion design based on the developed training platform, including learning outcomes, teaching and assessment technologies, general theories, basic concepts, design examples and online design exercises.The textile, clothing and fashion industry is in a continuous movement, characterized by an increased mobility of production factors, rapid delocalization, fragmentation and higher specialization of the activities in the value chains of products and services. Designing affordable personalized garments using computer tools is a new professional skill that is strongly required in European labor market in the competitive situation of the textile/apparel industry. Different from mass production systems, personalized garments are designed and produced in small orders. This change will undoubtedly lead to the necessity of new skills in higher education in fashion to bridge the existing gap.Overall, these new modules in a virtual environment will increase the digital competences in the fashion industry that will have a positive impact on employability and on entrepreneurship related to fashion culture and industry in Europe.The dissemination of this new training system to the general public will lead to the increasing number of fashion design jobs, built on multiple blended fashion concepts, both national and international level. Students will also be trained with the concepts of mass customization and co-design and they will also gain international experience, which will prepare them to become more competitive for the European labour market. In this context, the learning opportunities will be tailored, so that they enhance their digital competences, intercultural relations and networking experiences.

Textile industry is facing major challenges. It is one of the most polluting industries, and consumers, as well as European regulations, are pushing for change. Indeed, global demand is changing, and consumers tend to expect more sustainable and smart textiles. Moreover, the EC is committed to a green and digital transition and needs to be more competitive globally. In this context, UPWEARS aims to contribute to structural resource efficiency and a sustainable economy by unlocking the potential of a new generation of biobased and hybrid fabrics for e-textile. UPWEARS e-textile will feature high performance, cost-effective multi-functionality, such as functionalized yarn and fibre, biomimetic fabrics, imbedded electronics and energy sensors. Partners will ensure a reduced environmental impact on the manufacturing value chain and end product – a country cycling suit – fully recycled. UPWEARS development will minimise manufacturing waste thanks to artificial intelligence technology and multiscale testing. It will also reduce chemical utilisation thanks to enzymatic & eutectic green solvents. For this, UPWEARS will: -Create an innovative & sustainable value chain from the native fibre to functional device end-of-life; -Switch from a traditional towards a modern textile fabrication process supporting the textile industry's digital and sustainable transformation; -Eco-design an e-textile for high added-value sportswear applications meeting European consumer's demand and contributing to EU competitiveness. UPWEARS implementation and exploitation will have many environmental, societal and economic impacts. It will contribute to EU policies like the EU Green Deal since it combines electronic devices and natural fibres and works on circularity. Finally, UPWEARS consortium covers the full value chain: formulation, functionalization; e-textile design & production; digital transformation; reliability & durability; industrial validation and recycling & additive manufacturing