This program is where design meets business.
Every season, fashion designers show their latest creations, some of which eventually make it from runways to store racks all over the world. It’s the job of the merchandise manager to choose the best of these designs, mixing and matching colors, sizes, and silhouettes to provide the customers what they want at a price they’re willing to pay. It’s a challenging and rewarding career, especially when combined with the creative skills and conceptual knowledge of a fashion designer. This program is where design meets business.
Bay State College offers a unique educational combination with its program, the Bachelor of Science in Fashion Merchandising with a concentration in Fashion Design. This program effectively prepares students to approach the fashion industry as both a creative enterprise and a business. Through an interdisciplinary approach, students are able to focus on areas of fashion merchandising, including product development, visual merchandising, global marketing, and retail strategies, in combination with creative and conceptual hands-on design work. The Fashion Design program includes a semester-long internship, which helps to further strengthen the students’ expertise as they gain valuable industry experience and develop a professional network as well as the business savvy needed to turn great designs into successful clothing and accessory lines.
Along with the business foundation skills, you will learn the fundamentals of professional draping, patternmaking, and sewing techniques. You’ll master the latest computer-aided design (CAD) programs, Illustrator and Gerber, and learn how to take a design from concept to finished garment. This singular program guides you to become not only a designer with your own creative vision, but also a business professional prepared to take your place in this challenging industry.
With intensive professional guidance and one-on-one advising, Bay State College will assist you in kick-starting your creative career toward lucrative employment with an array of career-building resources, such as portfolio development, resume-building, and internship opportunities.
Highlights
- Located within Boston’s Back Bay neighborhood just steps away from Newbury Street—also known as Boston’s Fashion Avenue—Bay State College has been a part of the fashion industry since 1946.
- Faculty members are seasoned professionals with current experience, opening doors to the industry and employment opportunities.
- Top local designers serve as “critics,” helping students create garments to present in a major exhibition at the world-famous Copley Place Mall.
- Boston Fashion Week, Providence Fashion Week, Caribbean Fashion Week, Eileen Fisher, and the North Shore Mall are among many sponsors of student competitions that provide invaluable opportunity and experience.
- An internship at a leading fashion house gives you experience and valuable connections. Internship sites have included Appleseeds, L.L. Bean, Timberland, Boston Ballet, Mark Miller, and The Stylist Closet, among many others.
In this program you will:
- Connect with industry leaders at guest lectures and industry events, build a network of valuable contacts and learn from New England’s most successful designers and fashion executives.
- Find inspiration at the Museum of Fine Arts, where you’ll study its world-class collection of couture, designer, and historical garments close up.
- Have the opportunity to practice what you are learning in the classroom by participating in off-campus activities in sustainable fashions, styling, visual merchandising, and fashion show production.
Hiring Companies of Our Fashion Design Graduates
- Brooks Brothers
- TJX Corporation
- Coldwater Creek
- Walmart Corporate
- Wayfair
- Rue La La
- BlueStem Brands
- LL Bean
- Reebok
- Converse
- Clark’s Shoes
- Bloomingdale’s
- Macy’s
- Saks Fifth Avenue
