Fashion merchandizing is an exciting career option in the world of fashion. In an apparel company, fashion merchandisers monitor and examine market trends, cost of production, and sales accounts to ascertain the product direction while negotiating with manufacturers. They hold key position in the company and have great bottom-line and personnel management responsibilities.
In a retail company, fashion merchandiser tracks consumer behavior and the latest fashion trends to ascertain store inventory and pricing of clothes. Fashion merchandisers in retail segment are also known as store designers or visual merchandisers who conceptualize and design window and in-store displays. Fashion merchandisers apply their creativity and imagination while marketing and advertising for their company.
You need to pursue four-year undergraduate or two-year postgraduate courses in fashion or apparel merchandizing. These courses will make you learn about the basic understanding of fabric, fibers, and weaves as well as sewing, finishing, cutting along with knowledge of international marketing and trade. While students who have passed their 10+2 exam are eligible for undergraduate courses, only graduates can pursue the postgraduate courses being offered by the fashion institutes.
The most popular collages options, you should consider:
International Trade Center, Delhi.
School of Fashion Design and Apparel Production Tanning College, Bhubaneswar.
School of Fashion Technology, Pune.
Society of Fashion and Technology (SOFT), Mumbai.
Mohanlal Sukhadia University, Udaipur.
National Institute of Fashion & Textile Technology, New Delhi
Institute of Fine Arts (IFA), Modinagar.
International Institute Of Retail Management (IIRM), Delhi
Avi School of Fashion and Shoe Technology Chandigarh are some of the top fashion institutes in India.
You need to possess an excellent visual and spatial perception, outstanding ability for marketing and advertising, working flexibility, proficiency in computer graphic applications, and sense of style and color to be a successful fashion merchandiser.
Career prospects in the field of fashion merchandizing is encouraging with job opportunities existing in varying work environments, such as any domestic or foreign fashion or lifestyle company, apparel production companies, large retailers / chain stores, export fabrication companies, and export houses.