Manchester Met has taken the digital lead with their on-campus collaboration with global leader in digital fashion technology Style3D, which can instantly create a 3D design through the use of AI.
Styleverse, Style3D’s first operation in the UK, will be based at Manchester Met’s Manchester Fashion Institute, giving students unprecedented access to 3D technology which can visualise, design, cut and produce entire outfits using life-sized avatar models with real-time editing – a process known as ‘rapid prototyping’.
Previously, creating a 3D wearable garment has always required the time and skills of a creative pattern cutter, a profession that can take years to develop. China-based Style3D’s software takes an AI generated pattern and instantly creates a wearable design, which can be showcased on life-sized customisable screen avatars at the Styleverse hub.
Eric Liu, CEO of Style3D, said: “I am delighted to be working with Manchester Met. I think that Manchester is a centre of fashion, from fashion businesses to manufacturers. It has given me a lot of inspiration because it has very innovative technology. I think it is quite similar to a city like Hanzhou, in that they have really integrated science technology with the fashion industry.
“We’re going to present the world’s latest fashion technology and software at Manchester Met. The students will get a head start in real industry development and see the future of the fashion industry.”
Manchester has been at the forefront of fashion and industry for generations and Manchester Met’s collaboration with Style3D builds on the city’s rich heritage as the world’s first industrial city and pioneer of the textiles trade.
Located across four continents, Style3D is based in Hangzhou, a city known as the emerging tech hub of China where companies like Alibaba and DeepSeek are established.
Anita Mitchell, Section Head of Fashion Design at Manchester Met, said: “Our students will have access to new emerging industry standard digital fashion technologies that don’t exist anywhere else. There are no other companies that have got the same advanced and sophisticated software and it is going to be used here at Manchester Metropolitan University.
“Having this strategic partnership located in our institute means that the fashion industry is going to be engaging with our students, with our academics and with our researchers.
“We’ve got everyone we need in one space including the fashion industry, higher education and the tech developers and that is what is going to drive digitalisation and sustainable fashion practice in the fashion industry and graduate employability here.”
Professor Liz Barnes, Director of Manchester Fashion Institute at Manchester Met, said: “Our vision at Manchester Fashion Institute is to be celebrated as a force for change within and beyond the fashion industry, and this partnership with a globally leading company like Style 3D, which brings together fashion, and tech, with higher education in partnership, is a fantastic example of how we are taking fashion further.”
