A Prototype of Successful Integration

New research publication demonstrates the successful integration of refugees through design

In 2016, a group of dedicated fashion, textile and design researchers decided to challenge the relatively closed Danish integration system. Their vision was to create a social network for refugee women through textile crafts and across cultural differences. With funds from the Innovation Fund, they established THREAD, a unique collaboration between refugees, research communities and the fashion industry in Denmark. Now they have gathered the experiences and results from the project in a well-designed publication, which also equips the reader with a specific toolbox for work on integration.

Empowerment, employment, entrepreneurship

- The THREAD project uses fashion and textile as leverage and exploits the hidden potential inherent in the refugee women's experiences and knowledge of handicrafts. The goal was – and continues to be – to give women a better personal network and financial independence in the long run. The keywords are empowerment, employment and entrepreneurship. Thus, the project draws lines to both sustainability and social inclusion, says Else Skjold, fashion scientist and one of the authors of the publication.

The work on developing the distinctive integration model was largely driven as a design process in which a prototype is continuously developed and tested.

- From the beginning there was a strong focus on building relationships with refugees as well as decision-makers in the system. Together with various project partners, we identified a number of stakeholders, both public and private, and progress was achieved by repeatedly, and collectively, researching and developing initiatives; some ended in dead ends, others in success, says Else Skjold.

The book is published by the Center for Textile Research at the University of Copenhagen and Design School Kolding and authored by Marie-Louise Nosch, Jane Malcolm-Davies, Anne Louise Bang and Else Skjold. The hope is that the book will demonstrate the value of creating meaningful social communities and inspire new political and practical perspectives on the integration efforts.

The contents of the toolbox, in brief

  • Identify and activate those who share your passion
  • Examine applicable laws and how they are implemented
  • Be flexible
  • Concentrate on the local and the community
  • Recruit and appreciate the cultural agents, gatekeepers and key individuals
  • Focus on the non-verbal communication and speak in a familiar language
  • Arrange social activities that document skills and be open to trainee opportunities
  • Show what the participants can do
  • Create a space for learning that goes both ways
  • Expect that the work will involve emotions
  • Be persistent
  • Find ways to collaborate
  • Establish meaningful success criteria
  • Focus on the long-term benefits

Behind THREAD
THREAD is financed by the Innovation Fund and implemented by the Center for Textile Research at the University of Copenhagen, University College Copenhagen, Design School Kolding, Viking Village – Zealand and with assistance from the design companies Igne Oya and Vibskov, the NGO FAKTI, the company TermPlus and Global Refugee Studies at Aalborg University.

This website uses cookies

We use cookies to integrate with our video provider and for anonymized website traffic statistics.
Cookies are small text files stored on your device, which let's a vendor know not who you are, but that your visit across different pages in the website is from the same browser on that device, and hence probably from the same visitor.

If you at some point logged in or identified yourself on our site or at one of the third party services below, your personal data may have been associated with some of these cookies.

You may opt out of all non strictly necessary cookies.

Read moreRead less

Social media cookies allows us to integrate with well known social media platforms with the purpose of a mixture of marketing, statistics and social interactions on the third party platform.
Neccesary to display YouTube videos