Fashion merchandising is an integral part of the fashion industry. This field may be ideal for you if you want to use your knowledge of fashion design, customers’ needs, and retailers’ needs to make sure that clothing is displayed in an attractive manner. You’ll need an education in business, fashion, marketing, and merchandising.
Since this field requires a strong knowledge in several different disciplines, a thorough education is incredibly important. At FashionSchoolsUSA.com, we make it easy for you to find a school that can help you meet your goals. We have information on all 137 fashion merchandising programs in the United States, including their tuition, financial aid opportunities, acceptance rates, and classroom sizes. We include links to every school on our list, so you can easily contact schools near you to learn more.
Degree Types
The degree you earn determines which career paths are open to you. There are 137 undergraduate programs in the United States where you can earn an Associate’s degree or Bachelor’s degree. For both of these degrees, you need to complete general education courses in addition to merchandising courses.
There are also many graduate opportunities in the United States—58 schools in the United States have Master’s and PhD programs in fashion merchandising. When you contact schools you are interested in attending, you can learn more about what opportunities are available to you.
Curriculum
Fashion merchandising requires a thorough education in many different fields: fashion design, display design, stocking needs for retailers, and marketing. Because of this, your fashion merchandising curriculum includes courses in many different disciplines. You can plan on taking courses in the following areas:
- Clothing Construction
- Fashion Promotion
- Pattern Design
- Consumer Education
- Principles of Economics
- Visual Merchandising
- Retailing
Career Opportunities
With a degree in fashion merchandising, there are many different career paths you can pursue. This is a very flexible degree that can help you start a career in many different settings. One of the benefits of starting a career in fashion merchandising is that many potential career paths only require an Associate’s degree or Bachelor’s degree—this allows you to start your career as soon as you graduate. Many graduates of this program have job titles like retail buyer, retail supervisor, sales representative, and merchandise displayer. You can work in many different environments with this degree. Some of the most common fashion merchandising employers include:
- retail stores
- retail headquarters
- marketing companies
- fashion design companies
Average salaries vary depending on what your job title is and where you work. For the job titles listed above, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reports median salaries of $26,410 per year for merchandise displayers to $73,710 per year for wholesale sales representatives.
Despite the variety of job titles for merchandising graduates, many of the job duties are the same between careers. You may be responsible for some or all of the following job duties:
- displaying merchandise in an attractive manner
- deciding which clothing your store needs
- placing clothing orders
- promoting clothing to customers
If you’re ready to start your degree, look at our fashion merchandising school listings to find schools in your state. We are here to help you find the right school for you.