The Passion Behind Fashion

With over 7 years of experience in the local fashion industry in Indonesia, Erika Winoto chose Humber College as her destination to pursue her education in Fashion Arts. Having worked in the industry back home, as well as teaching fashion at Esmod Fashion School in Indonesia, Erika had acquired the technical skills for working in fashion, but was in search for obtaining the business skills required for her career ambitions. 

She came across Humber Institute of Technology & Advanced Learning’s Fashion Arts program and saw that it had all that she was looking for- business, sourcing, merchandizing, manufacturing, window dressing, as well as sales and work ethics. Through her first semester studies, Erika not only gained hands on practical experience, but learned about how to succeed at sustaining the competitive nature of the fashion industry, all the while earning an Academic Honour’s standing of 90.50% GPA. Erika is currently completing her second semester of the four semester diploma program and finds that the strength of the program lies within the instructors.  

These instructors are experienced individuals who have worked in the fashion industry and are reliable in relaying modern day knowledge and up-to-date information. With her strong background from Indonesia, along with the knowledge and skills obtained at Humber Institute, Erika looks forward to a career in “Trend Forecasting” where she will utilize her skills to pattern out what fashions will come the following year.

            Erika Winoto is one of the many international students who have chosen to pursue fashion at Humber Institute. The four-semester Fashion Arts diploma program is only one of three fashion programs at Humber Institute. Humber also offers a four year Bachelor of Applied Business- Fashion Management degree, as well as a two semester post-graduate certificate program in Fashion Management and Promotions. 

The Fashion Arts diploma focuses on retailing, marketing, and business aspects of the fashion industry. Students in this program have the opportunity to travel to New York for three days to showcase their work during New York Fashion Week. This provides a great chance to meet with big-name retailers like Clarins and FIT. 

The Bachelor of Applied Business- Fashion Management degree option provides students an emphasis on Fashion and Business. With a degree, students can work towards managerial or directorial level jobs. Humber offers the degree option with a focus not only on fashion, but also on the commerce side of the industry, making Humber graduates highly qualified when entering the job market. After completion of the Fashion Arts diploma at Humber, students can go on to finish the Bachelor degree program by completing an additional 5 semesters with a paid work placement. 

Bachelor degree graduates in any major may now also choose to further and broaden their education in the post-graduate Fashion Management and Promotions program. This program focuses on new product development, merchandising, marketing, trend forecasting, as well as branding, with graduating students who are prepared to work in the fast-changing fashion industry.

            To apply to the Humber diploma and degree program, applicants must have completed high school and must show English proficiency scores. For the post-graduate program, applicants must have completed a Bachelor’s degree, along with English proficiency scores.

            Humber houses its own Fashion Institute where students work together to create display cases and real-world mock-ups showcasing their own personal style and work. Students in the diploma program update display cases to reflect the seasonal change throughout the year. Degree students take over the Fashion Institute in the spring and learn courses in retail, branding, store planning, and marketing and management with a global perspective. Students are also selected to plan a fashion runway show, where they are fully responsible for planning, arranging, and organizing the whole event. The Fashion Institute has been quoted “the hub of the program” with an energetic atmosphere encouraging the exchange of ideas.

            Many career opportunities lie within the fashion industry, locally, as well as globally.  Humber Institute produces qualified graduates with a high percentage receiving paid internships that may lead to full-time jobs after graduation. With a well-known reputation, Humber graduates have jobs as buyers, personal shoppers, model wardrobe assistants, merchandisers, event planners, wedding planners, and fashion bloggers. Jobs also have been given in public relations, media, journalism, and marketing, all related to fashion. 

Students not only find jobs locally, some students go on to the Big Apple (New York City) to work at big name magazines like Elle Magazine. With job opportunities being offered to Humber graduates at places such as Aldo, Club Monaco, TJX, Harry Rosen, The Bay, Danier Leather, Brown Shoes, and Zellers, students who take initiative boast high levels of job satisfaction after completing any or all of Humber’s fashion programs. Join Humber, as it makes it mark in the ever-growing global fashion industry.