College of the Arts
School of Fashion Design and Merchandising
www.kent.edu/fashion

Contact Information

• Program Coordinator: Jihyun Kim-Vick, Ph.D. | mfis@kent.edu | 330-672-1473
• Chat with an Admissions Counselor

Fully Offered

• Delivery:
  • In person
• Location:
  • Kent Campus

Admission Terms

• Fall

Examples of Possible Careers

• Fashion Entrepreneur
• Supply Chain Management
• Assistant Buyer
• Inventory Planning Analyst
• Fashion Designer

Description

The Master of Fashion Industry Studies degree in Fashion Industry Studies robustly addresses the highly interdisciplinary character of practice within fashion as an industry with a unique set of parameters that transverse many traditional academic boundaries.

Fashion Industry Studies is an initial master's level degree for the academic advancement of students to engage in learning and experiences applicable to the fashion industry. The degree program prepares professionals who intentionally use cross-disciplinary and applied research methods to address complex issues and provide impactful solutions for the fashion industry.

Admission Requirements

• Bachelor's degree from an accredited college or university¹
• Minimum 3.300 undergraduate GPA on a 4.000 point scale
• Official transcripts(s)
• GRE or GMAT scores if GPA is below 3.300 for conditional admission
• Goal statement (maximum 1,000 words) relating career/academic goals and research interests as they relate to critical issue(s) the applicant has identified in current fashion industry practice
• Supportive materials that demonstrate research and writing capabilities (e.g., significant term paper, research project report and/or visual portfolio with minimum 5-10 examples of work in any media documenting design process)
• Effective for spring 2023 admission, a résumé will be required
• Three letters of recommendation
• English language proficiency - all international students must provide proof of English language proficiency (unless they meet specific exceptions) by earning one of the following:
  • Minimum 587 TOEFL PBT score (paper-based version)
  • Minimum 94 TOEFL IBT score (Internet-based version)
  • Minimum 82 MELAB score
  • Minimum 7.0 IELTS score
  • Minimum 65 PTE score
  • Minimum 120 Duolingo test score

For more information about graduate admissions, visit the graduate admission website. For more information on international admissions, visit the international admission website.

¹

Students who are expecting to pursue coursework or thesis research in a design topic are required to possess a bachelor's degree in fashion design or a bachelor's degree in a related field and substantial employment experience (minimum two years) in the fashion industry.

Program Learning Outcomes

Graduates of this program will be able to:

1. Demonstrate a capacity for critical analysis of fashion to identify pertinent issues.
2. Demonstrate an ability to use cross-disciplinary and applied research methods with appropriate knowledge and technologies.
3. Demonstrate the skill of critically generating concepts and-or pragmatic solutions through testing and experimentation that connects fashion history, theory and-or practice(s).
4. Demonstrate abilities to effectively synthesize ideas and present innovative and pragmatic research-based investigations.

Program Requirements

Major Requirements

¹

To earn the M.F.I.S. degree, each student must complete a written thesis accompanied by a visual presentation/representation that is successfully defended and approved by a committee of faculty with feedback from an industry partner. The thesis must demonstrate an innovative and pragmatic research-based solution applicable to the fashion industry.

Graduation Requirements

• Students in the M.F.I.S. degree are required to complete 24 credit hours of graded graduate coursework and a minimum of 6 credit hours of thesis.
• Students without a fashion background may be required to complete foundational coursework, FDM 10033 and FDM 10034 concurrently during the first semester, and either FDM 30260 or FDM 30262. Students must complete these courses within the first 18 credit hours of graduate study. These undergraduate credit hours are in addition to the 30 graduate credit hours required for the M.F.I.S. degree.