Overview

Haute Couture or a return to the leg-warmer days of 1985? (1985 all the way) Will people actually spend $100 for a pair of designer socks? (Of course) What’s up with those new GAP ads? (Who cares?) If you decide to major in Fashion Merchandising, you'll spend much of your time answering questions like these.


Yours is the world of fashion: the beautiful models, the runways, the photographers, and, oh yeah, the clothes. Fashion is a billion-dollar industry that requires not only a little business savvy, but also a well-trained eye that knows how to help spot the hottest trends before they show up on Sex in the City. Everything from the production, to the marketing, design, and delivery of the clothes and products hitting the street in Milan and New York are going to be covered by Fashion Merchandising. Your courses will be both technical and creative, and you can bet that new Hermes bag of yours that you’re going to have some great internship opportunities learning the biz first hand. All of this instruction and professional experience will make you an impresario of fads, a barker of brands. So, fine, you may not make the next cover of Glamour, but with this major under your belt, you’ll be able to predict what will.

SAMPLE CURRICULUM

  • Catalog Development & Usage

  • Fashion Design for the Apparel Industry

  • Fashion Sales Promotion

  • Introduction to Retailing I

  • Introduction to Visual Merchandising

  • Merchandise Buying

  • Merchandise Mathematics

  • Retail Internship Seminar

  • The Business of Fashion


HIGH SCHOOl PREPARATION

A strong background in the liberal arts, focusing on the humanities, is good preparation for a major in Fashion Merchandising. Some art or design classes could prove helpful. (Although the Fashion Merchandising major deals with the business side of the industry, the ability to see how designs can be altered for a particular client or market can be invaluable in the heat of the moment).