In the more than 12 months since the detection of novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes the disease known as COVID-19, science has moved rapidly to increase understanding of the disease, which is now a pandemic with public health preventive measures to curb the spread of infection. Consensus on the effectiveness of simple, cloth face…

Slow looking is the art and practice of learning through observation. Using object-based learning strategies provides instructors with innovative opportunities to pique curiosity while providing scaffolding for creativity skills needed to generate new clothing and apparel designs. This paper aims to identify how an FCS educator can use a slow-…

According to the authors, the apparel and retail industries are integral to our lives, yet they contribute to environmental issues from discarded clothing items that still have life within them. Gen Z and Millennials today are at the forefront of the pre-worn apparel movement, often documented as thrift shopping. This shift from new to pre-worn…

Funded through a grant from Texas Workforce Commission, DesignHER Code Camps were created to use the fashion interests of underserved middle school girls as springboards to interest them in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM). Results were generally consistent with the achievement of camp goals--(a) increase the interest of middle…

The goal of this study is to understand the relationship between retail therapy (RT) and college students' reasons for exercising, perceived physical fitness, and psychological distress. A total of 204 usable responses were collected from female college students, with an average age of 20.69 years old. The effect of RT is significantly more…

University faculty and a local community group collaborated on an event that involved raising funds for a scholarship while bringing awareness to the university's historic costume collection. As part of this program, students created an original design inspired by one of the collection's garments that was featured in a fashion show. Feedback about…

The following are journal reflections written by Morgan State University Family and Consumer Sciences-Fashion Merchandising students in 2020, during the early phases of the COVID-19 pandemic. As we navigated through a semester that should have had students completing practicum credits, they instead wrote about recouping the time and identifying…

The unprecedented impact of COVID-19 recreated our learning environment. With nearly all institutions shifting to remote teaching during the outbreak, our program was quickly tasked to transition to online instruction for two experiential courses: The May intersession New York study tour for undergraduate students and the summer internship program…

In a sea of applicant uniformity, how can an undergraduate student develop a means of personal differentiation while attempting to land an internship or job? That is the dilemma of the roughly 1.9 million Millennials graduating with bachelor's degrees within the United States in 2015 (Hussar & Bailey, 2015). Although the national unemployment…

Fashion FUNdamentals (FF), a STEM enrichment program for middle school girls, offers an alternative approach to STEM education by invoking "fashion" as a catalyst to ignite curiosity about STEM. This study explored whether participation in FF enhanced girls' self-efficacy, knowledge, and interest in math and science. At the conclusion of…

This paper presents a framework for program assessment and a case study in assessment for a university clothing and textile program in family and consumer sciences. Assessment activities and the process implemented by the Textile and Apparel Studies (TAS) major at Western Michigan University are explained. The process adopts the International…

Guided by the five cross-cutting themes of the American Association of Family & Consumer Sciences (AAFCS) Body of Knowledge (BOK) two capstone courses (C[superscript 2]) in Apparel Studies were designed to help prepare students for careers, further study, or both.

Textile products are used heavily every day. The apparel industry is one of the largest industrial polluters, causing damage to both human health and the environment. Despite increasing consumer concern about environmental issues and a growing trend toward supporting sustainable production, consumers are often unable to evaluate accurately which…

The goal of this paper is to illustrate how the promotion of 21st Century process skills can be used to enhance student learning and workplace skill development: thinking, problem solving, collaboration, communication, leadership, and management. As an illustrative case, fashion merchandising and design students conducted research for a…

The purpose of this paper is to describe an educational partnership experience between rural retailers and graduate students in a Merchandising, Apparel and Textiles program. Students were afforded an opportunity to work with small business owners in rural communities, giving them real world exposure to the actual challenges being faced by…