Fashion Marketing

Where fashion and business meet, exists Fashion Marketing, a field which requires an eye for style and a head for business. Professionals who work in fashion marketing and merchandising examine fashion trends, ensure retailers stock successful product lines, coordinate sales, and promote goods. Successful Fashion Marketing professionals excel at providing an intuitive, superior level of customer service and customer experience. They have a flair for working with people and thrive in an environment that benefits from their engaging communication skills. While fashion marketers may not design clothing, as marketing and merchandising professionals, they are responsible for helping designers by ensuring that their lines sell. Successful professionals in the field usually have a blend of business skills and textiles knowledge, as well as the ability to identify consumer behavior and desires.

Fashion marketing is the process of managing the flow of merchandise from the initial selection of designs to be produced to the presentation of products to retail customers, with the goal of maximizing a company's sales and profitability. Successful fashion marketing depends on understanding consumer desire and responding with appropriate messages, materials and execution of marketing plans.

Who Studies Fashion Marketing?

Accepting up to 30 new students each year, applicants to the program are eager to learn about and work in various areas of the fashion industry. They have some experience and knowledge about fashion and wish to build on that passion to develop their marketing and management skills for success in leadership positions. If you have always enjoyed exploring fashion companies and thought about working with people and clothing in the business sector then you will thrive in this program.

Students who excel in this program have a flair for fashion, an eye for style and an innate ability to connect with people.

Department's website: kpu.ca/design/fashion-marketing

Our graduates develop skills necessary for employment in the creative business services sector. Career opportunities are extensive and include:

  • Buying
  • Merchandising
  • Branding
  • Forecasting
  • Styling and Consulting
  • Visual Merchandising
  • Communications
  • Special Events Coordination
  • Retail Sales
  • Management

Graduates can work for apparel companies, retailers, distributors and marketers.

Some graduates choose to work freelance or run their own organizations and ideally find a broad variety of options to pursue a meaningful career or further education.

Registration in some course sections is restricted to students in particular programs. See Timetables - kpu.ca/registration/timetables - for current section information.

Visit the BC Transfer Guide - bctransferguide.ca - for information about course transfer in B.C.

