BFA Fashion Product X Keds

Assistant Professor: Full time, Chair External Partnership Committee

Recircle > Recycle > Reinvent

Fashion Product X Keds partnership 2023.

The BFA Fashion Product Y2 pathway partnered with Keds: the iconic American shoe company first launched over 100 years ago, during Spring semester 2023. The partnership was delivered across 3 interconnected Year 2 core courses: Design Studio 2, Creative Technical Studio 2 and Visual Communication Studio 2.

In 1910, Parsons introduced pioneering programs in fashion, interior, and graphic design, establishing a strong connection between art, design, and industry. Led by Frank Alvar Parsons, who believed that "industrial art is the cornerstone of our national art," this vision played a key role in democratizing design and making it more relevant to daily life. Today, Parsons continues to lead in design education, embedding social responsibility, sustainability, and innovation throughout its curriculum.

External partnerships are integral to Parsons’s curriculum, providing students with extraordinary opportunities for real-world learning and professional growth.

Founded in 1916, KEDS was based on the simple desire to create good products for good people, Keds has always been rooted in the belief that looking good is all about feeling good; feeling empowered, confident, and free to live and walk through the world as our truest selves with respect for our communities and the shared world in which we live. ‘We believe when we improve the lives of everyone and respect the earth, we enable everyone to feel their best, supported by a brand with shared values and beliefs’.

Keds shoes are accessible and affordable, but they don’t last forever. People tend to throw their worn out Keds away. BFA students were tasked to reimagine and mitigate this unfortunate reality. How can we “stop the dump”? Keds knows that the used shoe materials can be repurposed, both the canvas uppers and the rubbers. The shoe uppers can be deconstructed and washed; the rubber can be recycled and crumbled.

Keds worked with BFA Fashion Product students to find new uses for the recycled materials, either as art or new products. Keds has a goal of supporting the rising generation of fashion designers, both in portfolio development and in providing opportunities to gain industry experience.

Students interacted with the Keds team at different points during the semester and worked to develop innovative strategies and fashion product design solutions: reimagining new, socially engaged and sustainable possibilities, addressing positive impact on society, particularly around issues of inclusion. diversity and equity