Fashion Management
For many
of us, the term fashion automatically links the mind to designers, runways and artistic outfits. But the fashion industry is not just all glitz and glamour. Thousands of fashion design graduates are spawned by reputed institutes each year, yet only a few get the opportunity to move forward, translate designs on paper to the ramp and then a successful business.
The success of a fashion brand does not rest solely on the design. There is a great amount of planning and strategising that takes place behind the scenes. So fashion education has two key options for students. At one end is fashion design for those right-brained thinkers and at the other is fashion merchandising or management for those with a good business acumen. “Globalisation, increased purchasing power, growing fashion consciousness, e-commerce, they are all contributing to the rapid growth. To cater to it, there is large requirement of trained professionals in design, technology, management and communication for the fashion industry,” says Pradeep Joshi, DirectorGeneral, Directorate of Fine Arts, Amity University. The field includes the responsibility of conceptualising strategies for advertising, marketing, visual merchandising, PR and branding and executing them efficiently. “With ‘fashion’ expected to contribute nearly 50 per cent to the buoyant growth in e-tail revenues, the profile of a fashion brand manager has become even more dynamic,” says Priya Mary Mathew, Head, School of Creative Business, Pearl Academy.
Students can do an undergraduate course in fashion management. Today, dedicated fashion institutes offer courses of varying levels and durations, from one year post-graduate diplomas to full-fledged Master’s at fashion schools like the National Institute of Fashion Technology across India and JD Institute of Fashion Technology in Mumbai. Amity School of Fashion Technology even offers an MBA in Fashion Management.