Digital Fashion Studio
Nowadays, product development and modifications worldwide are performed using appropriate CAD software. Students gain valuable experience on developing and designing items of clothing of all types using CAD tools that are recognised and used internationally. The sectional drawings created as a result can be printed on corresponding plotters and cutters and/or cut out.
Bodyscanning
Digital body measurement using a 3D body scanner promises a high level of predision, as well as speed. This new Technology is an intersting field of activity for project work and experiments.
Manufacturing Labs
Quick sewing machines, automatic buttonhole machines and blind stitch sewing machines are important tools in the textiles world. These and almost every other kind of sewing machine and automatedtechnology are available to the students to help them complete their projects. Lots of good ideas have
taken shape here and were later presented at the annual fashion show or to potential project partners.
Welding Technology
World Cup skiing suits, competitive swimwear, ice speed skating suits, water-tight clothing and underwear are increasingly welded as opposed to sewn. In the STC's welding department, various different technologies and equipment are available to aid the evelopment of products and new applications. The acilities are used for experiments by both students and lecturers in equal measure.
Tailor-made Clothing
This fascinating field of activity includes everything from contactless body measurement through sophisticated model development software solutions right up to uninterrupted linkage of the manufacturing processes. The megatrend of individualisation is what is behind the customers' wish for individualised, customised clothing. For students and researchers, this area represents an interesting field of work where pioneering advances can be made.
Design Studio
Research
The students independently analyse market needs and trends in fashion and society. Their research leads to ideas that are then visualised in mood boards through the use of colour, cuts and fabrics. In international business, this is everyday practice for designers. In feedback meetings, the students explain their suggestions and receive tips and information on how to proceed.
Creating a collection
Depending on the project in question, collections of knitwear, woven fabrics, women's wear, underwear, menswear, children's wear, casual, classic, sporty, etc. may be created. Picking up on trends, allowing one's own ideas to influence the design and transferring all of this on to a catchy drawing is an art form that allows a collection to be visualised.
Model development
The realisation of individual models from a collection requires technical skill and practice. The college's studios provide many opportunities to work with textiles and make both individual components and complete outfits. Training in projects and with practice-oriented tasks brings new experiences from project to project, so that visions become reality in the end.
Knitting Studio
Understanding knitting technology means experimenting. Playing with hand-operated knitting machines is a popular way often used by students to obtain a better understanding of knitting. Automated and fully programmable Fully Fashion machines show what is possible today in the field of knitting technology. A second knitting technology tops off the field of mesh generation. This involves the knitwear workshop. Yarn feed controlled by a stepper motor and precise control of the yarn feeders and knitting needles enable the processing of both highly elastic yarns as well as high-tension and brittle technical yarns. The high-tech machines at the STC are an excellent resource for students to develop stylish, as well as functional and technical products.
Weaving Department
It is a pleasure to look over students' shoulders as they practise experimental weaving on the hand looms. Creative and diverse products and patterns are developed here. The manual work involved in manufacturing warps, drawing into the heald frames and feeding the weft allows insight into the origin of weaves and fabrics. This knowledge can be developed further by practising on large wide looms, as well as narrow looms. Both heald frame motion and Jacquard equipment are available for creating patterns. The students are constantly amazed at how the patterns designed on a sheet of paper or using a CAD system become a highly expressive fabric.
Embroidery
Embroidery is a special world of products full of fantasy and attention to detail. Switzerland and the city of St.Gallen have become world famous through the spread of designer fabrics meticulously manufactured from valuable materials. For students, the fabrics themselves, as well as their designing are a fantastic experience.
Finishing Department
Dyeing fabrics means rolling up our sleeves, mixing the dye recipe, setting the dye bath and giving the fabric in question a new appearance using the different dyeing processes. Adjusting pre-defined colour patterns has its perils, however. This is another area where our students gather experiences that will be absolutely necessary in practice. It is not just the colour, but also the function that plays an important role in the finishing of textiles. Textile fabrics are subject to many requirements, such as hydrophilicity, hydrophobicity, abrasion resistance, soil release, anti-smoke and other effects. The roughness and surface gloss are also designed during the finishing. The characteristics of
the widest variety of textiles are created true to size using ultra-modern coating plants, laminating plants and plasma treatment machines.
Physical Lab
Physical tests of fibres, yarns and textile surfaces are needed at various production locations just as with the purchase of goods and the development of new products. Using the widest variety of test devices, the students can learn about the purpose and function of the test procedures or check the achievement of objectives of their project work.
Chemical Lab
Practical work in the lab is the best means of understanding chemical processes. Oxidation, deoxidation, precipitation and much more occurs here. A series of functional tests, such as flame retardance, chemical resistance, light fastness and light resistance broadens the range of verifiable textile characteristics.
