By Emily Kurek

Love shopping? Love fashion? If you answered yes, then maybe a career in Fashion Merchandising is what you are looking for. Stevenson University has excellent faculty and students who will make your college experience a blast. Stevenson offers degrees in Fashion Merchandising and Fashion Design for those of us with creative imaginations.

Professor Holly Lentz-Schiller is head of the Fashion Merchandising Department. One of the classes she teaches is FMER 223 (Business of Fashion). This course highlights concepts such as starting a business, various jobs in the fashion industry, fashion trends and the process of fashion retail and marketing.

This class also focuses on the important behind the scenes of the fashion industry. You will learn about consumer demands and the strategies which influence fashion merchandising and marketing. Domestic and international markets are also reviewed, and the relationship between buyers and vendors.

Trend research is an influential aspect in the production process, and marketing campaigns in the fashion industry. FMER 223 will teach you how to research upcoming trends, and how to present your findings. The Stevenson library is a great source on how to locate websites which are credible for your trend research.

A fun group project in this class is when you research a seasonal trend and create a business concept based around a certain target market. You then create a mood board to illustrate your business. The project goes in depth focusing on color, styles, demographics, design, and other business terms. Students learn the steps of creating line sheets for a business and how to choose design flats which illustrate the structure of their clothing trends. Lastly, you will present your final projects at a pretend mock trade show.

I am currently taking Business of Fashion, and I have found it very insightful. It has given me the knowledge to pursue my passion for fashion. I plan to earn my Bachelor’s Degree in Fashion Merchandising and own my own boutique. I encourage you to view Stevenson’s class catalog and discover the classes which will give you the opportunities to succeed in the fashion industry – https://now.stevenson.edu/schools/business/Pages/Fashion-Merchandising.aspx