Stella McCartney and Lenovo team up on sustainable fashion design course

Lenovo has teamed up with fashion designer Stella McCartney and art and design college Central Saint Martins University of the Arts London, on an initiative to promote sustainable fashion design.

The idea for the collaboration came from Neverland and the agency was also behind the negotiation of it and the creative campaign to promote it.

McCartney will work with 38 students from the Central Saint Martins MA Design course with the aim to channel their desire to change the world for the better in an eight-week live brief. 

During the course, they will each be tasked to explore the relationship between fashion and technology and create a sustainable solution that pushes the boundaries of where they intersect.

“When you put the combined ambition of these brands into the hands of our future creative thinkers, with the right technology, amazing things will happen,” said Neverland co-founder Jon Forsyth.

Following the challenge, McCartney will pick one student who will be awarded a three-month internship at Stella McCartney in a department of their choice.

As part of the collaboration, Lenovo is providing Yoga PCs to each student who takes part.

Stella McCartney commented: “As a progressive luxury brand, Stella McCartney has always looked to the future, and I know that Lenovo is as keen about protecting the planet as I am. Together we are excited to be able to support the next generation of talent in developing something entirely new in sustainable fashion, and I cannot wait to see the results!”

Simon Fraser, course director MA Design, Central Saint Martins, said: “Key to the work we do as a course is an understanding that the sustainability and ethicality of production is an urgent challenge to each of our disciplines, ceramics, furniture and jewellery. 

“We are delighted to have the opportunity to test the principles and practices of MA Design with our inspirational alumna Stella McCartney and the forward-thinking team at Lenovo. The students and the staff have embraced this challenge.”

Brian Leonard, Vice President of Design Innovation, Lenovo commented, “Through this partnership we are setting the stage for the future generation of those looking to change the world and we’re very excited to see what is created.”

Lenovo has recently outlined its vision to become net-zero by 2050. It has also said that by 2026, 100% of Lenovo PCs will contain post-consumer recycled materials and 90% of plastic packaging will be made from recycled materials.