Rationale:

With the advent of the fourth industrial revolution and the need to provide adequate qualifications to satisfy market demand, this product-based occupational qualification is designed to respond to the need of the fourth industrial revolution in the fashion industry by designing courses for the youth, who are constantly looking for quick results. It will keep them engaged from day one in the process of the designing and manufacturing of products while transferring them critical product-based knowledge and digital skills which are linked to the fourth industrial revolution on the factory floor. The current dominant system is manual-based teaching and techniques. This process has proven to be slow, uncompetitive and perceived as hard labour by the youth due to very little or lack of emphasis on CAD/CAM education and its application, while this course will address the latter.
 
The CAD/CAM technology and machinery is now at the forefront of the fourth industrial revolution in the fashion design and manufacturing industry. The cost of technology has significantly dropped over the years, making it accessible to the poor and middle-income countries. The factory floor design landscape has changed and is being dominated by semi-automation and we will soon see artificial intelligence linked to robotics. This course is rooted in CAD/CAM technology, which is the foundation for future applications on the factory floor. The use of automation will create consistency in the quality of products, high productivity and competitiveness. 

Fashion education takes too long to be effectively practical and profitable for the students. The current generation's psychological make-up is such that they desire quick results and sudden glorification. This course will give them the desired result through a product while addressing the need to resolve employment issues plaguing the country. This course also ensures that the students are provided with specialised, product-based skills in a shorter time span so that they can empower themselves as entrepreneurs or in the workplace. It ensures that they are adequately equipped with the knowledge and skills to develop products that they can immediately take to market from the time they complete their course with the use of CAD/CAM software and have sufficient exposure to a state-of-the-art factory floor and machinery that is necessary for their speciality. This will include receiving further knowledge to scale their products for public consumption. Most traditional learning which usually spans 3 years without a speciality, produces a graduate who is at a disadvantage because they took a lot of time learning a variety of subjects without honing their skills to produce a specific garment, which they can sell once they have left the lecture room. This qualification was created on the basis that anyone who can master a particular skill to the core, can easily extrapolate the skill to another product to make them a fully-fledged fashion designer

This qualification is designed to produce learners who can work in the fashion industry in positions that relate to product development, digital pattern making, garment construction, production management and entrepreneurship. 
 
This qualification looks to address the lack of specialised product-based skills within the fashion industry, it also looks to normalise the use of CAD/CAM technology and machinery within the industry for students to keep up with technological changes within the industry. The qualification seeks to address the following areas:

1. Emphasis on the Product Development process with the use of Computer-Aided Design (CAD) and software for technical drawings, pattern making and grading. Fabric and trims identification, application and care, parts of various types of undergarments. Specification sheets, pre-production management and labelling.
2. Exposure to the factory through cutting sheets, laying, and cutting, undergarment construction, trim and notions application and exposure to manual and semi-automated machinery, product production management and packaging.
3. Our investigation, as of June 2021, in SADC, ECOWAS, and ECCAS reveals that there are less than six manufacturers of undergarments in this region, covering seventy percent of the African population.

This qualification will focus on the product development process, undergarment fabrication, trims and notions, care, and maintenance of undergarments, digital pattern making and grading, pre-production management, the construction of undergaremnts and their finishing techniques.
 
The qualification will include other important skills such as the following:

• Fit and sizing of undergarments
• Undergarment construction
• Quality control
• Finishing techniques
• Trend analysis.
• Product production line design.
• Entrepreneurial skills with a focus on setting-up a small/medium undergarment-making business.
• undergarment costing and basic accounting.
• Marketing and branding skills.
• Range compilation.
• Appropriate pressing and storing of undergarments.

 
This qualification provides learners who have left high school or learners who have already studied a fashion-related qualification, the prospect of receiving sufficient specialised knowledge and skills in undergarment design, with the formal recognition for the skills and knowledge they have acquired. It creates the opportunity for learners to improve their employability or gives them the tools needed to begin their own business once the course is complete with a speciality in undergarment design. It also presents the opportunity for the learner who has worked within the fashion industry without a formal qualification, as recognition for their skills, knowledge and competency acquired in the workplace.

 

Important:

Duration: 
In-person learning: 4-6 hours every day except the weekend 
Course starting date :
Application fee 
fee : 


In the event that management determines a course to be financially unviable, FIAL reserves the right to suspend or cancel it with short notice.