OVERVIEW
The Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) offers degrees in fashion, accessory design, fashion marketing and management, sneaker design, the largest jewelry and fibers programs in the U.S., the first graduate-level luxury and brand management program, and the country’s first business of beauty and fragrance program.
SCAD’s studio classes include five instructional hours each week for in-depth coverage of materials and methods, providing individual attention to students. From ideation to execution, SCAD faculty — inspiring fashion leaders with industry connections and experience — work one-on-one with students to optimize their creative opportunities for success. The university’s advanced technology suite further encourages students to create compelling work and take risks with digital fashion designs. SCAD students benefit from the opportunity to pursue CFDA+, Adobe, and Rhino certifications — accreditations only available at elite universities.
Students often choose to enhance their specialized degrees with SCAD’s myriad selection of complementary minors that invite new creative processes while illuminating future possibilities and comprehensive skills. Minors directly contribute to the career preparation that SCAD emphasizes, enriching students' education through exposure to a range of design disciplines.
SCAD School of Fashion Programs
Fashion
Powered by the university’s unparalleled resources, SCAD students drive innovation at the forefront of social and cultural movements in fashion, from stylish sustainability to inclusive design. SCAD fashion alumni elevate design studios at global brands like Chanel, Thom Browne, Marc Jacobs, The Row, and Anthropologie, and launch their own labels like visionary graduates Christopher John Rogers, Kate Barton, and Nigel Xavier. Praised by The Business of Fashion, SCAD fashion degree programs focus on real-world expertise and experiences.
At SCAD, fashion students study sartorial history and process, meet career-making brand reps and editors, and get one-on-one mentorship from legends and innovators like Miuccia Prada, Anna Sui, Emily Adams Bode, LaQuan Smith, LUAR’s Raul Lopez, and Collina Strada’s Hillary Taymour — as well as past mentors like the late Dame Vivienne Westwood. Number Nine, the SCAD fashion program’s Savannah home, offers students a professional-grade digital textile lab and other leading-edge technology to create original garments. In Atlanta and Lacoste, France, fashion students enjoy exclusive access to SCAD FASH, the only museum in the U.S. dedicated to fashion and film, featuring acclaimed exhibitions by design icons past and present, such as Azzedine Alaïa, Madame Grès, Guo Pei, Christian Siriano, Ruth E. Carter, and Pierre Cardin.
Fashion courses translate seamlessly to professional practice, encouraging students to develop the ingenuity, flexibility, and adaptability they need to succeed. In courses like FASH 414 3D Technology in Fashion Design, students use 3D simulation software to organize intricate design details and complicated pattern pieces into a sustainable design process. At signature events like the SCAD FASHION runway show, students debut their thesis collections on the catwalk and in high-concept fashion films that extend students’ global reach, uniting SCAD talent across fashion, accessory design, jewelry, film and television, sound design, and more in captivating cinematic showcases like Dimensions, Fashion Run, Fashion in Frame, and The Awakening.
Accessory Design
SCAD students extend the possibilities of accessory and lifestyle design, from head-turning handbags to wearable tech. Backed by a comprehensive, market-driven curriculum and leading-edge technology, SCAD alumni thrive in impressive roles at top companies like Tory Burch, Coach, Kate Spade, Stuart Weitzman, and more. Through instruction in the art of accessories and handbag design focusing on concept development, construction, technology, merchandising, service contributions, and more, students gain expertise in the latest tools and define their own unique design aesthetic in a program top ranked by The Business of Fashion and Fashionista, among others.
In courses like ACCE 422 Accessory Portfolio Presentation, students refine their body of work, create self-promotional materials, and assemble a professional portfolio. While honing their skills in design and patternmaking techniques, students experiment and gain proficiency with industrial sewing equipment, skiving machines, and CAD technology to discover solutions and digital fabrication methods that bring their sustainable designs and 3D prototypes to reality. A distinguished faculty with vast industry expertise, from bespoke brands to luxury collections, leads the department.
Students also access the genius of celebrated designers through the university’s Style Lab mentorship program as well as SCADpro assignments with brands including Swarovski and Fossil. Collaborations across the School of Fashion and beyond — like the annual SCAD FASHION runway show and digital showcase — as well as working relationships with suppliers, manufacturers, and factories prepare accessory design students for a robust professional practice.
Fashion Marketing and Management
SCAD fashion marketing and management students are empowered by hands-on experience in product development, brand building, supply chain management, and sustainability to positively impact in the multi-trillion-dollar global fashion industry. Guided by industry mentors and equipped with unparalleled strategic and imaginative skills, students and alumni shape the future of fashion as style forecasters, brand managers, and architects of multidimensional fashion activations who thrive at the intersection of design and business.
