By Angelica Estrada/reporter
Students wanting an exciting and fun career might want to look into fashion merchandising on NE Campus.
A career for a creative person, fashion merchandising is a growing industry, both nationally and internationally. The variety of positions and opportunities in the fashion industry is virtually unlimited for enthusiastic, motivated and well-educated people,” according to the TCC Web site.
Some of the courses offered for the associate’s degree are fashion merchandising, textiles and special topics such as fashion technology, visual design and fashion image.
Sally Proffitt, chair of the business department, said students learn how to determine the needs of the customer, make appropriate choices for clothing on the principles of design that apply to the human body, as well as good communication and customer service skills.
“TCC’s fashion merchandising program is a workforce training certificate program designed to assist in merchandising and management careers,” she said.
Some students transfer to a four-year program to continue their education, while others go straight into the job market. Student Danielle Escamilla is pursuing a career in the field.
“I like fashion, and [fashion merchandising] is interesting.”
Jennifer Rico, another fashion merchandising major, is pleased with the NE program.
“The teachers have the experience on what they are teaching,” she said. “I am interested in fashion merchandising because I like making clothes and jewelry and because I want to know how to sell my items.”
Proffitt said fashion merchandising is a broad field. Jobs include buying, selling, visual merchandising, fashion consulting, modeling and promotion. One of the benefits of working in fashion merchandising is that it is “a creative field, with a changing environment based on trends,” she said.
Proffitt said this field is competitive in terms of employment, but it is also stressful because of long and demanding work hours. Fashion merchandising experts apply their knowledge of the textiles, proper care of fabrics and quality factors that help the consumer make the right choices when shopping, she said.
