Cotton in the Curriculum: Cotton-rich performance apparel for underserved markets - Short Version.

Five teams of two students in the Department of Textile and Apparel Management at the University of Missouri embarked on a semester-long technical design project in which they addressed real-life apparel problems by using cutting edge, technologically enhanced cotton fabrics.The question that guided the semester’s work was: How can cotton technologies add value and increase the performance qualities of apparel for a specific group of end-users? Short Version - a teaser! The students followed a user-centered design process in this project and they identified a traditionally underserved target market that could benefit from thoughtfully designed cotton-rich apparel products. These markets were: breastfeeding moms, nurses, people with sensory processing disorders, burn survivors and lower limb amputees to work with throughout the semester. The outcomes of this project were a professional technical design package and one apparel ensemble. Their work was presented at the end of the semester to the users and showcased in multiple events throughout the university. This project was supported in whole by a grant from the Importer Support Program of the Cotton Board, supervised by Cotton Incorporated.