Fashion Merchandising Courses

Does the glitz and glamour of the fashion world interest you? Are you fascinated by the designer items displayed on the ramp, or which are kept for sale in various shopping outlets? Have you ever thought how so many items reach the market and who is behind the market value of a particular brand? You can get the answers for all your questions and can even learn more about the world of fashion and its trends by opting for a career as fashion merchandiser. Fashion merchandising is a combination of various activities behind the mass availability of fashionable items in the market, after leaving the hands of a designer. To understand the role of a fashion merchandiser properly, go through the various fashion merchandising courses mentioned here.

Courses In Fashion Merchandising

Course Details

Eligibility
Fashion is a field full of challenges. A student opting for fashion as a subject needs to have the creativity, expertise, knowledge and skills that the industry calls for. Students interested in the field of fashion merchandising or marketing need to have successfully completed higher secondary education in any field of study. Students with undergraduate degrees in merchandising or in marketing, commerce or economics can all apply for a masters or graduate degree in fashion merchandising. 

Details Of The Course Curriculum

Bachelor of Fashion Merchandising
A bachelors program in fashion merchandising provides the required competency needed to set up a career in the field of fashion marketing. The course curriculum of the program includes:

• Mass Merchandising and Marketing
• Fashion and Retail Buying
• Surface Design
• Advanced Textiles and Product Development
• Retail Management
• International Fashions and Furnishings
• Home Furnishings
• Textile Design and Marketing

Bachelor Of Science Degree
The course details of the Bachelor of Science degree in fashion merchandising includes:

• Fashion Marketing
• Retail Marketing and promotion
• Fashion Buying
• Visual merchandising
• Retail Management
• Textile Design & Fashion Production
• Accounting
• Marketing Principles
• Mass Merchandising/Marketing
• Fashion & Retail Buying
• Surface Design
• Advanced Textiles/Product Development
• Retail Management II
• International Fashions and Furnishings
• Home Furnishings
• Eighteen credits of minor courses in Textiles, Design or Marketing 

Fashion Merchandising Major Courses
A masters program in fashion merchandising provides advanced skills in the field of fashion marketing and takes the students to a higher level of understanding of the industry. Some of the subjects of focus are:

• Financial Accounting
• Managerial Accounting
• Microeconomics
• College Composition I
• College Composition II
• Public Speaking
• Basic Design and Colour Theory
• Fashion Merchandising
• Textiles
• Fashion Merchandising Cooperative Education
• Introduction to Information Technology
• Merchandising Mathematics
• Applied Finite Mathematics
• Introduction to Marketing
• Principles of Retailing
• Retail Sales Promotion
• Human Relations in Administration
• Introduction to Psychology 

Specialization 

Visual Merchandising
The specialization course in visual merchandising deals with an array of innovative ideas that can be used to make the presentation of items and services more creative. The course curriculum focuses on the following areas of study:

• Retail Store Layout
• Store Decoration
• Aligning and presentation of fixtures and display
• Idea about Display of Colours
• Window Displays.
• Intricacies of super market merchandising.
• Details of furniture and equipment presentation.
• Innovative use of communication tools which attract the attention of customers.
• Insight into the various attention grabbing ploys applied in retail design and visual merchandising.
• Chisels the imagination to design interactive installations.
• Use of music to blend harmoniously with installations to enhance the interaction with customers.
• Explore new avenues in electronic retail experience.
• Installation of dynamic fixtures in a retail store.
• Improvisation on the interplay of light and shadow in the provided space.
• Using graphic displays of myriad hues and shades to lend a chic, customer friendly aura in the ambiance of a retail space.

Fashion Merchandising Studio
The course in fashion merchandising studio prepares an individual to deal with the challenges the fashion industry is facing in the current global competitive scenario. The areas of study include:

• Fashion industry sourcing, the supply chain, and fashion buying cycle
• Types of relationships and management of a portfolio of suppliers
• The buying process, vendor selection and fashion buying decision criteria, fashion retail buying
• Retail brand marketing in the fashion industry
• Internationalization of fashion retailing
• Store environment of fashion retailers
• The desired and perceived identity of fashion retailer
• Net fashion
• Internationalization of flagship luxury stores 

Fashion Brand Management
The specialisation course in brand management consists of 3 interdependent modules. They are:

• The sectoral module is designed to provide a detailed knowledge on fashion and luxury systems to the students. The module creates awareness as to the number of segments that can feed on different market factors. The course also equips the students with business, marketing and communication management skills.
• The technical module of the specialization course imparts knowledge about the different processes involved in branding. Starting from the semiotic definition, to logo and image building and the legal protection of the trademark, the module covers all the required details.
• The innovative module equips the students with all the new techniques required for creating value for their products through new innovations.

Fashion Marketing Communication
The fashion communication course focuses on the following areas of fashion industry:

• Contemporary Fashion
• Marketing: the strategic choices and the development of the marketing mix Business Image
• Advertising Strategies
• Publicity (from the strategy to the communication project)
• Business and Institutional Communication
• Communication in the Sector of Fashion
• Public Relations
• Press Office Management
• P.O.P. Materials
• Fashion-Web and Multimedia
• Commercial Art
• Computer Science

Skills Required
In a challenging career that of a fashion merchandiser; the person needs to always be on his toes. The person needs to be attentive, sharp and quick to grasp changes and all the new developments in the industry and the market. Fashion merchandisers and market executives need to be analytical in their approach. They should have the capability to think far ahead of the changing economy. A fashion merchandiser should also have the skill and creativity to forecast the fashion trends produced by their company. This calls in for a good knowledge of previous trends, current and future trends, and an awareness of how the marketing strategies used will affect the fashion trends. Good communication skills are also something that a qualified fashion merchandiser should posses. It is the work of the professional to negotiate prices with the manufacturers and sell the new trends to the public.

Career Prospect
The field of fashion marketing is a growing field which can provide young graduates with lucrative career opportunities. A degree in this course can place young aspirants to the post of a fashion buyer, retail store manager, fashion director, human resource director, showroom sales representative, product development, textile merchandiser etc. There are plenty of openings for young aspirants in shopping malls, five star hotels, boutiques, exhibitions, theatres, window designing of shops etc.

• Academy of Art University
• Ball State University
• Footwear Design & Development Institute, Nioda
• J D Institute of Fashion Technology, New Delhi
• National Institute Of Fashion Technology
• National Institute of Fashion Design (NIFD), Chandigarh
• ALT Training College, Bangalore
• Society of Fashion and Technology (SOFT), Mumbai
• Polimoda International Institute of Fashion Design and Marketing, Italy
• London College of Fashion
• University of Bridgeport
• Nuova Accademia di Belle Arti Milano (NABA)
• Academy of Art University, California
• International Academy of Design and Technology – Chicago
• Collins College, Arizona
• Brooks College, California
• Digital Media Arts College, Florida
• Baylor University
• Drexel University, Philadelphia
• Woodbury University
• Central Washington University
• LIM College
• Southern New Hampshire University