Master’s in Fashion Management

Fashion companies are constantly looking for people capable to match creativity and management: a new generation of managers, suited to the specific requirements of Fashion. Domus Academy, thanks to its long lasting experience in Fashion education, has taken this challenge and has developed a unique approach to work out and strengthen the peculiar managerial competences necessary to work within the Fashion world.

The Master in Fashion Management aims at shaping and developing the competences of managers capable to understand and play the rules of Fashion. The program follows a cross-field and multicultural approach, matching management and fashion styling, linking knowledge of the product to sensitivity to fashion.

The Master represents a gateway to enter the Fashion world. It aims at creating different profiles among the several areas of Fashion, as product and brand management, distribution and communication.

The Master in Fashion Management will provide participants with a strong, robust basis of fundamental managerial tools and with the necessary conceptual framework to understand and follow modern fashion languages and trends. Participants will also have the possibility to gain direct experience developing projects on specific topics chosen among the hottest issues in Fashion, and they will have the chance to work together with the most outstanding professionals and the most prestigious fashion brands. A series of meetings with companies’ executives and visits to fashion companies will be a key element of the program.

The program consists of three phases.

• The first phase of the course aims at providing the fundamental competences and tools to approach the world of Fashion companies and organizations, through basic lectures exploring relevant Fashion and Management topics, together with case studies of Italian and International brands.
• The second phase foresees of a series of workshops during which Domus Academy will make available its extensive network of relationships with companies to allow participants to get involved in a real project. The workshops will address the main areas of the Fashion world- product management, brands, buyer, retail, communication and events. During the workshops, participants will have the chance to test their own capabilities in tackling strategic, marketing, production and organizational issues.  The workshops are characterized by a series of lectures, providing state-of-art knowledge relevant to the issues dealt during the workshops,  and by the direct involvement of professionals and companies.
• The third and last phase is dedicated to the development of the final Master Thesis. Students will work individually on a specific theme assigned by the Director of the Master with the supervision of a project leader.  Projects may address one of the several topics relevant to the International Fashion system, and might consider a combination of techniques and forms, as desk research, industry and demand trends analysis, economic and market feasibility, preparation of business and development plans.

Sample Lectures:
Economics
Business Administration
Accounting
Competitive Strategy
Introduction to Fashion System
Fashion Marketing
Fashion Webmarketing
Modern and Contemporary Fashion
Company Organization
Management of Talents I
Fashion Media
Introduction to Fashion Licensing

Workshops: Students will be involved in 5 workshops throughout the program: product management, brand management, fashion buying, retail management, fashion communication and events, plus a focus (lectures and case studies) dedicated to fashion supply chain.  During the workshops, students will have the opportunity to develop a project under the supervision of professionals.

1st workshop: Product Management
Fashion System
Fashion trends
Fashion Design Process
Product Management
Management of Talents II

2nd workshop: Fashion Brands
Strategic marketing
Fashion Marketing
Brand building
Brand Management
Fashion Licensing
Intellectual Property

Focus: Fashion Supply Chain
Supplies and Outsourcing
Management of Inventories
Logistics and Transportation
Budgeting
Cost Analysis
Intellectual Property
International Contracts

3rd workshop: Fashion Retail
Trends of consumption
Distribution
Merchandising
Customer Relationship Management
Retail networks
Store Management

4th workshop: Fashion Buyer
Product scouting
Negotiation
Budget Planning
Buying and Visual Merchandising
Trends Selection and Presentation
Fashion Styling

5th workshop: Fashion Communication and Events
Communication
Fashion Media  Strategies
Organization of Events
Visual Strategies for Fashion Companies
Advertising Campaigns

Master Thesis: The third and last phase is dedicated to the final Master Thesis:  students, following their interest and orientations, will work individually on a specific theme in collaboration with companies and  under the supervision of a project leader, preparing themselves  for a successful entry in the fashion job market.

Since the beginning, when Gianfranco Ferré was the Director of the Fashion Design Master program, one of DA’s strengths has been its cooperation with the most noted Fashion companies in Italy and abroad. Because participants will perform tasks in different areas of the Fashion environment, students will be prepared to occupy positions as Product Managers, Merchandising Managers, Brand Managers, Store Managers, Retail Managers, and Fashion Buyers.

Microsoft Office Suite
Optional: Adobe Creative Suite

Accenture
Albino
Bonaveri Manichini
Camera Italiana Buyer Moda
Diego Dolcini
Camera Italiana Buyer Moda
FBR
Future Concept Lab
Italian Chamber of Buyers
Maliparni
Mexeco Consulting
Penelope Stores
Sergio Tacchini International
Sonae Sierra
Studio Pilla

The objective of the Master in Fashion Management is to train professionals capable to blend their creative sensibility with managerial skills. Students attending the course will have the possibility to occupy positions as Product Manager, Merchandising Manager, Brand Manager, Store Manager, Retail Manager, Communication Manager, Fashion Buyer.

In a global, increasingly dynamic, fierce, and competitive market, Fashion Companies are constantly looking for prepared and competent managers, sensitive to the issues of fashion and to the new needs for ethics and sustainability in the sector. New managers and young entrepreneurs able to capture and transform the innovative ideas of designers into successful products. With the Master Program in Fashion Management, Domus Academy has taken up this challenge and developed, in close collaboration with leading professionals and with the most prestigious Italian and international fashion realities, a groundbreaking educational program aimed at preparing the next generation of fashion experts with both outstanding managerial expertise and sensitivity.

The Competition: Candidates are invited to choose between a business-sustainability (meaning economic
feasibility) or an eco-sustainability project.

• BUSINESS-SUSTAINABILITY PROJECT: candidates must develop a project aimed at demonstrating the economic sustainability of an existing fashion brand, or of an individual company by adding value to the product, communication, and brand strategy, or retail/e-tail strategies.
• ECO-SUSTAINABILITY PROJECT: candidates must develop a project aimed at demonstrating the environmental/ethical sustainability of a fashion brand, focusing on the Brand and Product analysis and investigating the production line in its overall complexity. Candidates are free to choose the brand to be analyzed. Research and innovative project able to demonstrate economic and environmental sustainability will be especially rewarded.

Materials Required:

• Project description: 10-slides Power-Point presentation (including pictures);
• Curriculum vitae of the participant: maximum 1 A4 page;
• Statement of purpose: maximum 5 lines on an A4 page.

The candidates are asked to send their materials in one sole file in .PDF format. Any further attached material will be considered a plus and will be evaluated by the jury.

Prizes:

• One scholarship covering 70% of the total tuition fee of the Master Program.
• One scholarship covering 50% of the total tuition fee of the Master Program.
• One scholarship covering 30% of the total tuition fee of the Master Program.

Deadline: Students are asked to submit their competition to: micaela@saiprograms.com no later than May 4, 2012. Candidates will be informed about the results of the competition by e-mail on May 18th, 2012.