The Circularity Masterclass is an educational platform that provides students with a broad knowledge base for circularity and a fundamental understanding of the main challenges within the fashion industry. The content was developed by industry experts with Zalando and GFF, covering topics such as materials, design for circularity, production, quality control, delivery, garments-of-life, waste streams and more. The project is accompanied by an extensive resource list to inspire further exploration of these ideas through films, books, reports, audio interviews and podcasts with industry experts.
The program is offered as a free extra-curricular activity. It becomes a competition for students to demonstrate their understanding of circular design theory. Submissions will be evaluated by the GFF team, Zalando and industry experts in 2025, with one winner selected from each participating university.
Zalando and Graduate Fashion Foundation Circular expand the masterclass to six universities across Europe, educating students on sustainable and circular fashion design. The program includes expert-led content, resources and a competition to address circular knowledge gaps within the fashion industry and encourage innovation.
Designing for the future of fashion
The program was created to fill a gap in the fashion industry, which shows a lack of education on circular and sustainable fashion design and limited knowledge on the subject among existing fashion professionals. The Circularity Masterclass not only addresses this challenge but also encourages students to adopt an entrepreneurial mindset—key to fostering an industry where circularity is an integral part of the design process.
“Through this initiative, we are empowering the next generation of designers to drive transformation in the fashion industry by embedding sustainability and circularity at the very heart of their design practice,” said Daniel Enke, Director of Public Affairs and Social Impact at Zalando.
The project fuses real-life case studies as well as theoretical and practical aspects that support a student’s understanding of the current linear fashion system and the circular economy. Almost 80% of students participating in the pilot program expressed a desire to continue exploring circularity in their careers.
“This is a great opportunity to leverage the expertise of fashion industry leaders to inspire and educate students on the importance and relevance of circularity. The industry is changing rapidly and current fashion students are the industry leaders of tomorrow”, said Nicola Hitchens, GFF Director and Head of Special Projects and Communications.
Note: Titles, insights and images in this press release may be modified by Fibre2Fashion staff; Rest of the content remains unchanged.
Fibre2Fashion News Desk (RM)
The Circularity Masterclass is an educational platform that provides students with a broad knowledge base for circularity and a fundamental understanding of the main challenges within the fashion industry. The content was developed by industry experts with Zalando and GFF, covering topics such as materials, design for circularity, production, quality control, delivery, garments-of-life, waste streams and more. The project is accompanied by an extensive resource list to inspire further exploration of these ideas through films, books, reports, audio interviews and podcasts with industry experts.
The program is offered as a free extra-curricular activity. It becomes a competition for students to demonstrate their understanding of circular design theory. Submissions will be evaluated by the GFF team, Zalando and industry experts in 2025, with one winner selected from each participating university.
Zalando and Graduate Fashion Foundation Circular expand the masterclass to six universities across Europe, educating students on sustainable and circular fashion design. The program includes expert-led content, resources and a competition to address circular knowledge gaps within the fashion industry and encourage innovation.
Designing for the future of fashion
The program was created to fill a gap in the fashion industry, which shows a lack of education on circular and sustainable fashion design and limited knowledge on the subject among existing fashion professionals. The Circularity Masterclass not only addresses this challenge but also encourages students to adopt an entrepreneurial mindset—key to fostering an industry where circularity is an integral part of the design process.
“Through this initiative, we are empowering the next generation of designers to drive transformation in the fashion industry by embedding sustainability and circularity at the very heart of their design practice,” said Daniel Enke, Director of Public Affairs and Social Impact at Zalando.
The project fuses real-life case studies as well as theoretical and practical aspects that support a student’s understanding of the current linear fashion system and the circular economy. Almost 80% of students participating in the pilot program expressed a desire to continue exploring circularity in their careers.
“This is a great opportunity to leverage the expertise of fashion industry leaders to inspire and educate students on the importance and relevance of circularity. The industry is changing rapidly and current fashion students are the industry leaders of tomorrow”, said Nicola Hitchens, GFF Director and Head of Special Projects and Communications.
Note: Titles, insights and images in this press release may be modified by Fibre2Fashion staff; Rest of the content remains unchanged.
Fibre2Fashion News Desk (RM)