Fashion college graduates find employment
Linea Academy, a Durban-based fashion college, is delighted that over 90% of its 2009 graduate students have already found positions within the local apparel and fashion sector. According to Renato Palmi, the college's marketing and strategic director, the uptake of graduates proves that there are companies doing well and that a fashion career complemented with a degree in fashion studies is a good choice.
Linea Academy's marketing and strategic director Renato Palmi
Palmi said, "Some students were employed right away while still finishing their final studies." He believes the college's success is due to its continual striving for excellence in academic knowledge transfer to its students, standing within the industry and intensive networking and interaction with the industry. "Companies have called us to identify suitable students for employment.”
An opportunity to upgrade skills
An exciting new collaboration, which is an extension of its philosophy of supporting local apparel industries, is that with Durban based textile mill called Mediterranean Textile Mills. "It is one of South Africa's finest vertical textile mills, in operation since 1961, and the collaboration will encourage our students to use local textiles and provide them with the space to learn and upgrade their skills in textile knowledge."
Palmi and Kim Day, director of Linea Academy, have spent considerable time meeting with apparel companies and prominent individuals within the fashion and apparel sector. This has produced a research, which has been well received by the industry on the importance of skills development and the role an academic institution can play in further development within this sector.
