RELEVANT COURSEWORK AND EXPERIENCE

The following are highlights of valuable coursework taken under the Apparel Merchandising and Management degree at Cal Poly Pomona.

Design

AMM 210 Apparel Design Analysis, AMM 310 Design and Merchandising Strategies, AMM 410 Apparel Product Development and ART 140 Foundations of Drawing have all helped to develop my skill as a designer. In AMM 210, I learned the basics of Adobe Illustrator. Later in AMM 310, I was able to use this skill to develop a line sheet. This collection had to be based off of meaningful and innovative design, of which I chose to feature women's swimwear. AMM 410 was interesting in that not only did I have to design garments within certain requirements, I also had to draft it's pattern with TukaTech. This class was useful practice for designing for a company in the future and understanding garment construction. ART 140, taught me the basics of drawing, proportion and composition with different mediums so that I could improve on hand drawing croquis. Each of these classes have improved my understanding of artful design and in the future I plan on taking ART 155 Foundations of Digital Design to improve on my knowledge of Photoshop and graphic design.

Textiles

Having taken an Introduction to Textiles course at Santa Ana College, AMM 260 Textile Fabrication provided a deeper insight to textile uses and manufacturing. This class was highly interesting and I have taken careers in textiles into consideration because of this course. Following this, AMM 360 Textile Specification Test taught me the importance of textile testing. The lab especially showed the industry process of quality control and what tests would be useful in determining the appropriate fabric for a certain garment and performance goals. This information was particularly valuable in AMM 381 Apparel Production, where my group produced mittens for premature and full term babies in the neonatal unit at Pomona Valley Hospital. From what we learned in AMM 260 and 360, we were able to source fabric that was comfortable and warm without scratching the baby's face. Learning textiles has given me a vital skill that I will use to consider the fabrics I want to compose my garments in.

Buying & Merchandising

While I am under the production option with a  design emphasis, a valuable part of the AMM curriculum is the requirement to take some merchandising classes. By having the basic understanding of merchandising roles, I feel that I can be a better designer. AMM 251 Apparel Merchandise Buying, AMM 310 Design and Merchandising Strategies and AMM 357 Importing and Exporting all played a part in gaining an understanding of what it is to be a buyer. The retail math aspect of AMM 251 displayed the importance of things like net sales, gross product margins and how to determine them. AMM 357 rounded out this class by discussing the importance of tariffs, free trade agreements and the logistics of buying clothing form overseas. Both of these courses provided an effective background for AMM 310 in which I had to determine production calendars as well as what retailers and where I would be selling my clothing. By understanding the impact of buying both domestically and internationally, I can think about designs and their impact on a global scale.