World Academy announces the launch of an Upcycling Fashion Course, a practical and reflective programme that places Fashion Design at the heart of today’s ethical, environmental and cultural transformations. Led by Dino Alves, alongside Sandra Dias and Mónica Gonçalves, the course also features guest designers such as Ana Duarte, Constança Entrudo and Nuno Baltazar, bringing together different generations and approaches to Portuguese independent design within a shared field of experimentation.

At a time when the fashion industry is being widely challenged for its environmental and social impact, this course emerges as a space for both critical reflection and practical response. Mass production, accelerated consumption and the continuous disposal of materials have exposed the limits of a system that is no longer sustainable. In this context, upcycling asserts itself as a position: a concrete strategy within a logic of sustainable and circular fashion that proposes the reactivation of what already exists.

Throughout the course, participants are invited to reflect on the role of the fashion Designer as an active agent in the construction of more responsible futures, developing tools that articulate independent design, ecological awareness and critical thinking. Atelier work plays a central role, encouraging processes of garment reuse, deconstruction, reconstruction and customisation, through an approach that brings together practice, research and intention.

Aimed at all those with a creative, visual and hands-on vocation who wish to affirm their voice and presence in contemporary society, the course offers a demanding and in-depth learning journey. The programme runs from February 24 to July 21, 2026, in an after-work schedule, with sessions held on Thursdays. Limited to just 12 participants, the course prioritises close pedagogical engagement, continuous mentoring and direct exchange between tutors, guest designers and students. The contents spans areas such as research, planning and communication; pattern cutting, moulage and design; materials and technologies; planning and sewing, culminating in the World Academy Festival, where the developed processes gain public visibility.

Further information and registrations are available on the World Academy website.