The theme of the 22nd Annual International Foundation of Fashion Technology Institutes (IFFTI) planned conference of Social Justice has become all the more poignant as the world comes to grips with the 2020 global pandemic. It was our pleasure to organize a conference, “Between Individual and Society: Social Justice Through Fashion” to be held at Kent State University in Kent, Ohio, USA.
Unfortunately, due to the threat of the COVID-19 virus, the conference was cancelled only three weeks before it was set to open. Our conference team at Kent State University’s School of Fashion was of course saddened to not be able to share our home of Kent, Ohio with everyone from around the world. However, the ensuing announcement brought scores of messages from potential research participants, keynote speakers, and IFFTI representatives who expressed heartfelt disappointment and a renewed sense of community and comradery. The sense of connection brought about by this vastly disruptive global experience reinforced our motivation to take what is best about an international conference- sharing research and inspiring collaboration- to create an online journal that we hope will become a permanent part of the IFFTI experience.
We are pleased to announce the award winners in each of the three categories of senior researcher, early career researcher and research student. All awards are made after an independent, ‘blind-review’ process by the reviewers and research committee members. We congratulate them on their achievements.
Senior Researcher Award
- Kirstin C. Loos and Karen M. Bosch, ‘Teaching Sustainability: How Educators Can Impact the Industry’.
- Justine Davidson and Cathy Chase, ‘Breaking Boundaries of the Traditional Curriculum to Develop Collaboration and Cognitive Diversity’
- Elisa Palomino-Perez, Edwin Phiri, and Katrin Maria Káradóttir ‘Indigenous Fish-Skin Craft Revived Through Contemporary Fashion.’
Early Career Award
- Chanjuan Chen and Kendra Lapolla ‘Stitched Together: Community Engagement for Undergraduate Student Learning in Supporting Refugee Women’
- Magnum Lam, Eric Li, Man-yin Chung and Wing-sun Liu, ‘Examination of Fashion Practicality and Sociality Among Acculturating Indonesian Domestic Workers in Hong Kong’
Graduate Student Award
Presented below are all of the accepted papers and creative practice-based research that was scheduled to be presented at the 2020 IFFTI conference. The international academic fashion community has long known of the potential of fashion as a powerful tool of change for good. Fashion is an essential conduit of communication about who we are as individuals, what we believe in as a group, and is often emblematic of changes in social policy. The papers of this conference publication are therefore generally categorized under the subthemes of the Individual, the Community, and the Global.