RMIT's Bachelor of Fashion Enterprise initiative has pioneered an innovative approach to sustainability education that transcends traditional classroom learning, leveraging innovation to drive meaningful changes. The Fashion Enterprise Global Experience study tour was established in 2021 with support from the New Colombo Plan Scholarship program, which is designed to support the advancement of SDGs globally through intensive bootcamps, innovation exchange and cross-cultural collaboration. Australian students travel to Indonesia, where they work in collaboration with Indonesian students to develop real-world business solutions that support circular economy principles while building cross-cultural competencies essential for global industry transformation. Through immersive experiences, students gain unprecedented access to the complete fashion ecosystem – from large-scale manufacturing facilities to cutting-edge sustainable innovators creating mushroom leather and transforming coal waste into jewellery. The holistic approach to SDGs implementation makes this initiative exceptional. Students don't just observe sustainable practices; they actively participate in collecting textile waste from rivers and collaborate with local brands like Napak Bhumi to develop products that have sustainable considerations at their core.
The transformative impact of the program is powerfully illustrated through participant testimonials. An Australian student described her river cleanup experience in Bogor as "eye-opening" and "confronting," noting that "witnessing the environmental impact first-hand inspired me to adopt more sustainable practices." This direct engagement fosters personal responsibility and agency, cultivating a responsibility to drive positive change. The cross-cultural dimension creates mutual benefits, with Indonesian students reflecting on their deeper “cultural understanding” of collaborative approaches to addressing sustainability in the fashion industry.
By strategically combining disruptive real-world experiences with guided reflection based on Kolb's Experiential Learning model, the experience works to cultivate a new generation of fashion professionals equipped with both the technical knowledge and personal agency to revolutionize an industry that contributes $1.7 trillion to the global economy while facing urgent sustainability challenges.
Video of the initiative: https://vimeo.com/1019246982
