PREMIUM Project 2026-2027: FASHIONCLASH

Develop a sustainable partnership strategy and explore new revenue models that help FASHIONCLASH build lasting business partnerships, diversify its income, and protect its artistic independence.
  • FASHIONCLASH

    The Project:

    How can an independent non-profit fashion platform thrive without depending on subsidies alone?

    FASHIONCLASH relies heavily on public funding and project grants, a vulnerable position for a small cultural organisation in an underfunded design sector. We want to reduce this dependency by building lasting partnerships with the commercial domain, but we lack a clear strategy, staff, and time to work this out. 

    Who are the right partners? What can a fashion platform offer a hotel, a retailer or a textile company? And how do we create value together without losing our artistic independence? What are the potential business fields we are not exploring and reaching now? 

    We ask PREMIUM students to research, design, and test a partnership strategy and new revenue models for FASHIONCLASH. You will explore how comparable organizations do it, co-create propositions with us, and develop a pitch and a pilot idea that we may actually try out at the 19th edition of the festival in November 2027.
     

  • The Client:

    FASHIONCLASH, the unique fashion platform in Limburg and the Euregio, is an international development and presentation platform for fashion culture, founded in Maastricht in 2009 by a collective of designers. Through crossovers between fashion, theatre, film, and other art forms, FC supports the practice and talent development of new-generation makers and raises awareness of fashion's role in the world. Guided by three principles (connect, question, make visible), FC runs a year-round ecosystem of research, talent development, participation, education, and presentation, culminating in the annual FASHIONCLASH Festival. Co-creation and participation, especially of young people, form a fourth pillar; all fashion enthusiasts can take part in workshops and community projects alongside professional makers. Since 2009, FC has given a stage to over 2,500 designers and artists and realised more than 350 projects worldwide.

    We want to work closely with the students throughout the project, treating them as partners in the process. Rather than just receiving recommendations, we aim for co-creation: exploring ideas, testing approaches, and developing strategies together.
  • design oriented

    In this project, the focus is on “creating something new”


     
    Co-Creator Client

    This client might join the team for brainstorm sessions, meetings, and preparatory sessions. The co-creator is more actively involved in/during the project execution.