COURSE CURRICULUM

The Bachelor of Science in Fashion Merchandising requires a minimum of 120 credit hours, including major courses, electives, a minor, study-away experiences, and general education requirements. Major courses, which count toward the major GPA, provide students with a strong foundation in fashion business, retail operations, merchandising, and product development. Core courses include fashion fundamentals, fashion visuals and laboratory, fashion fabrics and laboratory, sustainable fashion thinking and laboratory, introduction to fashion technology and laboratory, fashion apparel analysis, fashion retail industry, fashion branding, professional seminar, product development in the fashion industry, fashion merchandise planning and buying, trends and predictive analytics, data-based decision-making in fashion retailing, fashion industry research methods, global fashion value chain, applied principles in fashion merchandising, and a professional internship. Students are also required to complete a fashion study-away experience to gain exposure to international markets.Students must complete additional major electives totaling nine credit hours. Electives can include upper-division courses in fashion design and merchandising or related interdisciplinary areas such as accounting, business, economics, finance, management, marketing, entrepreneurship, design innovation, computer information systems, art history, studio art, media and journalism, theatre, or visual communication design.Other requirements outside the major include principles of microeconomics, introductory statistics, principles of marketing, UC 10001: Flashes 101, Kent Core composition, humanities and fine arts, social sciences, basic sciences (including laboratory), and additional Kent Core courses. Students must also complete a declared minor, with general electives included as needed to reach the 120-credit-hour minimum and ensure at least 39 upper-division credit hours.This curriculum integrates business knowledge, analytical skills, and practical merchandising experience, preparing students for careers in fashion retail, brand management, product development, and other professional areas within the global fashion industry.