Faculty of Apparel

Faculty Home

Welcome to the Faculty of Apparel – the home for aspiring Designers, Engineers, Industry Experts, Ergonomics and environmental scientists, and Visual artists of all sorts!

In the Faculty of Apparel, we offer the kind of programs and courses that will lead you to various career options after your studies. Our world-class academic staff with insight and expertise based on cutting-edge research will quench your thirst for knowledge and help you achieve the profession of your dreams. A warm and caring relationship between our staff and students in the Faculty fosters a healthy environment for students to learn, develop, and grow. Likewise, the Faculty provides a supportive work environment to encourage and enable its staff to further their teaching and research interests.

The faculty, through its three academic departments and one unit, provides high-quality programs and course offerings that not only prepare you for today’s world and its challenges but are also designed for the holistic development of students who are articulate and critical, imaginative, and productive, rooted in their own culture, yet open to other cultures, proactive, global in outlook.

Teaching and research in the sector pose questions that go to the very core of our industry condition, questions of belief and moral values, and questions that assess the past as a way of understanding our present and our future. 

The Three departments of the Faculty offer courses and undertake research in a wide range of subjects - Design, Garment Production, Pattern Engineering, Leather Design, Visual arts, and Leather processing, among others - covering undergraduate, postgraduate, and foundation levels of study. Our research centers explore various themes in these subjects, which inform the teaching and supervision of our students. We are also committed to engaging with the world beyond the university, ensuring that our students have employability embedded as a theme in their courses and that our academic staff members are supported in seeking knowledge transfer and consultancy activities with public and private enterprises.

Career Opportunities Our Students 

Fashion designers can pursue several career paths with a degree and work experience. You can choose to work and excel in one fashion niche, such as clothing, footwear, accessories, or costumes. As a designer, you can work your way up to managerial and leadership roles with significantly more responsibility. You can even end up with your own business one day.

Designer:

Designers will design any type of clothes, accessories, or footwear including sportswear, casual wear, intimate apparel, handbags, jewelry, maternity clothing, swimsuits, evening wear, costumes, and much more. Fashion designers employed by others must stay in line with the brand of the employer.

Graphic Designer:

A graphic designer uses both computer software and their hands to create designs for fashion-related businesses. Such businesses might include ads, websites, magazines, and brochures. This fashion professional must meet the needs of the client of the employer

Industrial Designer:

An industrial designer is responsible for the concepts and designs for products that are manufactured, such as home appliances, toys, and cars. These individuals work with aesthetics, production costs, usability, functionality, and launch dates through engineering, business, and art. 

Fashion Buyer:

A fashion buyer is in charge of the purchasing of products and services on behalf of their organization. These products will then be used for production or resold. These fashion professionals must understand, follow, and predict fashion trends. They must also work with vendors, contracts, and negotiations.

Modelling Agent:

Being a modelling agent is a natural progression for some fashion designers. As an agent, they will continue working with models as a representative to find work for their clients. They will prepare the models for their projects and negotiate contracts. Agents will require formal education in most cases.

Chief Designer:

A chief designer is one of the highest positions a fashion designer can reach. These high-level fashion professionals are responsible for the direction of the company. This might include ensuring collections are cohesive, determining the direction of the brand, and establishing the right target demographics for each product line. If you aspire to become any of the professionals listed above, know that the Faculty of Apparel holds a future for you.

I wish to conclude by wishing you every success now and in the future and look forward to receiving you in the Faculty for the coming academic year.

Background and Organisation of the Faculty

Background

The Faculty of Apparel is one of the Faculties of the Ethiopian Institute of Textiles and Fashion Technology. The Faculty aims to produce young men and women who possess a wide-ranging knowledge based on their single or double major and who will take an active role in running the state – be it in the public or private sector. It is hoped that the students that the Faculty produces will be able to listen, discuss, and generate ideas that their communities would benefit from. In other words, the Faculty aims to produce young women and men who can think logically, analytically, creatively, and without bias. Faculties of Apparel around the world are referred to, by those who know of them, as the “thinking” Faculty.

