These are the basic challenges in the AEQUALIS4TCLF Blueprint project that address “the skills gab in the industry and aims to find unified ideals in Europe to upskilling and reskilling the TCLF workforce for meeting and resolving these challenges.
The project involves relevant stakeholders such as industry representatives, chambers of commerce, employers’ associations, Higher Education (HE) and Vocational Education and Training (VET) providers from seven European countries: Czechia, Croatia, Lithuania, Finland, Netherlands, Slovenia, and Serbia. From Finland the partners in the project are Finnish Textile & Fashion (Suomen Tekstiili & Muoti, STJM) and Tampere University of Applied Sciences (TAMK). In this blog post we will open up the project from our perspective and dialogue based on our experiences of the fourth on site consortium meeting in Amsterdam in the beginning of June 2025. The description of the project can be read from
the site: https://aequalis4tclf.eu/.
The meeting in Amsterdam was fruitful for us in many ways – to meet people face to face is of course very important besides the monthly teams meetings with the consortium and with smaller working groups around work packages of the project. The discussions and sharings in the meeting with lively encounters in a canal cruise and dinner in the very hot summer night of Amsterdam were good ways to clarify and personalize participant’s perspectives and search for a common language for further proceedings. Very interesting experience was also the visit to Amsterdam Denim City where we got so much valorizing knowledge about history and culture of production processes and current challenges in the jeans industry during our tour in Denim City working community ( https://dehallen-amsterdam.nl/en/aanbod/denim-city/ )
Besides the project activities, thanks to our Aequalis4TCLF partner Maaike Feitsma, we had a possibility to get to know also a bit more about Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences ( https://www.amsterdamuas.com/ ). (Hogeschool van Amsterdam). First, we had a short meeting with Sara el Abbassi who coordinates the minor program “Diversity in Urban Education: Creating Inclusive Environments for Youth” in the AUAS Faculty of Education. We had a brief discussion with her about teacher education in Netherlands and their program on diversity education. One very interesting theme for us
was the concepts “urban” and “diversity” and how different interpretations of these are possible in the AUAS and in cosmopolitan Amsterdam city, than are in TAMK, Tampere, Finland. But we are learning how to encounter diversity in here, too, and discussions with
different interpretations in different contexts are important. We also got an opportunity to visit AMFI – Amsterdam Fashion Institute ( https://amfi.nl/) with Maaike Feitsma who works as a lecturer and a researcher on Fashion history in AMFI. AMFI educates around 1500 students each year in range of areas related to fashion starting from business, distribution, through marketing, textile development to design just to name a few. Maaike invited us to the AMFI NEXT -event where graduates from Fashion & Design, Fashion & Management, and Fashion & Branding presented their final projects.
Up on the entry we were warmly welcomed by AMFI representatives, who introduced us to the program and helped us to choose our sessions which we wanted to participate. The panel discussions for graduates were organized in three sessions titled Digitalisation,
Diversity and Sustainability. The discussions were to connect the industry, students and the faculty offering a unique opportunity for company delegates to learn about what students are up to and engage participants in meaningful conversations.
An exhibition of students’ works was displayed around the building where the audience could discuss with them. In the three panel sessions, elected faculty members were in the role of facilitators, and the students were the panelists. The audience on the panels were
both friends and family, but also industry members together with company representatives asking valid questions.
After the official part, we gathered in the garden of the institution for more casual conversations while enjoying a glass of wine and local food. Even not being directly connected and rather a random person in the crowd, we felt very much part of the event.
We found the format of the seminar fresh and empowering for students – the event was all about them, putting them in the spotlight. Also, we got a chance to connect with many interesting people and deepen our connections with AMFI project partners.
Aequalis” is a Latin word meaning equal, similar, or uniform (Googlen AI-yhteenveto 4.7.2025)
Written by: Katariina Hakala and Kamil Wojcik
