Fahion Merchandising
Fashion Merchandising Program at Fisher College
Welcome to Fisher College's Fashion Merchandising Program located in the vibrant city of Boston, which, by the way, is increasingly becoming one of the major fashion centers in the Northeast. If you are planning a career in the dynamic field of fashion, you should definitely consider joining us in this very successful program. After just two years, you can earn an Associate in Science Degree in Fashion Merchandising. If you continue on for two more years a Bachelors Degree in Management with a Concentration in Fashion Merchandising can be awarded to you.
When you become a member of our Fashion Merchandising Program, one of our primary objectives is to introduce you to the many career opportunities that are part of this exciting world of fashion. To accomplish this, we often step outside of the classroom and take you on field trips that include meetings with executives in top firms in the Garment District of New York City, consultations with entrepreneurs located right here in our great city of Boston, and visits to apparel businesses that operate in the outlying suburbs. We also bring business experts directly to you by way of a myriad of guest speakers who share the paths they took to reach their career goals.
Each of you will be guided throughout your education by our dedicated fashion faculty and your own personal advisor who will listen to your future plans and help to place you in those courses that allow you to strengthen the skills that will most enhance your development. If you choose to enroll in our Fashion Merchandising Internship, your interests will be included in the selection of your work site. Our solid reputation throughout the fashion community in Boston and its suburbs gives us the opportunity to place our students in these internships and provide the work experience that often leads to an offer of advancement within the company.
| First Year | Credit hours | |
|---|---|---|
| BU101 | Introduction to Business | 3 |
| CM105 | Public Speaking | 3 |
| EN101 | English I | 3 |
| EN102 | English II | 3 |
| FM102 | Fashion Merchandising | 3 |
| FM105 | History of Costume | 3 |
|
Visual Merchandising (OR) Fundamentals of Apparel Design |
3 | |
| MA106 | Elementary Algebra* | 3 |
| Fine Arts Elective** | 3 | |
| Social Sciences Elective | 3 | |
| Total Credits | 30 | |
| Second Year | Credit hours | |
| CS101 | Computer Concepts and Applications | 3 |
| EC101 | Macroeconomics | 3 |
| FM200 | Fashion Merchandising Internship (OR) Free Elective |
3 |
| FM209 | Retail Buying | 3 |
| FM220 | Retail Management | 3 |
| FM225 | Textile Science | 3 |
| MG202 | Human Resource Management | 3 |
| Math/Science Elective | 3/4 | |
| Free Electives*** | 6 | |
| Total Credits | 30/31 | |
| *A higher level of math (MA107, MA109, MA110, or MA121) may be substituted. | ||
| **At least one of the following courses must be taken: FA101, FA102, FA103, FA111, or FA112. Minimum credits required for graduation--60. |
||
Graduate Competencies
Skills
Upon successful completion of this program, the students will be able to:
- Explain how the fashion business works from concept to consumer.
- Describe how the following levels of the industry interrelate: creating and developing new products, marketing newly created products, and buying merchandise.
- Describe all the processes involved in the production of textile materials, and apparel.
- Describe the operations of retail stores that sell fashion merchandise to the public.
- Define the primary careers related to the fashion industry.
- Qualify for entry-level fashion merchandising and retail management positions that have potential for advancement.
- Matriculate to a four-year baccalaureate program in fashion merchandising or enter the Fisher College Management Fashion Merchandising Concentration Bachelor Degree if they are inclined to do so.
