Presents Award-winning Fashion Business Degree to Sri Lanka

Fashion Industry is a multi faceted industry with great business opportunities and currently the industry is booming with an international following from local designers to fashion brands driving the Fashion and Apparel engagement to the forefront. With fashion being a unique industry that has its own manufacturing structures, market movements, supplier networks, consumer trends, business practices and seasonal sensitivities, it requires a specialised knowledge and a highly focused expertise to manage or lead a fashion business.

Specialized areas like Fashion Journalism to Fashion branding are in demand carving out a new scope for Fashion businesses in Sri Lanka. The Fashion and Apparel Industry is also driving initiatives to position itself as an innovation hub and the fashion business leaders are constantly looking out for specialised talent. Even in the case of someone who wants to start their own fashion business, the competition out there now is fierce- so you just have to know what you’re doing and where exactly your business proposition fits in such a vast industry; all this needs specialised education on the business of fashion.

Considering this, AOD- Sri Lanka’s leading educator that links creative innovation with industry, has launched a fashion business programme in partnership with the prestigious British university Northumbria which pioneered the first Fashion Marketing Program in the UK.

PROGRAM CONTENT

The program gives insight into everything essential for the business of fashion, from the art of anticipating and calculating consumer trends, market movements to specialised knowledge on design and material tech etc. It taps into everything from creative and strategic thinking to public relations, influencer marketing, experiential marketing, digital marketing, content marketing and demographic specific strategies, in addition to studies in identifying market trends and industry developments. The degree includes giving an overall understanding on the fashion business and has a prominent focus on marketing and design lead innovation. This is because, in a luxury consumables industry like fashion, the most decisive selling points are product innovation and quality and the ability to sell a lifestyle while tapping into the aspirations and dreams of consumers. If you understand this core need of the fashion product and gain the creative thinking that is so essential to keep innovating in an everchanging business like fashion, you know everythign you need to steer a fashion business towards success.

THE PROGRAM IS IDEAL FOR ?

It’s ideal for those who love fashion in a more business, managerial and marketing driven perspective. Also, I think there is a unique opportunity for students and even young professionals who are in general management, business strategy and marketing, to fine-tune their skills, focus their thinking and specialise their knowledge to carve out a sure pathway to succeed in the fashion business. It is also the best qualification and training for those who want to lead their own fashion business as CEOs and entrepreneurs.

AOD FASHION FACULTY

AMY QUICKFALL, Programme Leader / Lecturer - Fashion Design & Marketing BA (Hons) Fashion Design & Marketing, Northumbria University UK - Quickfall has previously worked with fashion retail icons like River Island and Burberry, and is currently leading AOD’s latest fashion programme with Northumbria ‘Fashion Design and Marketing’. The program is also facilitated by a senior lecture panel from Northumbria University UK n KAREN MACLEOD, P r i n c i p a l , Head of Fa s h i o n De p a r t m e n t BA (Hons) Fashion – Northumbria University UK n S TUART MACL EOD, S e n i o r Lecturer in Fashion & Textile Design BA (Hons) Fashion – Northumbria University UK n JOANNE STOKER, Programme Leader/ Lecturer Fashion & Textile Design MA Fashion Footwear Design, London College of Fashion, London UKBA (Hons) Fashion, Northumbria University, UK

CAREER OPPORTUNITIES WITH FASHION DESIGN AND MARKETING

The programme prepares students to work in many of the leading roles in the industry from management, retailing, merchandising, to more modern roles like fashion social media and blogging, styling, content curation, etc. For those going down a more business focused path we prepare them to become top-tier mangers or CEOs for established fashion and apparel businesses while those who want to venture down the entrepreneurial path can do so with own labels and brands. To do all this, we train them with live industry projects while still at campus and furthermore, present worldclass opportunities to launch their businesses and brands after they graduate.

Mercedes- Benz Fashion Week Sri Lanka, and www. fashionmarket.lk are both powerful platforms for recognition and reaching consumers worldwide. It’s a fool-proof pathway to succeed in the business of fashion no matter what your pathway is. The fashion education at AOD steps away from the common take on fashion that involves drawing dresses and coming up with new styles off a catalogue. It is a course that pushes reality of the fashion industry in a much deeper sense and prepares fashion graduates to join this powerful industry by making their mark in the fashion world with own entrepreneurial ventures or by joining Sri Lanka’s multi-billion dollar apparel industry.

The newly launched Northumbria UK Fashion Marketing & Design degree at AOD is setup to engage students in all aspects of fashion marketing studies, from forecasting, market research, fashion graphics, illustration, styling to promotional techniques and fashion media. This program gives an overview into Fashion business and how to drive with creativity. For those big dreamers with big ideas and entrepreneurial dreams, the course also grooms students on concept generation and understanding brand messages to design for market needs.

To find out more about how AOD educates, promotes and facilitates Fashion Business initiatives and to follow 100% internal Fashion Design and Marketing program from Northumbria University UK, reach AOD. The 2017 enrollments for AOD’s Northumbria University UK degree in fashion marketing and design are open this September. For more details and inquiries, reach AOD on 011 5867772/ 07757277772 or visit AOD at 29, Lauries Road, Colombo 04 on weekdays