Main Story. 06. 10.

Designing with Performance: Polartec® X Istituto Marangoni Dubai

Through our multi-year collaboration with Istituto Marangoni Dubai, we handed the next generation of fashion designers a pile of deadstock Polartec® fabrics and the challenge to design the future of haute couture. The goal was simple – push student designers to rethink how technical fabrics can function, feel, and look within contemporary fashion. The result was amazing, with students alchemizing technical textiles to inspire innovative forms of personal expression.

A Collaboration Built Around Creative Exploration

The program, which forms part of the Institute’s Fashion Design & Accessories curriculum, gives students the opportunity to work directly with the same materials used within leading performance and outdoor brands.

With access to fabric samples, technical documentation, and guidance from Polartec®, students approach the materials as creative tools capable of shaping silhouette, function, and narrative.

Three Perspectives on Innovation

During each of the three academic years, students were given a series of design briefs that encourage them to experiment with Polartec® materials and explore the behavior, versatility, and expressive potential of the performance textiles.

Year 1 - The Shirt, Reimagined

Students reinterpreted the classic shirt using Polartec® fabrics, exploring ways to transform traditional garment structures. The project challenged them to rethink familiar construction elements such as collars, cuffs, and plackets while experimenting with texture, structure, and functionality.

Year 2 - Soft Armor

This brief invited the young designers to merge elegance and protection within a conceptual tailoring project. Here, students developed sculptural silhouettes and expressive garments that blurred the boundaries between utility, fashion, and performance.

Year 3 - Retro-Future Underground

Inspired by the heritage of Polartec® innovation, including the launch of the world’s first synthetic fleece made from recycled plastic bottles, students created original collections that explored the intersection of past innovation and future fashion.

Beyond Aesthetics

For Polartec, initiatives like these reflect a broader commitment to nurturing the next generation of designers. In bringing high performance fabric technologies into the classroom, we are helping equip emerging talent with the tools - and the mindset - to push fashion forward.