Texas Tech University

Cotton Grant to Enhance Education Practices for Newly Established Fashion Merchandising Curriculum in the Department of Hospitality and Retail Management

TTU CottonWorks Grant for Hospitality Fashion Merchandising Curriculum

Focus on cotton in digital formats and sustainability for fashion merchandising concentration

Faculty in the College of Human Sciences received $47,598 in funding for the proposal titled Integration of Digital Cotton and Cotton TBL Practices in Fashion Merchandising. Funding was awarded in whole through a competitive grant by the Importer Support Program of the Cotton Board and Cotton Incorporated. The newly established fashion merchandising concentration as part of the Retail Management bachelor's degree will gain integrated educational tools like 3D fashion design software, CLO3D, and other hands-on experiences.

"With the grant funding, we will be able to bring advanced technology, hands-on projects, field trips, and industry speakers into our classrooms," said Catherine Jai, associate professor and project lead on the grant. "I look forward to seeing how much our undergraduate and graduate students can gain from this great opportunity."

The Cotton in the Curriculum program 2020 selected the proposal for its potential to enhance education on cotton fiber, fabrics, and textiles in higher education. The goal of the grant is to prepare students for apparel, merchandising, fashion, and textile-related careers.

"Cotton is one of the major natural fiber utilized in the apparel industry," Jai said. "With the sustainable trend in consumers' lifestyle, training more fashion merchandising students on utilizing the 3D fashion design software can help to enhance students to gain employable skills in the web-based retail environment."

Cotton, IncThe proposal consists of two phases. The first is to implement Triple Bottom Line (TBL) practices for cotton products and two, applying digital cotton product development and evaluation in the current courses through a new course development.

"The students who are interested in retail entrepreneurship will learn how to put together a sustainable cotton business plan including market research, competitive analysis, sales strategies, capital and labor requirements, and financial data," Jai said. "There will be a final poster competition where students will incorporate TBL practices in the development of a business plan for a socially responsible cotton business."

Students who are interested in the product development and digital visual merchandising will be able to perform a product analysis on a cotton garment, analyze cotton fabric characteristics, and recreate the chosen garment using the 3D design software.

"The CottonWorksTM grant awarded to the faculty in Hospitality and Retail Management supports our commitment to sustainability as core business initiative," said Robert P. Jones, department chairperson. "This grant continues to push our curriculum forward in the use of cutting-edge technology, such as three dimensional (3D) fashion design software, as a business problem-solving tool. Cotton is an essential economic driver in West Texas and we are proud that CottonWorksTM selected our department for this grant, providing our faculty and students the opportunity to expand research and education, that drives best practices for this valuable product."

The team of faculty on the project in the Department of Hospitality and Retail Management (HRM) led by Catherine Jai include Julie Chang, an associate professor for HRM; Deborah Fowler, associate chairperson for HRM; Robert P. Jones, the department chairperson for HRM; Valerie Hlavaty, an instructor for HRM; and Bobbi Padgett, also an instructor for HRM.

"The prominent sustainability practices and digital transformation in the retail industry have an impact on higher education, especially for fashion merchandising curriculum," Jai said. "Also, as the problem-solving and analytical pedagogical approaches provide more comprehensive and practical education for students. I look forward to seeing how much our undergraduate and graduate students can gain from this great opportunity."