Advancing Fashion Through Research, Creativity and Digital Innovation
Augmented Fashion is an interdisciplinary research platform exploring the future of fashion through creative practice, emerging technologies and collaborative research. Bringing together researchers, industry, cultural organisations and communities, we investigate how digital innovation can transform fashion design, preserve cultural heritage and contribute to more sustainable futures.
Our work spans practice-based research, immersive technologies, knowledge exchange, industry collaboration and public engagement, creating meaningful cultural, educational and economic impact. Discover our projects, publications, resources and partnerships, and explore how research is shaping the next generation of fashion and textile innovation
Featured Projects
Augmented Fashion
Flagship research project
Exploring how emerging technologies are transforming fashion research, design, sustainability and public engagement through interdisciplinary and international collaboration.
Harris Tweed KTP
Innovation through Industry Collaboration
Working with industry to develop innovative approaches that support Scotland’s world-renowned Harris Tweed industry through knowledge exchange, design innovation and sustainability.
Immersive Scotland Research Network
Building Future Research Communities
Connecting researchers, creative practitioners and industry partners to explore the creative potential of immersive technologies across Scotland’s cultural and creative sectors.
Connected Threads
Connecting Creativity, Technology and Future Talent
Connected Threads inspires the next generation to explore the connections between fashion, textiles and digital innovation. Through creative collaboration and immersive experiences, the project promotes inclusive pathways into the digital fashion economy.
MEET THE TEAM
Professor Yang Jiang
Professor of Immersive Design, University of Hull
Dr Karen Cross
Associate Dean, Gray's School of Art, RGU
Josie Steed
Associate Professor, Gray's School of Art, RGU
Lyndsay Mesjar
Research Assistant, RGU
Elsa Cox
Project Manager, RGU Orkney
Professor Rong Zheng
China Partner, Donghua University, Shanghai
AF PARTNERS AND COLLABORATORS
Robert Gordon University
Robert Gordon University, through Gray’s School of Art and its interdisciplinary research community, is a key partner in Augmented Fashion. RGU brings expertise in fashion and textiles, creative practice, digital innovation and knowledge exchange, connecting research with industry, cultural organisations, students and communities.
University of Hull
The University of Hull brings specialist expertise in immersive design and digital technologies to Augmented Fashion. Through interdisciplinary collaboration, the University contributes research expertise in 3D visualisation, immersive technologies, human-computer interaction and digital creative practice, helping explore new possibilities for fashion and textile innovation.
Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE)
The economic and community development agency for the north and west of Scotland, supporting businesses, communities and social enterprises to grow, innovate and thrive across a diverse and dynamic region.
Harris Tweed Hebrides
Harris Tweed Hebrides, the largest producer of the iconic and globally renowned Harris Tweed® cloth. Harris Tweed is woven in small batches from 100% British wool on non-powered looms, by home weavers on the Outer Hebrides islands in Scotland.
Lateral North
A design collective based in Glasgow, Scotland specialising in exhibition design, brand creation, filmmaking, website design and community driven collaborative projects.
Nielanell Knitwear
A brand that builds on the traditions and quality of Shetland-made knitwear through connections with place, history and world culture, offering products in an array of colours and textures, manufactured in limited quantities.
Fashion Interrupted
Work with designers, artists and cultural institutions. Using digital pattern cutting tools we digitise archives and create interactive experiences using augmented and virtual reality, offering new ways to experience fashion beyond physical garments.
Look Again
Look Again is a creative platform based at Gray’s School of Art that connects artists, designers, audiences, and the wider creative community across Northeast Scotland. As a collaborator with Augmented Fashion, Look Again supports public engagement, exhibitions and creative-sector activity, helping bring research and emerging technologies into accessible and engaging experiences for wider audiences.
Shanghai Textile Museum
Shanghai Textile Museum has a collection of more than 20,000 artifacts, texts, and images – encapsulating over 6,000 years of textile history in the Shanghai area. Established on the original site of the Shenxin Textile No 9 Factory, the museum traces its roots back to 1878 as the Shanghai Machine Weaving Bureau – China’s first modern mechanical cotton textile factory.
F Plus International Trading (Shanghai) Co Ltd
An award-winning textile trading company based in Shanghai, China, representing both Chinese and European brands in the Chinese marketplace.
POP Fashion
A Shanghai-based Chinese trend prediction agency, providing direction for seasonal colour, fabric and style trends, utilising 3D garment modelling, big data and artificial intelligence algorithms to support design development in the Chinese fashion and textile market.