Business Professional Programs

The Fashion Merchandising Certificate program exposes students to fashion design and textiles, as well as to creative sales, retailing, and merchandising techniques. Many of the courses include field trips, speakers from industry, projects that engage students in their learning and assignments that require individual initiative in management–related projects.

The certificate program encompasses classes also required for the Associate in Business, so students can earn the certificate, obtain a job in the field, and then continue their studies to enhance skills and improve eligibility for promotion.

The Fashion Merchandising Certificate is designed to prepare students for entry-level positions in careers such as:

• Window Dresser
• Merchandise Displayer
• Sales Person
• Management Trainee
• Marketing Assistant

Pierce College offers the Fashion Merchandising Certificate at the Ft. Steilacoom campus.

- View the program/curriculum sheet -

Fashion Merchandising Outcomes

Students who receive the Certificate in Fashion Merchandising will be prepared to:

• Utilize the vocabulary of fashion appropriately.
• Recognize the impact of various brand and designer names on consumer buying behavior.
• Discuss the fashion cycle, trends, and forecasting and analyze the effect these have on the fashion industry.
• Analyze business strategies used in the fashion industry. Business strategies include branding, licensing, product development, distribution control, outsourcing, consolidation, public trading, and private investment.
• Analyze various cultural, political, economic, technical, sociological and psychological factors that influence fashion and consumers.
• Explain the interrelationship between various segments of the fashion industry: fiber and textile production, apparel design/manufacturing, distribution, marketing, and retail
• Analyze major issues facing the apparel industry today including global production, trade deficits, sweatshop labor, technology applications, price/value perceptions, and market/consumer trends.
• Analyze current and future dimensions of fashion retailing including traditional retail, non-store retail, and international expansion.
• Identify fashion information resources and advisory services and utilize these in researching components of the fashion industry.
• Demonstrate personal responsibility and accountability by attending class, actively participating, and meeting time commitments.