Help Reinvent School Uniforms on a Mediterranean Island

Dates: August 24 - November 28, 2026 (14 weeks)

Location: Jelsa, Croatia

About The Field School of Hvar

The Field School of Hvar is an independent enrichment program located in Jelsa, on the island of Hvar, Croatia. We bring together children ages 3 through 15 from around the world for a year-round academic program grounded in experiential learning, close reading, and deep engagement with literature, history, and the natural world. Small groups, meaningful work, and genuine community are at the heart of everything we do. Our curriculum is organized based on a chronological story of Western human development. In the fall of 2026, we will be centered in pre-history and Ancient Greece.

From Where to Wear

The Field School's Zero Kilometer Schoolwear Fellowship invites a practitioner to spend time with us, mentoring faculty and inspiring our children to design something that has never existed before: a “school uniform” or community wardrobe designed by the children who will wear it, drawing on local materials and folkways.

The Fellowship

Role: Field Fellows join our community as a contributing expert, mentoring our faculty on a dimension of place-based apparel that draws on your knowledge and practice.

Reciprocity: Up to two full scholarships for children or close relatives.

Storytelling: If share your work online, we ask for one long-form piece (a podcast episode, Substack essay, or video) within 90 days of your residency, provided that it feels like a natural fit.

Time: September 7-November 28, 2026. Expect a commitment of about one active day per week of problem-solving and planning with our teachers, as well as direct instruction or dialogue with our learners. In addition, this fellow will probably want to spend time exploring the island as research and inspiration.

THE PROJECT

How does where you’re from show up in what you wear? What happens when you express yourself through what you make rather than what you buy?

As the philosopher Walter Benjamin points out, fashion is where capitalism comes closest to the body. In our Zero-Kilometer Schoolwear project, our school community is not so much focused on designing a new school uniform from scratch, but rather examining what clothes mean to us and their lifecycle as objects, so that we can reclaim fashion as a platform for authentic cultural expression and environmental stewardship. For example, the Fellow might share techniques for mending, natural dyeing, or embroidery that allow children and families to personalize and extend the lifespan of commercially made apparel.

WHO WE’RE LOOKING FOR

The right fellow is a practitioner — someone with depth in one or more of the crafts that make zero kilometer clothing possible: natural dyeing, visible mending, upcycling, sustainable sourcing, or the history of dress and material culture. You might be an arts educator, a textile artist, a slow fashion educator, or a designer who has built a practice around making clothing mean something again. We're particularly drawn to people who know how to make a child feel proud of what they've made — and excited about what they're wearing.