A Fashion Merchandising Degree Means Career Flexibility

A fashion merchandising degree will leave you anything but pigeonholed. Fashion buying, retail management, and accessory design are just a few of the career directions fashion merchandising graduates can go.

by Joe Cooper
joe.cooper@art-schools-search.com
Art Schools Search Columnist

A degree in fashion merchandising is about preparing for a career full of variety. Fashion buying, retail management, and accessory design are just a few of the career areas graduates can enter into. Fashion school is also a great way to build a portfolio that will get you noticed by employers.

A fashion merchandising degree can be put to a variety of uses in today’s fashion marketplace. Previously, fashion degrees were reserved for designers looking to create new designs for fashion houses big and small. Although this is still one option for fashion school graduates, it’s certainly not the only one.

The Retail Craze

Major retailers like Wal-Mart, Target, and other stores are taking advantage of educated fashion designers and merchandisers. Creating budget-friendly fashion is a main goal of these chains, and fashion professionals can make a name for themselves by designing for the general public and not just for the wealthy elite.

A fashion merchandising degree can be used in any retail setting to prepare for designing window displays in metropolitan centers, creating fashion catalogues and websites, and working with designers to create accessories and line extensions. Versatility is one of the great things about a fashion merchandising degree.

Why a Degree?

Fashion may be partly about instinct, but it’s also about practical realities, like a knowledge of garments and textiles as well as experience with fashion shows and portfolios.

The U.S. Bureau of Labor statistics describes the importance of having a portfolio. It “often is the deciding factor in getting a job,” states their 2004 report. Building a portfolio is a student’s primary goal in fashion school.

Successful students will leave fashion school with a degree, a portfolio, and a network of classmates (future colleagues) and instructors.

Sources

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics

About the Author

Joe Cooper is a freelance education and design writer and edits medical literature. He holds a bachelor’s in American Literature from UCLA.

Posted on April 5, 2007 at 11:50 AM

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