News
Call for Participants | ICH as Fashion: A Two-Year Capacity-Building Program on Integrating Intangible Cultural Heritage into Fashion
UNESCO Regional Office for East Asia, in collaboration with key partners in cultural heritage and fashion sectors, is launching a two-year capacity-building program (2025-2026) “ICH as Fashion”, which aims at integrating intangible cultural heritage (ICH) into contemporary fashion. This initiative seeks to create sustainable opportunities for ICH bearers, fashion students and/or emerging designers to collaborate, develop ICH-inspired fashion products, and explore pathways for future ICH-fashion businesses.
To ensure a meaningful and productive learning experience, ICH bearers and fashion students or emerging designers will be teamed up and work together throughout a series of workshops based on the mutual interests of certain ICH elements. This structure allows ICH bearers to pass on their traditional knowledge and practices while fashion students and emerging designers bring new perspectives, contemporary design thinking, and market awareness to the collaboration. Through this hands-on, sustained partnership, participants will co-develop ICH-based fashion products and explore ways to commercialize and sustain ICH-fashion businesses in a way that respects and revitalizes cultural traditions.
We are now looking for ICH bearers and fashion students or emerging designers to join this unique project and participate in a series of workshops over two years, culminating in a final ICH-fashion showcase at the end of 2026.
*** Important eligibilities include being nationals of China, DPRK, Japan, Mongolia, and ROK, and being able to participate in ALL workshops and the final showcase in 2026. Please find more details on the application criteria and process in the files attached. ***
Interested applicants are required to submit the following materials to UNESCO Regional Office for East Asia, Culture Sector Ms. Yujuan Li at y.li@unesco.org before 10 April 2025.
Application form
A portfolio (if available) showcasing past work in ICH, fashion or relevant field
A full CV
An abbreviated resume (one page)
