Re-interpretation of an Athleisure Young Casual Wear Line through an Industry-academia Cooperation Project

Given the demands of practical education, today’s design education programs focus more on various industry–academia cooperation projects. Especially in the fashion design industry, professionals need to be aware of the current trends while students must be more eligible and closer to an entry-level designer who is able to perform immediately upon graduation. This case study is an industry–academia cooperation project which that served as one of the graduate fashion stages in a university in South Korea in 2016. It is a re-interpretation of an athleisure young casual wear line “Tate Like” from the Tate brand. From this industry–academia cooperation project, the company was looking for various different interpretations of the new “Tate Like” line, especially from young people’s perspectives, and students were asked to participate in promoting the company by putting up various photos about the process on their own SNS. The final designs and the images of photoshoots were going to be available for the company to use. In this particular case, it was interesting to see students’ re-interpretation of the line and related developments. The results of the four-part survey may help plan for future projects by identifying the pros and cons. The process was as follows: (1) the researchers met with participants to discuss the project; (2) students received the materials related to the brand story and concept, product line-up, interior and VMD information, logo, and graphics from the company; (3) students developed the research materials with a seasonal concept, color story, and ideas about design details; (4) students developed the designs and looked for fabric sources; (5) students made revisions after receiving feedback from the company’s head designer; (6) the company let students choose fabric swatches to use for the designs and provided yardage for the sample products; (7) students developed at least two prototype samples and had at least three jury days before developing the final garments; (8) students found appropriate accessories and did professional photoshoots; (9) the works were presented at the graduate fashion show; and (10) the president of the company rewarded students at the ceremony Keywords: Athleisure, young casual wear, industry-academia cooperatio