FMRK 1105  3 credits  
Digital Software for Fashion Marketing  
Students will examine the capabilities of industry-standard productivity software such as Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, and Excel to develop solutions for fashion marketing related business activities. They will create and edit fashion marketing-related artwork and digital media using design software such as Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop and InDesign.
Level: UG
Co-requisite(s): FMRK 1116
Attribute: DESN
FMRK 1116  3 credits  
Apparel Industry  
Students will acquire an historical awareness of the apparel industry and the current workings of the industry in local, national and global contexts. They will identify the sectors of the industry from raw materials through to design, production and marketing to the consumer. Through market research, students will attend events, analyze local markets, and network with industry professionals.
Level: UG
Co-requisite(s): FMRK 1105
Attribute: DESN
FMRK 1151  1.5 credits  
Fashion Retail Work Experience  
Students will work 40 hours in the retail sector of the fashion apparel industry (paid or volunteer) in order to further their fashion marketing knowledge and skills. Through this exploratory retail work experience, students will identify various target markets, retail formats, and fashion categories. They will develop interpersonal skills and construct apparel-related knowledge in the fashion marketing industry.
Level: UG
Attribute: DESN
FMRK 1205  3 credits  
Visual Communication for Fashion Marketing  
Students will develop their fashion communication skills in a visual context. They will explore the fundamental elements and principles of design, and apply them to current visual fashion marketing strategies. Students will experiment with visual concepts using fashion figures, terminology, and fashion products such as apparel and accessories. They will create a variety of fashion marketing images to increase their visual literacy in relation to prevailing industry formats.
Level: UG
Prerequisite(s): FMRK 1105, FMRK 1151 and MRKT 1199
Attribute: DESN
FMRK 1215  3 credits  
Textile Science  
Students will develop their knowledge of how fabrics are created and incorporated into apparel products for effective fashion marketing communication purposes. They will examine how factors such as industry issues, sourcing practices, labeling laws, fabric finishes, and care instructions affect apparel design, production, and marketing decisions.
Level: UG
Prerequisite(s): FMRK 1116 and MRKT 1199
Cross-listing: FASN 1215
Attribute: DESN
FMRK 1250  3 credits  
Fashion and Consumers  
Students will develop business strategies for local fashion retail and wholesale markets based on the supply and demand for fashion products and services. Through market research, students will gain further understanding of marketing plans and fashion start-ups. Students will investigate job opportunities and entrepreneurial ventures in sales and marketing in the local fashion industry.
Level: UG
Prerequisite(s): FMRK 1105, FMRK 1116, FMRK 1151, and MRKT 1199
Attribute: DESN
FMRK 2105  3 credits  
Visual Fashion Merchandising & Promotion  
Students will explore visual concepts of fashion marketing and promotion in 2-dimensional and 3-dimensional formats. They will interpret the elements and principles of design as they relate to visual merchandising and fashion promotion. Students will identify current local and global trends in apparel, display, advertising, and promotion as it pertains to the fashion industry.
Level: UG
Prerequisite(s): FMRK 1205 and FMRK 1250
Attribute: DESN
FMRK 2115  3 credits  
Fashion Forecasting  
Students will examine contemporary fashion trends to determine how sociocultural, economic, political, technological, and environmental movements influence the evolution of apparel and textiles. Through analysis of consumer trends and market segmentation, students will assess applicable influences from areas such as design, art, music, architecture and lifestyle and their impact on fashion.
Level: UG
Prerequisite(s): FMRK 1205 and FMRK 1250
Attribute: DESN
FMRK 2120  3 credits  
Fashion Writing  
Students will examine techniques for effective writing in the context of fashion marketing and promotion. Students will practice various fashion writing techniques in areas such as digital media, advertising, public relations copy, editorial print, and web content. Students will apply research, critical thinking, and writing skills using case studies and industry profiles.
Level: UG
Prerequisite(s): FMRK 1205, FMRK 1215, and FMRK 1250
Attribute: DESN
FMRK 2205  3 credits  
Fashion Buying  
Students will examine the financial aspects of merchandising and buying of consumer apparel products including pricing strategies, sales planning, purchasing retail inventories, and reporting. Students will also analyze consumer trends, practice merchandise management skills, and assess productivity.
Level: UG
Prerequisite(s): FMRK 2105 and 2115
Attribute: DESN
FMRK 2215  3 credits  
Fashion Events and Promotions  
Students will learn to organize and manage a fashion marketing event including: event project management, research and design of on-site coordination, logistics, budgeting, promotion, fundraising, and evaluating the event's success. They will determine venue, theme, activities and will stage the event in the semester. Students will learn about publicity and will prepare media releases, public service announcements, and event communications plans.
Level: UG
Prerequisite(s): FMRK 2120
Attribute: DESN
FMRK 2240  1.5 credits  
Fashion Marketing Work Experience  
Students will conduct a 40-hour work placement in an apparel marketing organization. They will apply their knowledge of fashion marketing practices, develop contacts in the industry, and identify career opportunities as professionals in the field.
Level: UG
Prerequisite(s): FMRK 1151 and FMRK 1250
Attribute: DESN
FMRK 2260  3 credits  
Entrepreneurial eCommerce for Fashion Marketing  
Students will identify key concepts of eCommerce for sales and marketing as part of the global apparel industry. Through exploration of eCommerce platforms, students will evaluate solutions for a variety of business models. They will investigate components such as performance metrics, electronic payment system, internet and privacy laws, and security issues in order to examine eCommerce applications for fashion entrepreneurs.
Level: UG
Prerequisite(s): FMRK 2115 and MRKT 2111
Attribute: DESN

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