Fashion design today is influenced, on the one hand by new technologies in fiber, fabric and finishes to those including automation and flexible manufacturing systems; and on the other hand by the constantly evolving consumer lifestyles. Industrial materials and techniques previously developed for completely different purposes are being utilized and expanded by fashion designers. The continuing concern for the environment claims the interest of those working with protective, recycled and responsive materials. Performance apparel represents one of the fastest growing sectors in international fashion business. Design in Fashion Space, a new master programme at NIFT attracts students from various disciplines including engineering, architecture and design for providing an inter-disciplinary perspective of fashion. 'Innovation in Fashion' course is designed for this program, that seeks to align the interdisciplinary skills and perspectives available in the programme for introducing innovation in development of successful fashion products. The challenge is to identify an area of intervention relevant to today's competitive marketplace, research on technologies available, innovate and design new products, test the concepts on a consumer group, and produce a prototype version of it. The paper will share the experiences of the running the course using case studies of the products developed.
