Design and prototype digitally
Explore 2D and 3D design, AI-assisted creation, digital twins and virtual fashion, with a critical view of their uses.
01
Course overview
This module is a critical, hands-on map of the digital toolbox that now underpins sustainable fashion, from fibre to end-of-life. Chapter 1 frames the problem horizontally: the sustainability crisis of the fashion system, the value chain, the EU policy framework and the digital tools themselves. Chapters 2 to 4 follow the product creation flow — digital design from 2D technical drawing to parametric and AI-assisted design, virtual fashion and digital twins, and digital manufacturing from additive processes to on-demand production. Chapters 5 and 6 follow the data flow — analytics and machine learning for demand forecasting, deadstock and supply-chain risk, then LCA, eco-labels, EPDs, unique identifiers and the Digital Product Passport as the infrastructure that makes a claim verifiable. Tools are always paired with the question of what they actually change: which decision they improve, what waste they remove, and what they cost an SME to adopt.
FROM PRINCIPLES TO PRACTICE
A digital toolbox for sustainable fashion
Make decisions with data
Assess digital manufacturing and use analytics to examine demand, deadstock, supply-chain risk and SME adoption.
Measure and communicate impact
Connect LCA, environmental KPIs, eco-labels, EPDs and product passports to verifiable sustainability data.
02
Learning objectives
By the end of this module, learners are expected to be able to:
- Describe how digital design, virtual prototyping, digital manufacturing, data analytics and traceability enable sustainable and circular fashion products.
- Map where digitalisation creates the largest sustainability gains along the value chain, and what a fully digital chain looks like.
- Develop practical and critical command of digital creation tools, from 2D technical drawing and 3D modelling to parametric design, AI-assisted generation and zero-waste digital pattern making.
- Examine virtual fashion as product, representation and sales channel — digital twins, avatars, fabric and garment simulation, AR try-on and AI-driven visualisation.
- Survey digital manufacturing technologies, additive manufacturing, digital printing and automation across mass production, mass customisation and on-demand models.
- Use data analytics and machine learning to forecast demand, optimise supply chains and select materials on environmental data.
- Measure a product's footprint with LCA and communicate it credibly through KPIs, eco-labels and EPDs, up to the Digital Product Passport.
03
Learning outcomes
On completion, learners can demonstrate that they:
- Select the appropriate digital tool for a defined sustainability problem along the value chain, and argue the business case — cost, benefit and evidence — for that choice.
- Produce and critically assess digital design and virtual prototyping outputs, and judge where simulation replaces physical sampling and where it does not.
- Evaluate digital manufacturing options against volume, cost and waste, and identify where on-demand or digital production fits an SME's product range.
- Apply data analytics and machine learning to demand forecasting, deadstock reduction and supply-chain risk, and interpret the results without overclaiming their precision.
- Measure a product's environmental footprint with LCA and translate it into KPIs, eco-label claims and an EPD that would survive scrutiny.
- Explain how unique product identifiers, traceability infrastructure and the Digital Product Passport turn sustainability data into transparency and circular business models.