Kate Sala

Dr. Kate Sala

Senior Lecturer

Details

Open to

  • Masters Research or PhD student supervision

About

Dr. Kate Sala is the Program Manager of the Bachelor of Fashion Sustainability and Senior Lecturer in the School of Fashion and Textiles at RMIT University, in Melbourne, Australia. Kate's research explores the intersection of digital practices and sustainable fashion education, aiming to reshape our understanding and pedagogy in this field. Over the last 15 years, Kate has worked in Paris, Antwerp, and Melbourne, where she developed an interest in sustainable fashion design, critical design pedagogy, and the potential of future fashion innovations

 

Central to her work is an examination of how emerging technologies, particularly generative AI tools, are disrupting conventional approaches to fashion design education. Kate investigates how these digital innovations challenge and redefine our understanding of skills, techniques, and creative processes within sustainable fashion practices. Her key interests are in developing experimental course designs and digital fashion practices that promote radical thinking about the future of fashion. Kate is dedicated to exploring transformative teaching and learning strategies that encourage critical engagement with the complexities of modern fashion creation.

By conducting interdisciplinary inquiries across creativity, technology, and sustainability in the fashion realm, Kate strives to cultivate new educational approaches that prepare students for the evolving landscape of fashion. Her research aims to illuminate how we can leverage digital technologies to enhance our understanding and practice of fashion in more sustainable ways, ultimately shaping the future of fashion education and industry practices.

With a PhD in transformative sustainable fashion education, Kate continues to contribute to this field through conference presentations, publications, and her ongoing work as a lecturer, furthering the dialogue on innovative and sustainable approaches in fashion education.

Media

Academic positions

  • Senior Lecturer
  • RMIT University
  • Fashion & Textiles
  • Melbourne, Australia
  • 1 Jan 2026 – Present
  • CHEAN Ethics Committee Member
  • RMIT University
  • College of Design and Social Context
  • Melbourne, Australia
  • 1 Jun 2025 – Present
  • Lecturer
  • RMIT
  • School of Fashion & Textiles
  • Melbourne, Australia
  • 2014 – Present

Non-academic positions

  • Program Manager
  • RMIT University
  • Bachelor of Fashion Sustainability
  • Melbourne, Australia
  • 1 Jan 2026 – Present

Supervisor projects

  • How is responsible or 'good' design created through a Values-led Design Practice?
  • 27 Apr 2026
  • Regenerative Phygital Fashion Design through Feminist Speculative Praxis
  • 19 Dec 2025
  • Underexposed: The digital transformation of fashion supply chain transparency
  • 15 Aug 2025
  • A Body-neutral Inclusive Practice for Dress and Clothing
  • 30 Nov 2021

Teaching interests

Dr Kate Sala is a Senior Lecturer and Program Manager in the School of Fashion and Textiles at RMIT University, where teaching is grounded in transformative learning theory and a sustained commitment to sustainability, digital innovation, and inclusive practice. With a pedagogy shaped by over a decade of industry experience and a PhD awarded with Recognition of Outstanding Work, Kate designs learning environments that challenge students to critically examine their role as fashion practitioners and to imagine regenerative futures.

Kate has designed and coordinated a suite of courses across undergraduate and Honours programs within the School of Fashion & Textiles, and currently teaches into the Bachelor of Fashion Sustainability Capstone course and the Textiles Materials Minor course, Textiles in Digital Spaces.
Teaching and research are inseparable in this practice. A sustained inquiry into digital tools, sustainability, and critical pedagogy underpins everything in the classroom, and internationally funded fieldwork across leading European fashion institutions has only deepened that inquiry, bringing new questions and new partnerships back into the work.

Research interests

Transformative pedagogy, critical fashion education, future fashion innovation, and digital fashion.

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