FASHION MERCHANDISING
BACHELOR OF SCIENCE

Find your perfect fit.

The business of fashion is complex, fast-paced and profitable. Don’t mistake this for a garment construction program — our comprehensive, business-oriented curriculum provides students with an in-depth look into the fashion industry. This includes courses in fashion history, product line development, buying and planning, distribution, visual merchandising, textiles, styling, and brand marketing. It’s our mission to prepare students for professional fashion careers or graduate education by providing teaching excellence that advances creativity, global awareness and current business practices.

Fast Facts

Our majors can spend their first three years in Erie and their final year in New York City to graduate with two degrees — a bachelor’s degree from Mercyhurst and an associate degree from the Fashion Institute of Technology
Fashion majors love to travel. Our students enjoy annual trips to fashion capitals of the world, visiting cities like New York City, Paris, London and Milan
Students can now choose to study in Paris, France, during their senior year! Students in this 3+1 program earn two bachelor’s degrees — a B.S. in fashion merchandising (Mercyhurst) and a bachelor’s in fashion and luxury retail management (American Business School of Paris)

Minors

Fashion Merchandising

The Fashion Studies minor is offered to non-majors. A GPA requirement of 2.5 remains the standard. No courses may be taken as pass/fail. Fashion Studies minors are required to complete a total of six courses (17-18 credits).

The following two foundation courses are required:

FASH 110: Introduction to the Fashion Industry
FASH 120: Personal Styling Analysis

Students then choose four more courses from those listed below:

FASH 100: Fashion Public Speaking
FASH 230: Fashion Branding
FASH 240: Global Fashion Trends
FASH 260: Fashion Journalism
FSAT 300: Fashion Merchandising International Travel
FASH 310: Menswear
FASH 330: Textiles for Apparel
FASH 360: Merchandise Planning and Control
FASH 365: Fashion Buying with Excel
FASH 400: Professional Development
FASH 410: Fashion Evolution
FASH 430: Visual Merchandising
FASH 450: Product Line Development with Illustrator

In The Classroom

Do you just feel better — more confident, and more like yourself — when you’re wearing certain colors? It turns out there may be a reason for this phenomenon! Every individual has a personal color palette based on their skin tone, eye color, and hair color, among other elements. Your color palette will show you what clothing colors look most flattering on you. Fashion Merchandising students investigated this theory in Instructor Katie Summers’ Menswear class. Using swatches to determine the personal color palettes of their classmates and volunteers, students then applied the results of their hands-on personal color analysis to uncover what shades best compliment the individual’s wardrobe. This palette provides valuable insight for personal styling, as well as overall look!

Learning Outcomes

Demonstrate data gathering, synthesis, problem solving, and decision-making
Demonstrate written and oral presentation skills appropriate to the field of fashion Identify the manner in which historic, cultural, and cyclical environmental factors impact the fashion industry
Distinguish the intrinsic and extrinsic characteristics of all segments within the textile complex, following the progression from fibers to end products
Demonstrate basic planning, production, promotion, and distribution techniques for the men's, women's and children's wear markets
Demonstrate knowledge of mathematical concepts and financial statements related to merchandise buying and planning Identify the variety of career opportunities within the fashion industry, the inter-relationships between them, and the methods to gain entry therein