Bath Spa University appoints new Professor of Fashion and Sustainability

As London Fashion Week draws to a close on Tuesday 19 September, Bath Spa University has announced the latest development in its plans for a National Centre for Fashion and Sustainability, and appointed Tamara Cincik as Professor of Fashion and Sustainability.

Professor Cincik has over 20 years’ experience working in the fashion industry as a fashion editor, brand consultant and in the Houses of Parliament. In 2017, Cincik launched Fashion Roundtable, the only think tank for the fashion and textiles industry, which serves as the secretariat for the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Ethics and Sustainability in Fashion and acts as the bridge between fashion and policy. Professor Cincik is a Commissioner for the UK Trade and Business Commission and has led on a several reports including Cleaning Up Fashion, and Representation and Inclusion in the Fashion Industry. She also regularly hosts roundtables and events and is asked to speak at leading events, nationally and globally.

The remit of the Professor of Fashion and Sustainability will include building on Bath Spa’s partnership with the Bath Fashion Collection, who’s new museum and archive are central to the University’s plans for a new Creative Quarter in the city of Bath which will be home to the new National Centre for Fashion and Sustainability. This exciting concept will create an education system and museum venue will address past legacies, as well as our future ambitions, with a purpose-driven approach.

On making the announcement, Pro-Vice Chancellor for External Affairs and Innovation at Bath Spa University, Andy Salmon said:

“Professor Cincik’s expertise in sustainable fashion policy, her connection with all aspects of the industry, and her advisory roles with central Government connect very strongly with our shared vision for the Creative Wellbeing Economy.”

He added:

“Together we will take a 360-degree approach to the complex interrelationship between fashion making, business, psychology, wellbeing and regeneration. In doing so we will combine research, innovation, enterprise across disciplines. Only when we see the problem in the round, can we find the interconnected solutions. Only by working together via shared interests, can we develop the seeds for the necessary regenerative economy. We believe Professor Cincik’s is uniquely placed to do this.”

Professor Tamara Cincik said:

“I am delighted to be appointed as Professor of Fashion and Sustainability at Bath Spa University. This new role will allow me to shape and direct a new vision for the industry and education system we all want to be a part of. Bath Spa offers a fresh and exciting vision based on radical and regenerative concepts, from which I believe we can shape and build the case for the creative wellbeing economy. A world based on creativity, craft and community.”

In addition, the University has also announced an innovative partnership with Fashion Roundtable which will partner with Bath Spa University on policy reports, events and research thought leadership, which is already well respected at a national and international level.

Bath Spa University’s National Centre for Fashion and Sustainability will be both a virtual and physical space where leading thinkers, learners, businesses, and communities will connect and drive the fashion and textile industry towards new, regenerative practices that will be healthy for people and the planet.

The National Centre for Fashion and Sustainability will run programmes and research projects that explore every step of the fashion and textile journey. From farming practices, remaking, natural dyeing, zero waste design and garment end of life, to critiquing and transforming economic models, political drivers, and new modes of teaching. Every facet of the industry will be brought to addressed, from how we create, the jobs of the future, localism at scale, to where we can work together to find regenerative solutions.

In 2023/24, a virtual version of the National Centre for Fashion and Sustainability will be launched which will provide the opportunity for local, national and international sustainable fashion communities to connect, develop new, radical practises and share knowledge in an online setting.