Adele Parker is a fashion educator based in Amsterdam. She teaches various design modules, from foundational courses to advanced design projects, at Amsterdam Fashion Academy. With a strong background in Fashion Knitwear Design, she has worked with renowned brands such as Calvin Klein, Viktor & Rolf, and Temperley London. In addition to her teaching, Adele is a key expert in digital fashion for the FashionTex project, where she helps shape the future of fashion education by integrating cutting-edge digital tools into the curriculum.

Since March 2024, Adele Parker has been working as an expert for FashionTEX, focusing on training teachers and professors at partner universities. In this role, she equips them with skills to use innovative digital tools, especially the Clo3D software, to make fashion education more future-oriented. Additionally, she teaches students at Amsterdam Fashion Academy, introducing them to the world of digital fashion design through FashionTEX.

What personally fascinated you the most about working with FashionTEX? Was there a specific moment or aspect of the project that particularly inspired you?

I heard about the project from the Director of Amsterdam Fashion Academy and it sounded like an exciting project to be a part of, especially as we had implemented CLO3D into our curriculum during the global pandemic. When we had our first conference in Lisbon I understood the projects impact and the possibilities of industry experts getting together, it’s a privilege to be part of something that can shape how design students use and think about digital technology in their work.

What concrete changes do you expect from FashionTEX in university education? How could this project change the approach to fashion education in the long term?

I expect to see a rise in digital applications being used to design in a variety of ways with through the FashionTEX project. I think it will open students minds to ways they can fuse digital and physical practice together. I think this approach could encourage innovation in design thinking in students which is a skill that is difficult to cultivate. Having this project for them is a fantastic learning opportunity.

If you had to describe FashionTEX in one word, what would it be and why?

Collaboration. It is the ultimate collaborative project; we are working with 11 universities across Europe that all have their own way of working, their own curriculum and needs. It’s an exciting challenge to work out how to bring that together in one vision and final result. But there is power in people coming together and sharing their knowledge with others.