Core Courses

All students in the Fashion Design and Merchandising major take core classes common to both specializations.  Classes include the following topics: careers, textile science and economics, fashion market analysis, visual merchandising, principles and elements of design, fashion illustration, and fashion motivation.

Students majoring in Fashion Design and Merchandising may specialize in the following:

Fashion Design Specialization

The fashion design student combines talent, creativity, and technical skills to produce a design or line.  The student will advance through a sequence of technical classes in addition to the core classes.  You will observe and analyze clothing styles, develop new ideas, and interpret them through fashion illustration, clothing construction, pattern making, and draping.

Professionally related courses include three-dimensional design and fiber arts.  Specialized classes include construction, fashion history, pattern making, draping, mass production, computer-aided apparel design and portfolio development course work.  Electives may include advanced fashion illustration and fashion design classes, art and design studies, photography, and theater.

This specialization leads to employment as chief designers, sample makers, and other manufacturing positions in grading, pattern making, cutting, assembly, inspection, plant supervision, and free-lance apparel design.

Fashion Merchandising Specialization

If you choose to specialize in Fashion Merchandising you will study fashion merchandising, apparel accessories, fashion buying, and fashion mathematics.  Professionally related courses include marketing and management. An important requirement of this specialization is work experience in the fashion industry.

The specialization requires basic business courses in addition to the Fashion Design and Merchandising core and specialized classes.  Electives may include additional marketing and management, journalism, or other business related classes.  Specialized classes include accessories, fashion merchandising, fashion buying, field (work) experience, current issues and trends, personnel, and fashion business systems. 

Graduates are prepared for positions in fashion retailing organizations as buyers, managers, visual merchandisers, fashion consultants, sales representatives, and related areas.  In addition to clothing and textiles courses, retailing students have experience in marketing management, promotion, business computing, and personnel management and supervision.

---