The FEDISA Fashion School was launched in January 2005 in Cape Town, South Africa by Allen Leroux and Gerald Bird. In December 2011 FEDISA – Cape Town moved into its current premises at 81 Church Street, which offers an ideal multi-level environment to host what has quickly become South Africa’s leading private fashion institution.
After initially only offering the very successful BA: Fashion Degree, the BA Honours: Fashion degree was introduced at FEDISA – Cape Town in January 2016. That was followed in January 2018 with the addition of the three-year Diploma in Fashion Merchandising, Marketing and Media.
In January 2020 FEDISA – Sandton was launched at 50 Wierda Road West, giving the FEDISA Fashion School the first national footprint in South Africa for a privately owned higher education fashion institution. FEDISA – Sandton also offers all the above qualifications available at FEDISA – Cape Town.
All qualifications currently offered by the FEDISA Fashion Schools nationally are fully accredited by the Council on Higher Education (CHE) and registered by the South African Qualifications Authority (SAQA). All FEDISA Degrees are therefore internationally recognised and many FEDISA graduates have continued to international Masters studied and various international careers.
FEDISA is widely regarded as South Africa’s leading institute for a qualification in fashion, as evidenced by strong industry support, exceptional levels of graduate employment immediately after graduation and broad local and international student interest.
FEDISA is registered by the South African Department of Higher Education and Training (DoHED as a Private Provider of Higher Education on certificate no. 2007 /HE07 /001.
Diploma In Fashion Merchandising, Marketing & Media
The 3-year Diploma in Fashion Merchandising, Marketing & Media programme offers academically coherent, challenging and up-to-date learning opportunities, which encourage students to develop as independent and self-reliant thinkers.
In addition it is the programme’s aim to foster students’ personal, intellectual and organisational skills, so that when they leave FEDISA they will take with them a range of skills and insights that will be readily applicable to their chosen career paths.
The aim of the Diploma in Fashion Merchandising, Marketing and Media programme is to produce fashion professionals, empowered with the capacity to successfully manage various fashion related processes with a thorough understanding of the requisites involved, through a well-developed research, analytic and application ability.
The programme is designed for the accomplished creative business-orientated person, who has a flair for fashion, style and product management and a love of all aspects influencing fashion and its consumer value, such as prevailing trends, cultural influences, product presentation and sound business practice.
BA Degree In Fashion
FEDISA has proven that the days of fashion schools training glorified seamstresses are over. The modern fashion institute must prepare its graduates for the enormous diversity of career opportunities that are available in today’s dynamic world of fashion. Herein FEDISA has been shown to be remarkably successful as the list of FEDISA graduates in the global industry keeps growing.
The programme is designed for the creative business-minded person, who has a flair for fashion, style and a love of all aspects influencing the “World of Fashion”, such as prevailing trends, cultural influences, production technology and sound business practice.
Equal emphasis is placed on the creative and technical skills of design and production technology, as well as the business acumen to compete commercially in a fast-paced global economy. All practical aspects of the programme are supported by a sound theoretical base.
BA Honours Degree In Fashion
FEDISA’s Bachelor of Arts Honours: Fashion degree will facilitate academic discourse around theories and concepts relating to political, economic, societal and psychosocial, technological, legal and environmental issues pertaining to contemporary and future fashion shifts.
The aim of the Bachelor of Arts Honours: Fashion programme is to produce fashion professionals; empowered with the capacity to successfully manage various fashion related processes with a thorough understanding of the requisites involved, through a well-developed research and analytic ability.
The programme is designed for the accomplished creative business-orientated person, who has a flair for fashion, style and a love of all aspects influencing fashion and its related fields, such as prevailing trends, cultural influences, production technology, eco-awareness and sound business practice.
Emphasis is placed on the research and analytical development of the candidate, as well as the business acumen to successfully integrate new concepts into the established commercial sectors of the fashion and design economies.
The programme objectives may be considered from the dual perspectives of advanced entry into the fashion industry and preparation for higher-level research studies at Masters and Doctoral levels.
FEDISA was the first fashion institution in South Africa to be accredited with the Bachelor of Arts Degree in Fashion.
Over the 17-year operational history of the institution, FEDISA has grown into one of the largest and most prestigious fashion schools in South Africa and Africa as a whole.
The FEDISA Fashion School in both Cape Town and Sandton, conduct a number of ‘real-world’ industry collaborations each year, offering our students first-hand experiences of the fashion economy during their undergraduate and post graduate studies, facilitated by our large network of industry partners.
FEDISA graduates work in a vast variety of careers across the world and the institution also enjoy several international collaborations with comparative institutions in Europe and North America.
- FEDISA has proven that the days of fashion schools training glorified seamstresses are over. The modern fashion institute must prepare its graduates for the enormous diversity of career opportunities that are available in today’s dynamic world of fashion and fashion retail.
- FEDISA has been shown to be remarkably successful as the list of FEDISA graduates in the global industry keeps growing.
- FEDISA was created to deliver optimal creative talent and employability to the world of fashion. FEDISA graduates can today be found in an astounding array of careers across the globe. These range from working for Marchessa and Diane von Furstenburg in New York to Christopher Kane in London and Haikure in Milan.
- There are designers and buyers, fashion editors and stylists, visual merchandisers, fashion technologists, and costume archivists. The list of local and international employment opportunities simply keeps growing for these talented and committed graduates.
- FEDISA has also significantly contributed to exporting some amazing talent into the African continent, with Temitope Williams – FEDISA Graduate 2009 launching her own teaching academy in Lagos, Nigeria recently.
Cape Town Campus
Apart from an open-air event deck and indoor student centre, the institute also offers a 109-seat auditorium with state-of-the-art technical equipment that has been used for press conferences, media briefings, intimate lectures and small movie theatre experiences. There are also several well-equipped pattern, production and design studios, in addition to a well-stocked library/research centre, modern meeting rooms and Mac Lab.
Sandton Campus
The state-of-the-art FEDISA – Sandton fashion campus offers trendy, light-filled interactive studios set out around a central atrium with an imposing double volume reception entrance. The campus, in the heart of Sandton, is easily accessible with extensive on-site parking for students and just a few minutes walk from both Sandton City and the Sandton Gautrain Station.
