Embrace new technologies and business models

To prepare you for today's shifting fashion landscape, our program teaches you to be adaptable and innovative. Our expert faculty, whose wide-ranging practices often embrace new technologies and groundbreaking systems of making, provide you with one-on-one support to reach your full potential. You’ll be exposed to various material manipulations, including textile treatments, digital technologies, and molding, while you formulate your personal vision for the future of fashion. Questioning traditional fashion industry practices is essential to this process, which is why we introduce you to new forms of business and enterprises that focus on ecological and social issues.

Collaborate and intern with major brands

In addition to meeting and working with artisan communities through international competitions, you’ll gain hands-on experience with California-based internships. In recent years, students have interned for Athleta, Cradle to Cradle Products Innovation Institute, Erica Tanov, Everlane, Gap, Inc., Levi Strauss & Co., Libertine, N.I.C.E. Collective, and Tea Collection.

We regularly learn from companies leading the way in new business models, radical transparency, and sustainability. For example, we’re one of three U.S. colleges partnering with Remake, a nonprofit that supports the industry’s progress toward circular fashion, to bring students directly into supply chains, where they meet with workers in their factories and homes. Program field trips introduce students to innovative practices in action, from regenerative agriculture (Sustainable Cotton Project) on Cleaner Cotton™ farms to carbon-negative fiber systems on Fibershed wool ranches.

Get feedback from visiting designers and innovators

Practicing designers and industry professionals, including founders of innovative companies, regularly attend our critiques. Students have a chance to learn from their direct experience on a range of topics:

• Biofabrication
• Brand resale
• Social innovation
• Zero waste

Recent guests include Holly McQuillan and Timo Rissanen, zero-waste pioneers; Founder Andy Ruben of Yerdle, a business-to-business resale company; Carole Collette, biofabrication designer; and Lucy Jones, founder of Central Saint Martin’s Textile Futures Research Community.

Explore materiality in shops and exhibition spaces

All CCA students have access to collegewide shops. Featuring various mechanical and digital equipment, including those associated with conventional fashion design, CCA shops support multiple modes of creativity. You’ll have the opportunity to learn from and solve problems with peers in other disciplines and the freedom to explore materiality through different mediums and modes. From life-drawing exercises in drawing studios to experimentation with 3D technology in the VR Lab, diverse shop experiences prepare you for a broad range of professional options.

The college also has a number of gallery and exhibition spaces, including the Oliver Art Center in Oakland and Hubbell Street Galleries in San Francisco. Fashion students use these spaces to learn about curation and installation practices, present group shows, and share their passion for designing with the wider community. View upcoming events and exhibitions

Our faculty members help you develop your artistic voice and connect you with fashion-related internships and roles that complement your values and aspirations. You’ll have the unique opportunity to work alongside experts in carbon-negative fibers, circular systems, sustainability, and other emergent fields.

Imagining potential futures

From traditional fashion design to shoe design, jewelry design, and costume design for films, our faculty’s areas of expertise are cross-disciplinary and future-focused.

Annie Gullingsrud, for example, teaches a course on the ecology of clothing, drawing inspiration from her work as Design for AllKind's founder. She has consulted for Stella McCartney, H&M, and Marks & Spencer on creating materials for circular fashion.

Rebecca Burgess, who teaches a course on the connections between local fiber systems, global carbon cycles, and creative making, is revolutionizing the lifecycle of a garment with her company Fibershed. Burgess works with producers to establish regenerative fiber systems that can last for generations.

Pushing the boundaries of art and design

Our faculty also exhibit, win awards, and constantly expand the boundaries of art and design. Melissa Leventon, an authority in the archival and curation of costumes and textiles, consults for individuals and museums across the country. Ghazaleh Khalifeh, whose collection was recently shown at New York Fashion Week, has exhibited in Paris, Milan, New York, and at the de Young Museum in San Francisco.

The roles alumni take on are diverse and exciting, from costume design for films to enterprise development for small businesses. Alumni design for major companies and labels, such as Diane von Furstenberg, N.I.C.E. Collective, Nike, Patagonia, Thom Browne, and Viktor & Rolf. Some launch their own businesses and go on to sell at Barneys New York, Holt Renfrew, and MATCHES, to name a few.

Drawing from our program’s emphasis on innovation, including biofabrication and other emerging technologies, alumni also find success working for film and VR companies like Oculus Rift and Encyclopedia Pictura. Others apply their knowledge of sustainable fashion practices—circular production systems, carbon-negative fibers, regenerative agriculture, etc—to groundbreaking initiatives for Stella McCartney, Eileen Fisher, and big-box stores.

The fashion industry is in need of forward-thinking, creative people. Are you driven to propose disruptive design solutions? Do you value sustainable and more inclusive practices? Our program, which is one of the top 50 fashion design schools in the U.S., is on the lookout for applicants with a unique vision and passion for making a positive change in the world.