Founded in 1976, the Association of Fashion and Textile Courses (FTC) is one of the UK Art and Design Higher Education Subject Associations, the aims of the FTC are to:

• Stimulate academic debate across the constituent elements of fashion and textiles and their related areas in order to maintain an informed and current overview;
• Be concerned with all aspects of learning and teaching, scholarly activity and research in fashion and textiles;
• Liaise with public and professional bodies and advise on quality in educational matters;
• Take a proactive role in lobbying in the interests of the sector;
• Identify and share good practice.

The FTC supports and promotes research in and related to Fashion and Textiles. Conferences, symposia and events provide forums for discussion and platforms for dissemination of research by established, early career and postgraduate researchers.

Since the 2009 FTC conference Futurescan: Mapping the Territory, fashion and textile higher education and industry have responded to numerous external conditions. For higher education, the increase in tuition fees has required institutions to enhance quality and responsiveness to the student consumer. In industry, social networking, online communication and an array of digital technologies have fostered the formulation of non-traditional creative collectives, consumer groups, promotional and sales methods. The customisation possibilities offered by digital design and production technologies continues to promote the ‘consumer as designer’, challenging the purpose and role of fashion and textile design education in contemporary society. Sustainability remains high on the agenda for fashion and textile departments, courses and companies. The recent financial crisis, subsequent recession and fluctuating economic climates throughout the world significantly impact upon industry and education. Today, the UK fashion and textile higher education system is required to produce graduates who are knowledgeable, skilled, environmentally conscious, creative, innovative, entrepreneurial, internationally aware, articulate and responsive to continual change.

Within higher education, the research agenda and drive towards the Research Excellence Framework (REF) has prompted educators to produce outputs with impact and engage in knowledge exchange with economic, social, cultural and environmental domains. While educators and creative practitioners have adopted practice-led and practice-based research approaches, others have utilised methodologies from disciplines such as history, philosophy, anthropology, cultural and ethnic studies. Art and design higher education, and in particular fashion and textiles continues to map the possibilities and explore the territory of what research is and could be. The conference Futurescan 2: Collective Voices provided a forum for established and emerging fashion, textile and related researchers to come together to communicate and discuss current research. The selected research papers featured in this publication were presented at Sheffield Hallam University, 10th – 11th January 2013, positioned towards the following conference themes:

• Breaking Barriers: cross-disciplinary and collaborative teaching, learning and research

• Emerging and Enabling Technologies: within education, the design process, networking, commercial application and beyond

• Past, Present and Future: historical, archival, socio-political and technologically influenced

• Design Responsibility: sustainability, environment and ecology

The keynote speakers provided diverse insights from varying perspectives. Claudia Lieshout, Creative Director, Lifestyle Trends, Philips Design, enhanced understanding surrounding ‘the art of trends’ and designing for the future. Graduate attributes in a dramatically changing professional environment was the focus of the presentation given by Ben Mears, Head of Menswear, Jaeger. Rhian Solomon of sKINship™ London, discussed collaborative research surrounding the exploration of ‘making’ at the intersection of pattern cutting and plastic surgery. Associate Dean, Applied Research at Coventry University, Martin Woolley focused on the creative environment within ‘rapidly changing landscapes’ relevant to fashion, textiles and related creative disciplines. This publication disseminates the knowledge and understanding discovered and communicated through the conference presentations and research papers, to enhance the continued development and construction of the collective voices of the future.