Fashion Design

Fashion Design is a three-year co-operative Ontario College Advanced Diploma program providing professional career-directed training in the development, production management and marketing of apparel design. Through classroom theory, lecture, lab work, field trips and work term experience, skills are applied. Networking with industry professionals promotes future employment opportunities. Emphasis is placed on design analysis, apparel manufacturing and technology, and design communications and marketing.

Students will develop skills in creative design, visual communication, business marketing and apparel production technologies. Students will also learn practical skills like fashion illustration, computer aided design, pattern-making and draping and garment construction. The third year of study culminates with a capstone project, where students concept, produce and present a final collection.

Apply skills throughout the program in a combination of lab work, field trips, and working semester experiences, as well as in a variety of research opportunities. The Fanshawe College faculty are committed to research opportunities through industry and community partnerships that move the industry forward. With these experiences, students graduate with a professional portfolio and the skills to work in a variety of jobs in the fashion and apparel industry.

Skills such as fashion illustration, computer-aided design, pattern-making and draping, and apparel construction techniques are taught, and supported by studies of textile technology, historical research, manufacturing processes and applied computerized technology in the fashion industry.

What You’ll Learn

• Reason and writing art and design.
• Pattern making.
• Fashion drawing and theory.
• Sample room production.
• Design studio.
• Fashion industry analysis.
• Computerized fashion illustration.
• Textile fibre, fabric, surface design, and advanced textile techniques.
• Pattern making.
• Communications for design.
• Co-operative education employment prep.
• Technical drawings and specifications.
• Computers for apparel manufacturing.
• Trends, styles and influences.
• The business of fashion.
• Global apparel sourcing and mass product.
• Industrial pattern grading.
• Portfolio and career development.