Educational opportunities in design, product development, marketing, sales, product quality assurance, consulting, owning your own business, and research are available to students seeking challenging careers in the apparel and textiles industry and beyond. Apparel studies graduates develop and deliver products to the global market place. They create innovative and sensitive solutions to meet consumer and societal needs. The program of study provides students with a theoretically-based education with practical application.

Graduates are able to choose challenging careers that build on their particular interests. For example, graduates have accepted positions in visual merchandising, fashion writing and editing, quality control, museum collection management, product buying and merchandising, theatrical costume designing and store management. Other graduates have used their skills to successfully run their own businesses.

An option in apparel studies focuses on developing, designing, and marketing products within the market and industry. The curriculum incorporates an international and historical focus. Students pursuing a bachelor of science degree in apparel and textiles with the apparel studies option have flexibility in their program of study. They can combine apparel and textiles with a minor in communication, public history, visual arts, theater arts, or other areas.

Those with well-defined career goals can combine an apparel studies major with a minor or second major that builds upon their interests. (The apparel and textiles/retail merchandising focus allows students to prepare themselves for a career in retailing).

The ATID Department regularly plans travel/study programs to fashion, design, and/or business centers. Off-campus study provides students contact with practicing professionals. The department's affiliation with the Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT) in New York City and the Philadelphia College of Textiles and Science permits North Dakota State University students to earn credits as Visiting Students and to gain experience in the heart of the fashion and textiles business world. A year at FIT results in an additional associate degree from that institution. Through the Tri-College University, students may take advantage of course offerings and facilities provided by Moorhead State University and Concordia College.

The ATID Department is housed in EML and the FLC on the NDSU campus. Facilities provide well-equipped classrooms as well as one of the finest textiles testing laboratories in the region. The Emily P. Reynolds Historic Costume Collection provides an excellent resource for students' projects and reports. Clusters of microcomputers are located in the Family Life Center for students' convenience.

The Fashion, Apparel and Business Organization (FABO), allows interested students additional contacts with professionals and opportunities for leadership. Other organizations in the college and university provide further opportunities for personal and professional growth.

Recent research of benefit to North Dakota and the region includes adolescent issues related to dress and behavior, bison wool as a textile product, and historic clothing as evidence of the social history of the Upper Great Plains. Studies in fashion awareness, country of origin as a criterion for apparel selection, and costs of shoplifting to the consumer provide information for area businesses. A computer-based cataloging system for historic clothing is being developed at North Dakota State University for the growing Emily P. Reynolds Historic Costume Collection. A special focus of the collection includes items from the Germans from Russia ethnic group. Linkages with culturally diverse populations through exchanges of apparel and textiles information has been a recent theme of scholarship research.

A limited number of scholarships are designated for students majoring in the department; additional scholarships are open to all college majors. For further information on scholarships, contact the Director of Student Services and Development.