Fashion merchandising student wins prestigious Fashion Fund Scholarship
Wednesday, February 4, 2026
Media Contact: Kirsi McDowell | Communications Coordinator | 405-744-8320 | kirsi@okstate.edu
Georgia Matthews, a senior in the fashion merchandising program at Oklahoma State University, was awarded a prestigious $10,000 scholarship from the Fashion Scholarship Fund for her mock collaboration between Apple and Lululemon.
“I’m so excited to attend the scholarship gala,” Matthews said. “That week will be
jam-packed, but I will get to meet so many people who I have only seen virtually.
I love being in New York, so I’m excited to go back.”
To apply for the scholarship, Matthews had to build a 21-slide case and submit it for judging. Matthews’ case focused on utilizing Apple's health and innovative technology to enhance wellness among Lululemon wearers.
While most students who applied for the scholarship had from February to October to research and prepare their cases, Matthews wasn’t able to begin working on her case until she came back for school in Fall 2025.
During her summer break in 2025, Matthews interned with Ann Taylor in New York City. While taking on an internship may have reduced her time to work on her case, Matthews said she learned valuable information and skills she credits for receiving the scholarship.
“I basically learned how to do almost everything an assistant merchandiser would do,” Matthews said. “I worked with SKU (Stock Keeping Unit) plans a lot of the summer, so that definitely helped with the six-month merchandising plan [in the case study].”
Beyond spending countless all-nighters researching and designing, Matthews received advice, critiques and mentorship from multiple members of the OSU community. Not only did Matthews meet with professors and faculty members, but she also reached out to apparel design alumna, Lindsay Choi.
Choi received a $5,000 Fashion Scholarship Fund during her senior year in 2013. Matthews was eager to learn from a former honoree and OSU alumna.
“She went through my case study and helped me quite a bit by organizing and offering advice,’ Matthews said. “I was always like ‘there’s no way I could get this [scholarship],’ but it's so helpful just to look at how other people have done it in the past and seek their opinion.”
Matthews frequently sought the advice and expertise of Dr. Aditya Jayadas, an associate professor in design and merchandising. Jayadas mentored and supported Matthews in her process of building a case.
Matthews said Jayadas was the person to suggest catering the brand collaboration to an elderly demographic. Both Matthews and Jayadas agreed a collaboration between Apple and Lululemon could greatly improve the ability to monitor health by incorporating vibrational cues to stand or walk in the clothing.
“I specifically targeted older consumers because I thought it would be good for them to have more health insights,” Matthews said. “They [older consumers] could have posture checks and other technology within the garments, and it can connect to an app on the phone that tells them everything.”
Matthews designed seven pieces of smart clothing to enhance health and wellness for older consumers.
Proposed Garments
Matthews’ Smart Leggings are described as high-rise leggings, embedded with compression and motion sensors for rehabilitation and exercise to monitor balance, gait and fall recovery.
The Empower Motion bra Matthews designed would be embedded with ECG sensors for continuous heart rate monitoring and provides irregular rhythm alerts, also tracking breathing and posture.
Similar to the bra, the Core Support Tee would provide posture correction through vibration reminders.
Matthews’ Balancestride Sneaker would track gait variability and detect imbalance, while providing real-time haptic corrections and fall prevention integration.
The Reset Hoodie would be embedded with posture alignment sensors in the back and shoulders that give vibration cues to correct posture, vibration pulses for breathing guidance and accelerometer and gyroscope to detect sudden falls. The hoodie would have an optional temperature monitoring and overheating or cold exposure feature.
The Calmflow Compression Pant would feature variable compression zones for circulation and Deep Vein Thrombosis prevention with vibrational cues to prompt seated movement.
The Recover Ease Jacket would monitor upper body mobility in the shoulders and arms while also tracking rehabilitation progress.
All features would sync with Apple Health and Fitness to view real-time personal health data.
Jayadas said Matthews met with him weekly to discuss her project. It was Matthews’ determination and hard-work that helped her be successful.
“I have always appreciated when students try to go above and beyond what’s required and then to take the self initiative and have this drive and passion,” Jayadas said. “I always talk in class about how you need to have passion, the willingness to learn and commitment.
“I think Georgia embodied all three and just took it upon herself to try to take this forward.”
Jayadas is hopeful that Matthews' success will encourage other students in the Department of Design and Merchandising to step out of their comfort zone and strive for things that may seem out of reach.
“We want to have a session where we invite her [Georgia] to talk to the students and have her actually present her case,” Jayadas said. “So, I’m hoping she is a motivation for other students.”
Matthews will be honored on March 23 at the Glasshouse in New York City. To learn more about Matthews and view her case you can visit the Fashion Scholarship Fund website.
Learn more about the fashion merchandising program in the Department of Design and merchandising, visit okla.st/DM.
Story By: Annie Ross | annie.ross@okstate.edu