Credentials
- Associate of Science Degree after two years
- Bachelor of Science in Management Degree with a Concentration in Fashion Merchandising after four years
Technologies
- Computer skills: Microsoft Word; Excel; PowerPoint
Potential Careers and Earnings
Industries
- Retailing, Management, Merchandising and Buying in clothing, accessories, cosmetics, home furnishings
- Fashion Advertising and Promotion
Occupations
- Store Managers
- Event Planners (fashion shows)
- Stylists
- Personal Shoppers
- Visual Merchandisers
- Buyers
Earnings *
- Boston Area Buyers: $38 to 59k
- Retail Managers (General Managers and others):$42 to 72K
Jobs Reported by Alumni
- Business Owner - Papers of Newport
- Event Planner - Chanel
- Assistant Buyer - TJX
- Visual Merchandisers - Gap, Sears, Macey's
- Merchandise Coordinator - Levi Strauss
- Personal Shopper - Bloomingdale's
- Store Managers - Armani X, Thomas Pink, Nine West, Gucci
- Account Executive representing Creed Perfume for Saks, Bloomingdale's, and Neiman Marcus
- Sales Associates - Emporio Armani, Neiman Marcus, DKNY
- Sales Trainee - AXRIS
Fashion Merchandising Faculty
Professor Teresa Howe, Program Director of the Fashion Institute
There really isn't any aspect of fashion that doesn't capture my interest. In fact, I consider fashion to be the most exciting form of creative expression. Maybe that's why when planning my future I chose to major in fashion design at Mass College of Art where I earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree. At the time of my graduation, I was offered a position as an instructor in a fashion program. That gave me the opportunity to combine fashion with another of my favorite interests, teaching. And so the journey began. After several years of teaching, I enrolled in a graduate program at Rhode Island School of Design (RISD). Here I was permitted to select courses that strengthened my skills as a fashion educator. It was a wonderful way to earn my graduate degree, and it gave me the chance to experience the spirited environment of RISD.
Throughout much of my career I have balanced teaching with business endeavors, one of which was developing a line of private label cosmetics. This was a valuable experience that commanded many skills from product development to marketing and all of the demands of operating a small business. Another one of my professional interests is serving on the Board of Directors of the Fashion Group International of Boston. Through this organization I am in contact with many influential fashion specialists in the Boston area. Networking within this group has been a valuable resource in establishing numerous successful fashion internships for my students.
For more than a decade, I have had the privilege of being the Director of the Fashion Institute at Fisher College. Fortunately, this position allows me to continue to teach in the classroom where I have met many wonderful young people with whom I can share my love of fashion. I enthusiastically look forward to meeting many more on their journey into the world of fashion.
Professor Karen A. Myers teaches the following courses in the Fashion Merchandising Program: Retail Buying, Retail Management, Topics in Fashion: International Retail Management, Fashion Advertising and Sales Promotion, and the Fashion Internship Course.
"Fashion is very important. It is life-enhancing and, like everything that gives pleasure, it is worth doing well."
-Vivienne Westwood
While sharing Professor, and Program Director, Teresa Howe's interest in every aspect of "the creative expression" of fashion, I have a varied approach. The business aspects of fashion intrigue me. With undergraduate and graduate degrees in business and years of teaching experience, it is my delight and pleasure to share the "business" that is fashion with Fisher College Fashion Merchandising majors.
The contemporary retail environment is exciting and complex. Along with nurturing the students' creative side, our future retailers, buyers and merchandise managers require knowledge of economics, manufacturing, marketing, management, accounting, business law, operations, technology, e-commerce, human resources and the global interdependence of business. Making sure that our students have a solid understanding of, and appreciation for, the business environment of fashion is my task and my goal.
While acquiring business knowledge and acumen in the classroom, Fisher students can also choose to intern in the fashion capital that Boston has become. In my role as the fashion internship supervisor, I work with students and their on-site supervisors at fantastic retail organizations such as Armani, Betsey Johnson, Bloomingdales, Chanel, Escada, Gucci, and Talbots. Additionally, entrepreneurial talent from the Boston area guest lecture in my classes and allow us to visit while they share first-hand experience with the Fisher fashion majors.
Along with my students, it is a joy to continue to learn and grow in understanding of the mode and tempo of retailers in the twenty-first century.
Industry Web sites
Industry Publications
- Women's Wear Daily
- DNR, Daily News Record (Men's Wear)
- Sportswear International, Sport & Street
- Apparel Industry Magazine
- Apparel Manufacturer
- California Apparel News