Fashion and footwear designing requires many skills and techniques and it goes through many stages before taking the form of a beautiful garment or a comfortable pair of footwear. With an aim to know more about the skills that are required in fashion and footwear designing, Team NSN visited Footwear Design and Development Institute (FDDI), Hyderabad and interacted with their faculty.
Footwear Design and Development Institute (FDDI) is a premier academic and training institution dedicated to the development and growth of the Footwear and Product, Leather Products, Retail and Fashion Merchandise and Fashion Design sectors.
We interacted with the faculty from Fashion Designing and Retail and Fashion Merchandise and asked them a few questions regarding the courses they offer, how they got interested in the particular field and what it means to teach.
FDDI industry-driven courses to meet the industry demand
Today, footwear and clothes have become fashion statements. A well designed, practical yet fashionable cloth can make you stand out in the crowd. The craving for new trends help the fashion industry grow like never before, which demands more talents to enter the industry. With the increase in industry demand it has become crucial for academic institutions to provide industry relevant courses and make their students industry ready.
Talking about the industry relevant courses, Ms Radha Gupta, faculty, Draping and Patternmaking, said, ” the students are aware about the industry demand and they focus on the three key ingredients of designing a cloth- Aesthetic, Functionality and Structure. They also focus on fashion forecasting.” Ms Gupta has a rich experience of 24 years in fashion designing. She has spent most of her time in factories and industries.
“FDDI gives importance to industry experience. We make sure that our students get industry exposure and hands on experience. We encourage them to visit fabric stores and markets to interact with industry people. We also give the field visit assignments”, said Ms Sangeeta, faculty, Retail Operation.
Today’s world is demand driven. So theoretical knowledge alone is not enough, practical knowledge is equally important. Speaking on the topic, Ms Pallavi Chattopadhyaya, faculty, Fashion Designing, said,” practical knowledge is important for the students to be industry ready. Catering to the importance of practical knowledge, FDDI offers many practical oriented courses. Doing the work and realizing how fabrics work is important. So our courses are industry relevant”. Ms Pallavi Chattopadhyaya is a faculty in the Fashion Designing department who is an alumni of NIFT and is an MBA. She has a passion for teaching.
FDDI industry-driven courses on E-commerce, Entrepreneurship and Visual Merchandising
FDDI industry-driven courses on E-commerce, Entrepreneurship and Visual Merchandising 
Giving her views on E-Commerce related courses and training, Ms Sweta Nath, faculty, Retail Management, said, “ our students are well aware about the recent trends and they learn by observing their surroundings. With the changing mentality of people, E-commerce has become an integral part of our lives. At FDDI we try to make sure that our students are well equipped with the necessary skills.”
Along with E-commerce and digital marketing, FDDI also focuses on entrepreneurship for which practical experience is the key factor. FDDI organizes F Talks where they invite entrepreneurs working on the sectors digital marketing and E-commerce. They share their experiences and stories with students which gives the students a brief knowledge and inspiration to start their own venture in the future.
Visual merchandising is very crucial in the retail industry to maximize sales. It is basically developing floor plans and three-dimensional displays to attract customers and increase sales. Sharing her views regarding this, Ms Jyoti Priya, faculty, Retail and Fashion Merchandise said that their students are eager to learn new things and show interest in all the nitty gritties of designing and visual merchandising. For visual merchandising, the students focus on customer mentality and seasonal display. She also told us that their students have to prepare visual merchandising displays in groups with various themes once every week.
Visual Merchandising Display by the students
We got to see some of the finest visual merchandising displays by the students and those were captivating. With so much colour and creativity, it made us feel like we entered into a different, colour full world full of passion and dreams. To know more about the thematic arrangements, we interacted with the students. They explained to us about their themes and why they chose that theme. We met a group of girls whose display was inspired by music as all of them love music. Another theme was inspired by nature and the display was magnificent. There were displays inspired by music, nature, love and Chinese New Year. The themes were simple yet so versatile. The students were passionately organizing their displays and were enthusiastic to share their experiences with us. It was showing their love and dedication for what they are doing.
FDDI is known for nurturing high end trained specialized professionals through its programs. The Institute has a strong Alumni base and strong industry linkage. Due to the excellent quality of skill development, contemporary industry oriented curriculum and hands on experience on state of the art machine and workshops, FDDI holds an excellent record of placements in the industry.
