The world’s second-largest employer after agriculture is the apparel/textile industry.  Transforming trends include globalization and a wave of nanotechnology that allows clothes to resist spills and wrinkles, wear longer between washings, and be crafted from products including hemp and wood.

“Since we offer Idaho’s only academic training for this profession, it’s no surprise we get lots of interest—65 students last year, 77 this year,” says Sandra Evenson, associate professor for the University of Idaho’s family and consumer sciences major in clothing, textiles, and design since 1994.

All students with this major study fashion from concept to consumer, textile modification, apparel design, dress and culture, and the history of fashion in the Western world.

Graduates become high school family and   consumer sciences teachers, buyers, product developers, merchandise managers, designers, or they work with retailers and manufacturers around the world in imports and exports.

Salaries may start at $25,000 a year, but veteran designers for large firms can earn $120,000 annually. Free-lance designers may earn as much as $30,000 a year while working as few as four hours a week.

Learn more about the University of Idaho’s Margaret Ritchie School of Family and Consumer Sciences programs at http://www.agls.uidaho.edu/fcs/.

Related stories: Sandra Evenson's Fulbright story, alum Lori Wahl's adventures as a designer , or Nicole Thiel's trip to India.

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