An innovative teaching approach to product development: creating tennis wear for female baby boomers

• Main Author: May Chae
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: SpringerOpen 2017-07-01
• Series: Fashion and Textiles
• Subjects: Innovative teaching; Industry practice; Baby boomers; Tennis wear; Prototype development
• Online Access: http://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s40691-017-0098-9

Abstract To approach innovative teaching, prototype development of tennis wear for female baby boomers was incorporated into the product development course. This semesterlong project, fully funded by Cotton Incorporated, guided students in identifying the needs of female baby boomers who play tennis and then designing appropriate tennis wear. Twelve female tennis participants aged between 55 and 66 were interviewed in a focus group. To mirror fashion industry practice, students worked in teams including with real-world clients. The functional, expressive, and aesthetic consumer needs model (Lamb and Kallal in Cloth Text Res J 10:42–47, 1992) provided the conceptual framework for the project, and the students took the FEA design criteria into account when developing tennis wear prototypes that met the needs of the baby boomers. At the end of the semester, a panel of faculty judges who fall within the age group of baby boomers and who play tennis regularly evaluated the student groups’ work and selected the three winning teams using the following criteria: creativity, quality (i.e., construction, tech pack [garment measurements], and fit), presentation (i.e., storyboard and oral presentation), and readiness for production.