At the recent conference Bio-Fashion Innovation Day organized by VETRINE partner TCBL at Avantex / Texworld fair in Paris, Vetrine participated in an inspiring roundtable on how innovative learning programs can accelerate sustainable fashion. Bringing together educators, researchers, and practitioners from across Europe, the discussion explored how we can prepare the next generation of designers, workers, and entrepreneurs for an industry in urgent need of transformation. You can watch the video here, or read the summary below.

From VET to Sustainability: The EuroTraining Approach

Christina Stamatiki, project manager at EuroTraining in Greece, opened with a perspective from vocational education. Her organization is one of the largest training centers in the country, with long experience in fields like the green economy and entrepreneurship. For her, stepping into sustainable fashion was a “natural” progression, since textiles sit at the intersection of these themes.

She presented the Vetrine project, which introduces sustainability, entrepreneurship, and digitalization into training for future designers. Early research showed a striking gap: students were eager to learn about sustainability but lacked reliable resources, while companies recognized the issue yet faced barriers such as costs and a shortage of skilled staff. Schools, meanwhile, rarely offer courses focused on sustainability. Vetrine’s goal is to fill this void by providing validated training and helping students bring their own sustainable product ideas to life.

Beyond Technical Training: The Case for Interdisciplinarity

Dr. Eszter Cscepe-Bannert, founder of KEDU in Germany, argued that vocational training cannot stop at technical know-how. While Germany’s dual education system—linking schools and companies—is admired worldwide, she said it needs updating for today’s challenges. Training should also involve universities, research institutes, and community organizations, and it must integrate ethics and sustainability as much as skills with materials or machines.

Cscepe described her team’s work in creating training modules that can be plugged into schools more flexibly than traditional curricula allow. Crucially, they translate complex research into accessible lessons. One exercise she uses with students is to calculate the labor time and wages needed to produce something as simple as a bag. The result always surprises them: the true price would be far higher than the market pays, which makes the issue of sustainability tangible and personal.

Data, AI, and the Supply Chain Lens

On the academic side, Professor Iragael Joly of Grenoble INP in France spoke about how artificial intelligence and digital tools can reshape supply chains. His focus is on training master’s and doctoral students to see production as a whole system—from conception to recycling.

For Joly, AI is not just about algorithms; it is about understanding needs across the chain. His students are trained to interview firms, define problems, and design solutions that are both technical and social. By combining digital optimization with stakeholder perspectives, they learn that sustainability cannot be solved by code alone.

Tools for Business and Hands-On Learning

Bringing in the industry view, Marianna Maglara, an ESG consultant with two decades of experience, highlighted the materiality matrix as an invaluable tool for companies. By mapping stakeholders and their concerns, businesses can identify where their environmental and social impacts really matter. As she put it, a luxury brand might obsess over packaging while its stakeholders are far more concerned with labor conditions.

She also shared experiences from European projects where students followed a structured learning journey into sustainability and eco-design before testing their ideas in a Fab Lab in Portugal. The result? Teams prototyped low-carbon shoes with sustainable materials—showing how theory and practice can reinforce each other. For her, AI can support this process too, serving as a “scenario builder” to simulate risks or future conditions. But she cautioned: it should be an assistant, not a replacement for human judgment.

Within the context of the same day’s talks, VETRINE partner TCBL’s Alexandra Korey, communication officer, also presented a series of tools that can be used by businesses as well as in VET training, many of which come from EU-funded projects. Indeed, she showed the public composed of SMEs and designers the Green VETRINE project, which was appreciated for its potential to provide free training on specific information that SMEs today really need.

Shared Reflections: A Journey, Not a Sprint

The panel closed with a set of thoughtful reflections. Stamatiki reminded the audience of the value of “living slow,” recognizing the people behind sustainable practices. Scepe warned against slipping into “autopilot” with AI, stressing the need for critical engagement. Joly added that AI should always be considered within its economic, environmental, and social context, and that collaboration is the only way to manage such complexity. Maglara concluded with perhaps the most memorable metaphor: sustainability is a marathon, not a sprint. The road is long, and missteps are inevitable, but even failures can become opportunities for learning.

This roundtable made one thing clear: if fashion is to become sustainable, education must change first. From vocational training and research to industry tools and hands-on labs, the next generation of learning is already taking shape—and it is collaborative, critical, and deeply committed to the future.