Merchandising
Definition
A supervised internship is required for all majors during the senior year. This fulltime, 10-week, program provides the student first-hand industry experience with some of the top fashion organizations in the country. Students have the opportunity to work with corporate headquarters as well as small entrepreneurial firms. A sample of companies where students have interned include: Pier I Imports Corporate Offices in Fort Worth; Dallas based Zale Corporate Headquarters, J.C. Penney Research and Technology Laboratory, the World Trade Center, Neiman Marcus Corporate Buying office; Nordstrom in Texas and California; Donna Karan, Louis Vuitton, Chanel, Ralph Lauren, Tommy Hilfiger, Kenneth Cole, Henri Bendel, Escada, and Fairchild Publications of New York City.
The Real World
A supervised internship is required for all majors during the senior year. This fulltime, 10-week, program provides the student first-hand industry experience with some of the top fashion organizations in the country. Students have the opportunity to work with corporate headquarters as well as small entrepreneurial firms. A sample of companies where students have interned include: Pier I Imports Corporate Offices in Fort Worth; Dallas based Zale Corporate Headquarters, J.C. Penney Research and Technology Laboratory, the World Trade Center, Neiman Marcus Corporate Buying office; Nordstrom in Texas and California; Donna Karan, Louis Vuitton, Chanel, Ralph Lauren, Tommy Hilfiger, Kenneth Cole, Henri Bendel, Escada, and Fairchild Publications of New York City.
After Graduation
The fashion industry offers careers that provide constant stimulus and change. This major is for the student planning a career in buying, product development, management, wholesale or retail sales, public relations, event planning or visual merchandising.
Graduate degrees are not required for most professional positions within the fashion industry. However, those graduates who aspire to work as a Museum Costume Curator, a College Professor, or in Textile Science and Quality Assurance will need graduate degrees. The Fashion Merchandising major can be completed on a 3/2 basis with the MBA program through the School of Business at TCU.
Job placement for graduates with a Fashion Merchandising major is excellent because of the required structured internship program. Many majors will stay with the organization for which they interned. Others will use the internship experience as a networking tool to obtain a position with a related company. Graduates work for retail organizations, wholesale organizations, fashion design firms and manufacturers. Additionally, many graduates are also employed by museums and non-profit organizations that maintain costume collections or in marketing positions.
The TCU Distinction
The Fashion program offers laboratory and studio application of industry specific procedures which provide hands-on experience for the student.
Off-campus fashion study programs to manufacturing, wholesale and retail centers located in New York City, Dallas, and Paris are additional components of the curriculum.
Required internships in New York City, Dallas, Fort Worth, California and London complement and enhance classroom learning. A Career Development class is required prior to all internships in order to give the student the necessary skills to obtain and develop a career position.
The TCU Costume Collection provides a learning resource for Fashion Merchandising majors, and illustrates how costume parallels the economic, social and technological progress of this country. The collection has more than 2,000 items catalogued for teaching and display purposes.
The location of TCU in a major metropolitan market center allows faculty and students to stay abreast of industry needs and requirements. Curriculum mirrors that which is needed for success within this dynamic and global industry.
Students who demonstrate high scholarship are eligible for membership in the Beta Zeta Chapter of Phi Upsilon Omicron, a national honor society. Opportunities are available for students to affiliate with student sections of professional organizations such as the Fashion Group International.
Curriculum
The Fashion Merchandising major will take a minimum of 3 ½ years for incoming freshman or transfer students to complete. This time frame cannot be compressed due to course prerequisites for merchandising classes. The Fashion Merchandising Major must select a minor that correlates with career objectives. Minors may include General Business, Journalism, Communication, Art, Radio-Television-Film, Foreign Language or other approved minor. University Core Requirements and electives, minor and major courses must total 124 semester hours.
1st Year
- DEMT 10243 Merchandising Principles- (Required for all other courses within the major, offered Fall and Spring)
- ECON 10223 OR ECON 10233
2nd Year (Sophomore standing within the major requires a ‘C’ or better in DEMT 10243)
- DEMT 20253 Textiles (requires a ‘C’ or better and DEMT 10243)
- DEMT 20273 Clothing Construction OR DEMT 20263 Illustration (requires a ‘C’ or better in DEMT 10243)
- DEMT 20283 Promotion (requires a ‘C’ or better in DEMT 10243)
3rd Year (Junior standing within the major requires completion of 20253, 20263 or 20283 with a ‘C’ or better to matriculate to junior courses).
- DEMT 30263 Product Development (20253, 20283, and 20263 OR 20273)
- DEMT 30073 CAD (requires ‘C’ or better in DEMT 20253)
- DEMT 30283 Principles of Textile Testing (Requires DEMT 30263)
- DEMT 30091 Career Development (Spring only, requires junior standing in the major and should be taken immediately prior to Summer Internship)
Summer between 3rd and 4th year
- DEMT 40286 Internship (offered Summer only, requires senior standing in the program and DEMT 30091, 30263, 30073 and a 2.0 cumulative GPA)
3rd & 4th Years
- DEMT 40203 Clothing in Society (ENGL 20803, junior or senior standing in the major)
- DEMT 40013 Entrepreneurship (junior standing in the major)
- DEMT 40213 History of Costume (junior or senior standing in the major)
- DEMT 40223 History of Contemporary Dress (ENGL 20803, junior or senior standing in the major)
- DEMT 40243 International Trade (senior standing in the major, ECON 10223 or 10233, completion of 30073, 30263 to matriculate to senior courses)
- DEMT 40263 Buying (junior or senior standing in the major, UCR math, ECON 10223 or 10233)
Courses of Instruction
