Pleased 18th Anniversary, College of Trend — From Digital Pioneer to World Classroom —
On April 1, 2026, the College of Trend proudly celebrated its 18th anniversary. We’re honored to proceed serving and preserving the artwork & craft of style design by way of this important and evolving academic useful resource.
For many years, turning into a designer or launching a model meant gaining admission to a prestigious faculty, taking up vital debt, and relocating to a world style capital. The obstacles have been excessive and slim, formed by value, geography, and an {industry} tradition that favored a choose few. Then broadband, video expertise, and digital instruments converged with a technology unwilling to attend for permission. From that intersection emerged a brand new type of classroom—streaming platforms, digital critiques, and on-demand programs masking the whole lot from draping to digital advertising. Enter the College of Trend.
Our Mission
Francesca Sterlacci – CEO/Founder College of Trend 2008
Based in 2008 by style design entrepreneur, educator, and writer Francesca Sterlacci, the College of Trend (UoF) was an early innovator in on-line studying, delivering step-by-step, industry-driven instruction accessible anyplace with an web connection. A pupil in Lagos can comply with the identical patternmaking lesson as a boutique proprietor in Ohio or a excessive schooler in Palm Springs—pausing, replaying, and studying at their very own tempo.
From its inception, UoF has been devoted to preserving the artwork and craft of style design. What started with simply 100 classes has grown right into a complete library of over 525+ classes throughout 13 disciplines, serving learners from newbie to superior ranges.
Certificates of Completion Program
Instance of College of Trend’s Certificates of Completion
The introduction of Certificates of Completion in 2022 marked a turning level, elevating the platform from a library of tutorials to a supply of acknowledged achievement. In an {industry} the place, demonstrated talent typically outweighs institutional pedigree, these credentials assist redefine what it means to be “certified.”
UoF Rolls Out Expanded Tech Classes
College of Trend’s 3D and AI style design classes (Picture credit score: College of Trend)
On the similar time, style itself has undergone a digital transformation. 3D prototyping, digital fittings, AI-driven design and pattern forecasting, and e-commerce are now not elective—they’re important. Whereas conventional applications work to maintain tempo, on-line platforms like UoF can evolve in actual time, integrating digital patternmaking, digital product improvement, and sustainability into their conventional hands-on curriculum because the {industry} shifts. UoF’s ever-growing library, created and up to date by working professionals, sits on the intersection of expertise and innovation, permitting learners to maneuver seamlessly from couture hand stitching to AI in style design.
UoF’s World Attain
College of Trend serves hundreds of people, faculties, style {industry} corporations, teams, associations and public libraries. (Picture credit score: College of Trend)
Maybe essentially the most vital shift is who now has entry. Individuals from 208 international locations, worldwide, visited UoF’s web site in 2025. On-line schooling offers folks not dwelling close to a very good, bricks-and-mortar style faculty an opportunity to study style design. As well as, it removes the burden of relocation and commuting, opening alternatives for mid-career professionals, dad and mom, and college students whose lives don’t align with inflexible tutorial schedules. It additionally helps the entrepreneurial spirit that defines at present’s style panorama, combining design abilities with branding, social media technique, and retail information so learners can construct labels, facet companies, or freelance careers on their very own phrases.
UoF — Complement to Trend Schools
College of Trend serves hundreds of people, faculties, style {industry} corporations, teams, associations and public libraries. (Picture credit score: College of Trend)
On this evolving panorama, the College of Trend will not be a alternative for conventional schooling however a dynamic extension of it—a world, always-open studio the place abilities are sharpened, careers are reshaped, and the middle of style schooling expands far past a handful of cities to wherever the learner logs in. Its versatile format and various studying approaches proceed to resonate with fashionable college students, notably these searching for accessible, self-paced alternate options to traditional applications.
Business-Related Ability Growth
College of Trend’s library of classes are deliberately designed to align with {industry} calls for, by specializing in expertise utilization in style. This direct correlation between coursework and market wants gave college students enhanced employability, making their program a pretty alternative in comparison with conventional opponents.
Because the College of Trend enters its subsequent chapter, its mission stays clear: to democratize style schooling whereas honoring the self-discipline’s wealthy traditions and advancing its future. By bridging craftsmanship with expertise and entry with excellence, UoF continues to empower a world neighborhood of creators to study, innovate, and lead on their very own phrases. In doing so, it not solely displays the evolution of style schooling—it helps form it, making certain that expertise, not circumstance, defines who will get to take part within the {industry}.
