Fashion Merchandising

Types of Degrees Fashion Merchandising Majors Are Getting

The following table lists how many fashion merchandising graduations there were for each degree level during the last year for which data was available.

Education Level	Number of Grads
Bachelor’s Degree	1,742
Associate Degree	1,084
Master’s Degree	35
Basic Certificate	32
Undergraduate Certificate	18

What Fashion Merchandising Majors Need to Know

People with careers related to fashion merchandising were asked what knowledge areas, skills, and abilities were important for their jobs. They weighted these areas on a scale of 1 to 5 with 5 being the highest.

Knowledge Areas for Fashion Merchandising Majors

Fashion Merchandising majors often go into careers in which the following knowledge areas are important:

• Sales and Marketing - Knowledge of principles and methods for showing, promoting, and selling products or services. This includes marketing strategy and tactics, product demonstration, sales techniques, and sales control systems.
• Customer and Personal Service - Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction.
• English Language - Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.
• Administration and Management - Knowledge of business and management principles involved in strategic planning, resource allocation, human resources modeling, leadership technique, production methods, and coordination of people and resources.
• Computers and Electronics - Knowledge of circuit boards, processors, chips, electronic equipment, and computer hardware and software, including applications and programming.

Skills for Fashion Merchandising Majors

The following list of skills has been highlighted as some of the most essential for careers related to fashion merchandising:

• Active Listening - Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.
• Speaking - Talking to others to convey information effectively.
• Persuasion - Persuading others to change their minds or behavior.
• Negotiation - Bringing others together and trying to reconcile differences.
• Critical Thinking - Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions or approaches to problems.

Abilities for Fashion Merchandising Majors

As you progress with your fashion merchandising degree, there are several abilities you should pick up that will help you in whatever related career you choose. These abilities include:

• Oral Comprehension - The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
• Oral Expression - The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
• Speech Clarity - The ability to speak clearly so others can understand you.
• Speech Recognition - The ability to identify and understand the speech of another person.
• Written Comprehension - The ability to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing.

What Can You Do With a Fashion Merchandising Major?

People with a fashion merchandising degree often go into the following careers:

Job Title	Job Growth Rate	Median Salary
Sales Representatives, Wholesale and Manufacturing, Except Technical and Scientific Products	5.2%	$58,510

Who Is Getting a Bachelor’s Degree in Fashion Merchandising?

The major attracts more women than men. About 90% of the recent graduates in this field are female.

Racial-Ethnic Diversity

At the countrywide level, the racial-ethnic distribution of fashion merchandising majors is as follows:

Race/Ethnicity	Number of Grads
Asian	105
Black or African American	177
Hispanic or Latino	269
White	971
International Students	113
Other Races/Ethnicities	107

Geographic Diversity

Americans aren’t the only ones with an interest in Fashion Merchandising. About 6.5% of those with this major are international students.

Amount of Education Required for Careers Related to Fashion Merchandising

Some degrees associated with fashion merchandising may require an advanced degree, while others may not even require a bachelor’s in the field. In general, the more advanced your degree the more career options will open up to you. However, there is significant time and money that needs to be invested into your education so weigh the pros and cons.

How much schooling do you really need to compete in today’s job market? People currently working in careers related to fashion merchandising have obtained the following education levels.

Education Level	Percentage of Workers
Less than a High School Diploma	6.2%
High School Diploma - or the equivalent (for example, GED)	22.5%
Post-Secondary Certificate - awarded for training completed after high school (for example, in agriculture or natural resources, computer services, personal or culinary services, engineering technologies, healthcare, construction trades, mechanic and repair technologies, or precision production)	4.9%
Some College Courses	3.7%
Associate’s Degree (or other 2-year degree)	5.3%
Bachelor’s Degree	61.3%
Post-Master’s Certificate - awarded for completion of an organized program of study; designed for people who have completed a Master’s degree but do not meet the requirements of academic degrees at the doctoral level.	0.5%

Online Fashion Merchandising Programs

The following table lists the number of programs by degree level, along with how many schools offered online courses in the field.

Degree Level	Colleges Offering Programs	Colleges Offering Online Classes
Certificate (Less Than 1 Year)	0	0
Certificate (1-2 years)	7	0
Certificate (2-4 Years)	0	0
Associate’s Degree	38	5
Bachelor’s Degree	2	0
Post-Baccalaureate	0	0
Master’s Degree	7	2
Post-Master’s	0	0
Doctor’s Degree (Research)	0	0
Doctor’s Degree (Professional Practice)	0	0
Doctor’s Degree (Other)	0	0

Majors Related to Fashion Merchandising

You may also be interested in one of the following majors related to fashion merchandising.

Major	Number of Grads
Business and Personal/Financial Services Marketing Operations	548
Special Products Marketing Operations	237
Other Specialized Merchandising, Sales, and Marketing Operations	224
Tourism and Travel Services Marketing Operations	185
Apparel and Accessories Marketing Operations	84
Hospitality and Recreation Marketing Operations	61
Vehicle and Vehicle Parts and Accessories Marketing Operations	36
Tourism Promotion Operations	20
Auctioneering	16

References

*The racial-ethnic minorities count is calculated by taking the total number of students and subtracting white students, international students, and students whose race/ethnicity was unknown. This number is then divided by the total number of students at the school to obtain the racial-ethnic minorities percentage.

• College Factual
• College Scorecard
• National Center for Education Statistics
• O*NET Online
• U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
• Usual Weekly Earnings of Wage and Salary Workers First Quarter 2020
• Image Credit: By Qfamily under License

More about our data sources and methodologies.