Finding the Right Fashion Merchandising Colleges

One profession that has not gone out of style during the economic recession in the past few years is fashion merchandising. This has led to a huge growth in the enrollment of fashion merchandising colleges. No matter how poor, people will always be wearing clothes and there will always be a demand for high quality garments.

This demand for high quality and fashionable clothing is leading to exponential growth in the enrollment in college and the number of fashion merchandising colleges themselves. Like lawyers or doctors, being a fashion merchandiser requires a lot of learned skill. Although fashion merchandising colleges are not extremely lengthy programs, they still offer specialized training that students need to find a job when they graduate.

Many students choose to attend fashion merchandising colleges because of the unusually high fashion merchandising salary that comes with it. While it may not be an immediate path to six figures, fashion merchandising is a well paid profession and career. Fashion merchandising colleges can help students get a job with great pay and benefits, which makes it no wonder that enrollment has grown so rapidly.

Fashion merchandising colleges usually teach students how to buy, promote, and sell fashion items. The nature of fashion merchandising makes the college experience somewhat mixed between liberal arts and business. While fashion merchandising colleges focus heavily on the design sense, typically a more artistic pursuit, they also dedicate time to business and marketing acumen.

Fashion Merchandising Colleges

If you are in search for the best fashion merchandising colleges, there are a number of them located in every area of the United States. Some of them are more expensive due to private school tuition, but many are located as part of public school systems. Some fashion merchandising colleges are totally separate from institutions altogether, but these schools are akin to their computer science counterparts like “DeVry” or similar professional schools.

Here are a couple of the best fashion merchandising colleges and why they are so great:

Univeristy of the Incarnate Word – the University of the Incarnate Word is located in San Antonio, Texas and is one of the preeminent fashion merchandising colleges in the United States. This stems mostly from the fact that the school boasts a great art history and fashion department with many professors with field experience. Although the school is not located in one of the main hubs for fashion design (like New York or Los Angeles), it still offers a great education that can land students at great fashion merchandising jobs after graduation.

Parsons School of Design – the Parsons School of Design is one of the best fashion merchandising colleges in the world due to the location of New York City and the focus of the school itself. Students who attend the Parsons School of Design already have a deep interest in fashion merchandising and are dedicated to paying private school tuition for a top notch education. Although the school is by no means cheap, this fashion merchandising college is more than worth the money.

Fashion Merchandising

In the fashion industry, radical change is something that happens literally with every changing season. The world of fashion is fickle and fast-paced. Fashion merchandisers must have the skills and know how to wear many hats within their industry. The most successful fashion merchandisers have the eye of a designer and the business savvy of an executive and can marry those skill sets seamlessly.

Those pursuing a career in fashion merchandising should first obtain a degree from an accredited postsecondary design school. A formal education is necessary for aspiring fashion merchandisers to develop the wide range of skills required to perform at a professional level. A good fashion merchandising expert must have style, talent, and a high degree of marketing skills to make it in the business. Right out of school fashion merchandising students typically start as a management trainee for a retail store, with the hopes of moving up into an assistant buyer position once they have some experience under their belt.

Job Opportunities in Fashion Merchandising

A variety of jobs fall under the umbrella of fashion merchandising. Everything from creating customer awareness of fashion trends to building attractive displays to feature clothing and accessories falls within an average day at work. Fashion merchandising professionals can fill positions such as merchandise managers, buyers, or wholesalers. Others may work as fashion coordinators or visual merchandisers, designing displays for apparel and accessories. With a degree in fashion merchandising one can also take on a retail management position or open boutique. Some even become fashion consultants or fashion forecasters.

Degrees in Fashion Merchandising

fashion merchandising

fashion merchandising

There are Associate’s and Bachelor’s degrees offered in fashion merchandising. The curriculum aims to impart a thorough understanding of the global fashion industry as well as a strong foundation of design and creation of a variety of fashion apparel and accessories. A working knowledge of the creative processes involved in designing clothing, accessories and footwear is required to be a fashion merchandising professional.

The curriculum doesn’t stop there; fashion merchandising students must acquire strong business, marketing and management skills, as well as study the psychology of consumer behavior as it applies to their field.

Fashion merchandising students also learn about influential fashion designers and the history of fashion, display and textiles. They attend marketing seminars and buying sessions to gain valuable experience in the field. The courses also provide students with the opportunity to interact and collaborate with seasoned professionals in the fashion industry, allowing them to benefit from their years of experience in the business, and build industry contacts that will certainly be an incredible impetus to a successful career in the industry.

Dedicated students who strive to master all of the elements involved in their future profession can expect lucrative careers once they earn their degrees and get some experience in the “real world” of fashion merchandising. Creativity and an eye for style make up a huge part of the success, or lack thereof, of fashion merchandising students. There are some elements of the job that can’t be taught, and those with a natural sense of style with discerning visual sensibilities will usually rise to the top of the class.

While no student should expect to earn a magnificent salary right out of school, the entry level positions in fashion merchandising do pay fairly well, especially when compared to other fields among the artistic industries.

Study Fashion Merchandising Online

For those who don’t have the time or resources to complete a traditional course of study, online degrees in fashion merchandising are available. A simple online search should yield a variety of results to consider.  The basic curriculum and skills that are developed in these courses mirror those obtained from traditional studies, but with an increased emphasis on self study. This option requires a lot of discipline, and may not be right for everybody.

Whether you choose an online program or a traditional one, you will want to make sure the institution you plan to attend is fully accredited so that your degree will be recognized by employers in the industry. The path to becoming a successful fashion merchandising professional is not easy, but with sound choices, hard work, and a little god given talent, a bright future in the fashion business can be yours.