Illinois State University

The fashion merchandising, design, and apparel planning course offered by the Illinois State University is one of the few fashion courses in the country based around competitive entry. Each year, the university only takes a specified number of students to participate in the program. This decreases class sizes and increases learning personalisation.

Throughout the course, a consistent focus is on preparing the student for the realities of employment in the outside world. Because of this, modules that were otherwise not seen or included in courses from other institutions have been included through the Illinois State University. These additional modules include:

• Forecasting
• Product and fashion development.
• Fashion promotion.
• Fashion distribution.
• Wholesaling.
• Retail sector specifics.
• Global status of textile and apparel industries.

With these modules in check, participants will emerge from the degree with a better understanding of the state of the fashion industry throughout the world. Unlike other courses which solely focus on fashion design, students will gain a broad understanding of all aspects related to fashion and the sale of fashion.

Specific Courses and Majoring

Once the core courses included above have been studied and completed, students are able to move on to specialise in specific courses - based on their future career intentions.

Whilst the Illinois State University has plenty of majoring modules to choose from, we've chosen a few important and relevant ones to list below:

• CAD fashion design.
• Professional fashion practices.
• Advanced merchandising.
• Business organization (fashion related).

As you can see, a vast array of different subjects is available for study in years two and three of the course.

Career Progression through Illinois State University

Arguably, Illinois State University has some of the strongest connections to local businesses and fashion organisations in the State. Students who have participated in courses through the University have special opportunities to apply for new positions in these organisations, before they are advertised to the public.

In the past, many students have gained high ranking positions with organisations such as Perry Ellis, Arnsale, Nordstrom and Original Penguin.

Hence, if you're willing to work hard, and prepared to put in the hard yards to earn your place in the world of fashion - the Illinois State University can prepare you for what lies ahead. They can also support you to the very end by assisting in finding viable and successful employment opportunities.