PRIORITY ISSUE: EDUCATION & TRAINING
IAF has since its founding in 1972 recognized that education and training is the engine for positive change of the industry. IAF’s membership has always included schools and universities specialized in fashion management and technology. Through these individual connections and through IAF’s collaboration with IFFTI (the International Federation of Fashion Technology Institutes) and with the FT Alliance project, IAF is fostering interaction between schools and industry. And in line with our aim to build a stronger global institutional infrastructure for our industry,
IAF will also work to enhance global coordination of industry education. Global coordination means alignment of priorities, quality and efforts to reduce the chances of overlap. We don’t want to be setting ourselves up for ‘training fatigue’. IAF’s unique membership of national and regional associations has convinced us that associations are crucial operators for creating a smarter industry. Bringing knowledge to associations, training them and coaching them can have a great multiplier effect as they in turn educate their member companies. So IAF is working with several multilateral organizations to organize a more structured transfer of knowledge aimed particularly at industry associations.
