Career Facts - Fashion Technology Program
Fashion is -
A product that is desired and used for a period of time by a large group of people, and then discarded and replaced by different and newer fashionable products. Fashionable apparel and textiles are unique compared to other manufactured products (cars, for example), because they are influenced by contemporary art forms like popular music, as well as major visual art movements (such as Art Nouveau, Art Deco, and Abstract Expressionism).
What types of skills are required?
Rendering apparel design or creating textile print and weave designs requires competency in artistic methods. Mathematics is found at the design level with the use of computer assisted design. Fashionable products also incorporate innovations in computer aided manufacturing techniques. And science is used to develop both high-performance synthetic fibers for textiles and new textile structures.
Careers in Fashion:
Fashion Manufacturing:
Design and Merchandising
Pattern-making
Production
Marketing
Marketing:
Copywriters
Artists
Visual Merchandising Designers
Special Events Coordinator
Retailing:
Merchandising
Management
Buyer
Store line operations
Textiles:
Fiber & Fabric Development
Textile Design and Merchandising:
Production
Marketing
Where are they employed?
Beginning a career in fashion is best obtained through an internship or apprenticeship while completing your education.
What degrees are available?
There are four options of competition for Fashion Technology. The first is a 25 credit Certificate of Completion (C. C.) in Fashion Technology, which prepares students for immediate employment in the Retail Market. New for Fall of 2006 is a 21 credit Certificate of Completion in Apparel Production which focuses on design, development, and production of textile products and related processes and systems. Alternatively, students may choose to transfer at this level to a higher institution of learning for baccalaureate degree. The third option is a 37 credit Certificate of Achievement (C. A.) in Fashion Technology, with an emphasis in Visual Merchandising and Display. The fourth option is an Associate Applied Science (A. A. S.) Degree, Fashion Technology, which has two tracks, one for students pursuing a career in Visual Merchandising and one for students interested in Fashion Technology/Production. For those interested in pursuing a bachelor's degree, after the A. A. S. degree, Lansing Community Colleges Technology Careers Programs have an Articulation Agreement with: Sienna Heights College, Northwood University, and Baker College.
What is the average salary?
Careers in the Fashion Industry vary due to more than 50% of the designers and other related fields being self-employed or working free-lance. Fashion designers salary range from $31,500 to $105,280 in the United States; with Michigan averaging $44,000.
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