TFIA raises bar on best practice

MELBOURNE: The TCF industry's peak body is spearheading moves to raise education standards that will dovetail with the new TCF training package.

Jo Kellock, executive director of the Council of Textile and Fashion Industries of Australia (TFIA), said while the new package - which comes into force this year was welcome - its four-year accreditation process had meant it did not represent many of the latest developments in industry, including seamless garment technology, fibre nanotechnology and new body measuring techniques.

As part of measures to redress the shortfall, discussions were afoot between TCF industry representatives, educators and leading publisher Cambridge University Press, to publish a definitive guide to the Australian TCF industry aimed at secondary and tertiary students.

With the working title Designed in Australia: The past Sixty Years of Australian Fashion, the book would be co-authored and edited by Lilianna Pomazan, senior lecturer at RMIT School of Fashion Melbourne and Bonnie English, associate professor, Griffith University Brisbane. Miriam Kuna, founder of the Melbourne School of Fashion, and Betty Spangaro, owner of Melbourne retailer Villa Specialty Knits and knitwear wholesaler and manufacturer Spangaro would offer additional input.

Kellock said the project embodied the vital need for fashion educators to interface with industry. "The problem is that fashion courses have a glamorous profile and are often up to 600 per cent over-subscribed, so on the surface fashion education looks strong, but many of the vital technical skills that are needed are being overlooked."  TV shows including Project Runway had made fashion "look as though anyone can do it", she said, spawning an influx of poorly trained practitioners.

"These people draw on the supply chain for their education and they expect to get it for the price of a sample. But what they are doing is slowing down the supply chain for everyone."

With a planned 2010 publication date, Kellock said the TFIA - which, along with its subsidiary the Australian Fashion Council, is acting as facilitator for the book - would welcome input from industry. As part of its education drive the council also plans to showcase the latest body scanning and fit technologies at trade fair Fashion Exposed.

Additionally, it will present TCF innovations beyond 2010 to Government via a showcase at Parliament House, Canberra on September 22. Titled Fashioning a Future, the event is a response to the Government's TCF Review, whose report and recommendations were due for submission to Government by August 31.

By Belinda Smart