Minor in Fashion Industry and Merchandising
About the Minor
The Fashion Industry and Merchandising Minor provides students with essential creative, analytical, and business foundations for the global fashion and lifestyle industries. The curriculum examines buying, merchandise planning, and analytics across wholesale, retail, and e-commerce, equipping students with an understanding of how products move from concept to consumer. Through applied coursework, students develop competencies in brand and merchandising strategy, including marketplace and consumer research, competitive analysis, retail mathematics, assortment planning, product development, and merchandising analytics to support data-driven decision-making.
The minor offers flexibility through elective coursework that allows students to tailor the program to their interests, with special topics such as fashion branding and cultural intersections, fashion communication and media production, and fashion product development. Open to all Drexel University students outside the FIM major, the minor requires a minimum of 12.0 credits, including one required course and three electives. Due to course sequencing and elective availability, students should plan to begin the minor by the start of their junior year and allow a minimum of two academic years for completion. An approved plan of study with the minor advisor is required, and students may not pursue both a major and a minor within the same field of study.
Admission Requirements
Students are required to declare a major before declaring a minor. Students admitted directly into a specific major at the time of matriculation may declare a minor beginning in their second semester. All requirements for the minor must be completed either concurrently with or prior to the completion of the primary major requirements. This ensures that students fulfill the expectations of their primary field of study while completing any additional areas of academic specialization.
Minor Requirements
| Required Courses | ||
| FIM 2040 | Retail Buying and Operations | 3.0 |
| Select three of the following: | 9.0 | |
| Introduction to the Fashion Industry | ||
| Textile Product Analysis for Merchandising | ||
| Digital Fashion Communication | ||
| Presentation Techniques for Industry | ||
| Merchandising Management and Analytics | ||
| Fashion Product Development | ||
| Beauty Merchandising and Marketing | ||
| Immersive Media and Merchandising | ||
| Global Style and Cultural Aesthetics | ||
| Fashion Branding Strategies | ||
| Visual Merchandising and E-Commerce | ||
| Fashion Media Production | ||
| Fashion Cultural Intersections | ||
| Total Credits | 12.0 | |
Additional Information
For more information about this program, please contact the minor advisor, Chris Baeza, Assistant Teaching Professor, Department of Design, cdb93@drexel.edu
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