A one-year certificate will introduce you to the fashion marketing industry and enable you to decide if you want to pursue further studies. Training will include classes on the apparel and fashion industry and business courses, such as accounting, business law and economics. This will introduce you to the basics of fashion design and merchandising. Community colleges, art schools and four-year universities offer certificates in fashion marketing. This certificate qualifies you for entry-level jobs in the fashion retail business.
An Associate of Applied Science (AAS) degree in fashion marketing is offered in technical schools, art schools and community colleges as well as in the business schools of large universities. Requiring two years of coursework, the degree includes more advanced design and marketing subjects, such as color theory, textiles, fashion history, merchandising and e-commerce. Parsons School of Fashion in New York City offers an associate degree in either fashion design or fashion marketing. Two-year degree programs open the doors to industry jobs in areas, such as buying, public relations or manufacturing.
Technical schools, such as Parson's School of Fashion, Art Institutes and large universities offer four-year bachelor's degrees in fashion marketing. The Art Institute of Portland, Oregon offers a four-year degree in fashion marketing while the University of Oregon offers a bachelor's degree in merchandising management through its Department of Design and Human Environment. This program includes courses in apparel design, market analysis and the visual presentation of fashion items.
A master's degree in fashion merchandising can be earned through a school of business at a large university. At the post-graduate levels the art and technical schools tend to focus on the creative aspect of fashion design rather than marketing. Philadelphia University's School of Business Administration offers a post-graduate degree in fashion apparel studies. The coursework focuses on accounting and economics, but also covers business aspects of the textile and apparel industries, market research and human resource management.