The rapid advancement of artificial intelligence and digital technologies is prompting significant shifts in fashion design education, aligning with global transformations under the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR). This paper examines how generative AI platforms such as ChatGPT, Midjourney and DALL·E are influencing early fashion design ideation and concept formation, especially at the sketch and exploration stages (Särmäkari & Vänskä 2021; Zhou et al. 2023). These tools are reshaping creative workflows by supporting faster visual exploration, expanding conceptual possibilities, and encouraging sustainable practices. However, many fashion education programmes remain grounded in traditional, studio-based approaches that limit students’ exposure to contemporary digital competencies. This creates a widening disparity between current educational training and the technological fluency demanded by the fashion industry. Addressing this challenge, the study explores the potential of integrating emerging technologies, work-integrated learning, and cross-disciplinary collaboration into fashion curricula. It considers how virtual reality and immersive digital platforms can create adaptive learning environments that mirror the complexities of professional design practice. A qualitative exploratory research design with a multi-method data collection strategy was used to investigate these dynamics. The study combines a review of recent scholarship and sector examples with empirical work that includes sketch-based activities, semi-structured interviews and one focus-group discussion (Creswell & Plano Clark 2018). Participants included fashion design students, educators, and professional designers, offering a diverse range of perspectives. Thematic analysis was applied to explore how generative AI tools impacted ideation processes, collaboration between designers and AI systems, and ethical considerations related to AI use. Findings indicate that these tools can widen creative exploration and speed up idea development, while also raising concerns about dependence on systems, uneven access to infrastructure and gaps in ethical awareness (Dwivedi et al. 2023; Shin 2021). Participants viewed AI as a co-creative partner, facilitating but not replacing human creativity and critical decision-making. The study advocates for curriculum reform that embeds prompt engineering, digital fluency, and collaborative design processes as core competencies. It also highlights the need for inclusive policies and infrastructure to bridge technological divides, particularly in under-resourced contexts. Positioned within South African and Global South scholarship, this paper contributes to the discourse on future-ready fashion education. It proposes strategies for aligning pedagogy with industry shifts, ensuring that fashion graduates are prepared to navigate the digital landscapes of contemporary design practice.