Advancing Sustainable Futures in Clothing and Textile Education: Integrating UN SDGs into Curriculum and Practice

The growing urgency of climate change, social inequality and unsustainable production has positioned the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as an important framework for rethinking engineering education. This study explores how embedding the SDGs within engineering and technology curricula can enhance student learning, sustainable design thinking, ethical awareness and interdisciplinary collaboration. Using a case-based approach at a South African university of technology, students participated in curriculum-integrated projects addressing waste management, sustainable supply chains and circular fashion. Qualitative feedback, assessment rubrics and reflective journals were analysed to examine the influence of SDG-aligned learning on student engagement and critical thinking. Findings indicate that integrating sustainability challenges into coursework increased student motivation and strengthened their ability to contextualise technical problems within broader social, environmental and economic systems. Students demonstrated enhanced collaboration, ethical reasoning, systems thinking and problem-solving skills. The approach also encouraged lecturers to move beyond traditional content delivery towards more collaborative, problem-based and co-created learning experiences. The study demonstrates that meaningful SDG integration within engineering curricula is both feasible and educationally valuable. Institutional support, curriculum flexibility and cross-disciplinary partnerships are identified as important enablers for developing graduates capable of contributing to responsible, inclusive and sustainable innovation.