More Than Fashion: Understanding the Industry at ICMS

Fashion might be built on creativity, but behind every successful label sits a business. At ICMS, students learn how that business works, with industry experience integrated into their studies. 

From buying and brand strategy to retail operations, marketing, e-commerce and visual merchandising, the ICMS Bachelor of Business (Fashion and Global Brand Management) focuses on the commercial world behind fashion. 

For ICMS Program Manager (Fashion and Global Brand Management, Marketing) Allison Ford, the connection is personal as well as professional. Allison has a background in marketing and visual merchandising and is also an ICMS alumna, having completed her MBA at the college. 

“This is the business of fashion,” Allison told prospective students at a recent ICMS Open Day. 

The degree combines fashion and global brand management with core business subjects, giving students exposure to areas including accounting, statistics, management and marketing alongside their fashion-focused studies. 

“Some fashion students might not like the sound of data analytics or finance,” Allison said. 

“In this degree, you’ll be pushed into accounting, statistics subjects statistics. And you might actually find that you really enjoy it.” 

For Allison, understanding the numbers is part of understanding the business behind a fashion brand. 

“In industry, you do have to be a little bit of a nerd for numbers,” she said. 

“But this degree gives you that blend of both fashion and brand and marketing.” 

When industry walks into the classroom

The connection between study and industry starts in the classroom. 

Allison highlighted Fashion Planning and Buying, taught by ICMS lecturer Cara Wiggins, who is also a Category Merchandise Planner – Commercial at THE ICONIC, with expertise across Menswear, Kidswear and Women’s Private Label. 

It means students are learning from someone who is actively working in the fashion industry and bringing current industry experience and insights into the classroom. 

“You’re getting that true connection from industry to classroom,” Allison said. 

That approach extends beyond regular classes. 

ICMS fashion students have had opportunities to hear directly from industry figures through masterclasses, site visits and other industry experiences. 

Allison pointed to previous masterclasses with Australian fashion designer Alex Perry and the founder of MESHKI, as well as industry engagement involving fashion and luxury brands. 

Students have also attended Australian Fashion Week, with opportunities to gain further industry exposure through volunteering. 

“We have our classes, but we also have this as a layer on top,” Allison said. 

“It’s really trying to bridge that gap between what you’re learning academically into what’s happening in industry.” 

Putting fashion ambitions to work

Professional placement through Work Integrated Learning (WIL) gives students another opportunity to connect their studies with industry. 

The Bachelor of Business (Fashion and Global Brand Management) includes two WIL subjects and a minimum of 600 hours of professional placement. 

Students generally undertake WIL once they have developed foundational knowledge and a clearer idea of where they might want their career to go. 

Potential career pathways include brand management, digital marketing, brand strategy,  retail management, visual merchandising, fashion planning and fashion buying. 

ICMS has worked with organisations across fashion, retail and luxury for professional placements and industry engagement. 

But for Allison, the process is about more than simply helping students find somewhere to complete a placement. Students can receive support as they prepare to approach industry, including help with resumes and interviews. 

She recalled working with one student who had set her sights on Dior. 

The student was not yet ready to undertake her WIL placement but wanted to pursue an opportunity with the fashion house. Allison helped her prepare her resume, practise interview questions and build her confidence before the recruitment process. 

The student was among around 200 candidates. 

She got the role. 

“It was so rewarding as the program manager when she said, ‘I’ve got the role,’” Allison said. 

“And that’s why I love this job, because she had something that she wanted to do and we were able to support her through everything here at ICMS to get that placement.” 

Preparing for an industry changing with AI

Keeping pace with industry also means preparing students for changes driven by artificial intelligence. 

Allison said ICMS takes an agile approach to AI, integrating it into existing subjects and discussing how students can use the technology ethically and appropriately. 

“As an institution, we’re not ignoring it. We’re bringing it into the classroom and making sure you have a skillset that is relevant to industry, because we know everyone’s using it, so let’s use it appropriately.” 

Rather than focusing only on tools such as ChatGPT, Allison said students can encounter AI through platforms relevant to their studies, including Canva and SketchUp. 

Support is also available for students who are less familiar or confident with AI. 

For fashion students, the approach is another way of connecting what happens in the classroom with a rapidly changing industry. 

A degree students can shape around their interests

As students progress through the degree, they gain more opportunities to shape their studies around their interests. 

The first year provides a foundation in business before students move into more specialised fashion subjects and electives as they progress through the degree. 

Elective options discussed by Allison include areas such as marketing strategy, e-commerce and fashion consumption and sustainability. Students may also have the flexibility to choose electives from other areas of study, subject to the current course structure, availability and academic requirements. 

“You can build this degree so it suits you and what you find enjoyable,” Allison said. 

Students studying the degree also have access to WGSN, a global trend forecasting and consumer insight platform used in the fashion industry. 

Allison said familiarity with tools such as WGSN can give students experience with platforms they may encounter once they enter industry. 

“If you’re going to go into industry, they’re going to reference this,” she said. 

“And if you already know how to navigate it, you’ve already got a platform, you already have an understanding.” 

More than what happens on the runway

For Allison, the degree is suited to students who love fashion but also want to understand the commercial decisions and strategies behind the brands they follow. 

That could eventually take them into areas ranging from buying and visual merchandising to marketing, e-commerce, retail management or brand strategy. 

Just as importantly, students have opportunities to see what those careers can look like while they study through lecturers with current industry experience, professional placements, masterclasses and other industry engagement. 

For students who are “fashion obsessed”, fascinated by brands and interested in the commercial side of the industry, the Bachelor of Business (Fashion and Global Brand Management) offers a business-focused pathway into the world of fashion. 

Because fashion isn’t only about what happens on the runway. 

It is also about understanding the business behind the brand.