Students joining the Faculty of Apparel should realize that not only are they coming into the Faculty with the longest history but also that they are joining the Faculty which gave birth to the Faculties of Engineering. 

Today students in the Faculties of Apparel concern themselves with peoples and their cultures, with human values, and with the unique ability of the human spirit to express itself and experience the actual world. 

Faculty Organization

The Faculty is headed by the Dean who is responsible for the effective running of the Faculty, including, ultimately, each Department. He is supported by the Heads of departments, who together with the Dean form the core administrative body of the Faculty and who take turns to oversee the administration of the Faculty if the Dean is absent or indisposed.

It is unlikely that students, normally, will have much to do with the Dean in their capacities – but they will be following students’ progress with much interest. They assist students in their academic career such as choice of courses, processing of results, registration, and student transfers from one Faculty to another. There is also a Postgraduate Coordinator who assists students on similar issues at the postgraduate level.

There is also the Faculty Assistant Registrar (AR) whose principal job is to see that the Faculty business runs smoothly.  The AR is also responsible for the administration of the Faculty and works together with the secretaries.

Mission, Vision & Values

Mission

Our mission is to provide students with a comprehensive knowledge base that will empower them to address practical and theoretical issues impacting the industry. This will assist them in becoming valuable and accountable citizens of their nations by enhancing their knowledge and instilling values and life principles aimed at improving the industry and the country for all residents.

Vision

A vibrant Africa-cantered faculty cultivating innovative, creative, and critical thinking skills in the fields of apparel and leather sector. 

Values

As a faculty that believes in instilling in our staff and students human values such as a lasting love for learning, critical thinking, academic freedom, dedication to serving others, commitment to seeking truth, moral goodness, compassion, academic and ethical integrity, intercultural understanding, social awareness, professionalism, accountability, and transparency in their interactions with colleagues and the broader community.

Departments in the Faculty

The Faculty has three Departments and one Unit as follows:

Department of Leather Engineering 

Department of Fashion Design 

Department of Garment Engineering 

Programs in the Faculty of Apparel 2024

Undergraduate Program 

     1.  Fashion Design (Regular and Extension) 

     2.  Garment Engineering

     3.  Leather Engineering (Regular and Extension)

     4.  Visual Art

Postgraduate Program 

   1. Fashion Design 

   2. Fashion Technology

   3.  Leather Product Design and Engineering 

PhD Program  

       1.  Fashion Technology(by Research) (PhD)

       2.  Leather Technology (PhD)

       3.  Footwear Design and Engineering (PhD)

Upcoming BSc program

      1. Fashion Marketing 

      2. Fashion Branding and Communication 

      3. Graphic Design 

      4. Interior Design 

      5. Leather Technology 

Research and Innovation

The Faculty maintains a robust research output, engaging in diverse areas of expertise and publishing in local and international reputable journals. In today’s tech-driven world, innovation is emphasized, yet human qualities like care, relationship-building and focused attention on priorities truly drive organizational innovation. Technology acts as a delivery tool, while the faculty engages in multidisciplinary research across various thematic areas such as industry operation research, product design and development, converting waste from apparel and leather industries into valuable products, and industry effluent treatment.

Currently, the faculty has two Research center

       1. Sustainable Fashion And Product Design Research Centre 

       2. Sustainable Leather Technology Research Centre

Community Engagement

The Faculty of Apparel, through its various departments, is engaged in various community-building activities through short courses, partnerships, Theatre for Development Skills Empowerment, and Indigenous Knowledge sensitization programs through radio and other media outlets. The important principle of our training and sensitization methods is that of empowerment where workshops are initiated by our students and facilitators but in the end members of the community take over the work. 

The facility under the Apparel Faculty 

Contact Person:

    Biniyam Solomon [Lecturer] 
    Dean, Apparel Faculty
    MSc. in Leather Product Design and Engineering

    Ethiopian Institute of Textile and Fashion Technology [EiTEX]
    Bahir Dar University 
    P.O. Box 1037 
    phone +251921243999
                                                            Fax +251 582 266246