With a focus on brand building, fashion merchandising and retail buying, visual communication, content creation, and marketing for consumer engagement, the SCAD fashion marketing and management program opens the door to a wide range of enterprising careers. Throughout their education, students are guided by experts, immersed in a curriculum that propels them ahead of the ongoing cultural and technological developments impacting the way consumers engage with fashion. They gain hands-on experience in product development, supply chain management for sustainability. In FASM 215 Fashion Aesthetics and Style, students identify and formulate new products that expand elite brands’ consumer reach. In FASM 400 Contemporary Issues in Fashion Merchandising, next-level style leaders delve into the latest developments influencing the fashion industry including sustainability, globalization, and emerging technologies. With the ability to study seamlessly across the university’s global locations in Atlanta, Savannah, Lacoste, and SCADnow, students gain access to international markets and platforms.
Through SCADpro, the university’s boutique creative consultancy, students work alongside fashion executives from leading brands like Hermès, David Yurman, Movado, Amazon, eBay, Capital One, Kendra Scott, and L’Oréal who seek forward-looking ideas and intuitive style savvy. In these real-world collaborative partnerships that presage their future careers, SCAD students establish tech-forward digital and inventive print campaigns, create unique interactive retail immersions, and develop content and strategies to reach new generations of brand devotees. Through SCAD’s precise combination of education and experience, alumni help transform the industry at Ulla Johnson, West Elm, Kith, Kate Spade, Sam Edelman, Coach, and other bellwether brands.
Sneaker Design
Front and center of a booming, $80-billion field that exceeds the hype, the SCAD SNKR+ program engages the full spectrum of footwear possibilities, from athletic-inspired and classic designs to smart-casual, office-ready kicks and beyond. With access to leading technology, students build physical and digital prototypes that add to professional portfolios of original designs and get noticed by pros at the top of the sneaker game, including SCAD alumni leaders at Nike, Adidas, Puma, New Balance, Reebok, and SCAD grad-owned brands like Q4 Sports. SCAD SNKR+ students hone skills in sketching, rendering, concept development, digital prototyping, and branding, guided by accomplished industry insiders.
In courses like SNKR 709 Sneaker Lab: Material, Construction, and Prototyping and SNKR 735 Factory Fresh: Mass Production Decoded, students master the sneaker industry’s specialized vocabulary, advanced design principles, innovative materials, and complex manufacturing processes. Further elevating their design skills and visualizing ideas and concepts in real-time through adaptive 3D models, students amplify the possibilities and efficiency of well-executed sneaker design through virtual reality in courses like SNKR 723 Sneaker Tech: VR to 3D Prototype.
With a strong foundation of business coursework, students are prepared to launch their own sneaker brands as entrepreneurs or step into leadership roles at elite sneaker design companies. At signature university events like SCADstyle, students connect with career-making CEOs, brand founders, and fellow sneakerheads who hold court on the future and cultural impact of the industry and offer insightful master classes, studio visits, and portfolio critiques.
Fibers
SCAD fibers artists and innovators interweave art, design, science, and tech to shape our collective experience of the material world. From fashion and interiors to surfaces, automotives, and even robotics, textiles are essential to our perceptions of spaces, objects, and individual style. Fibers alumni work in inventive and in-demand roles, gaining prestige in the fine art and luxury sectors; designing elaborate installations for fashion houses and retailers; launching their own studios, brands, and lines; and developing first-of-their-kind products and materials for NASA and iconic brands like Nike and Tesla.
In courses like FIBR 319 Textile Futures: Digital Applications for Kinematic Structures, students use advanced technologies, including laser cutting and 3D printing, to transform simple materials into dynamic systems. Refining their aesthetic and technical skills, future sustainability specialists explore richly tactile alternatives to mass production in FIBR 412 Surface Design: Screen Printing for Fashion, Interiors, and Fine Art, while tomorrow’s trendsetters elevate their knowledge of color, style, and composition to create sophisticated fabrics for garments and furnishings in FIBR 418 Digital Surface Design: Collection Development for Interiors and Fashion.
Professional networking is integral to the fibers curriculum. Students enjoy exclusive, intimate conversations and studio visits with artists and design leaders including acclaimed couturière Guo Pei; Leatrice Eiseman, executive director of the Pantone Color Institute; SCAD graduate Maura Ambrose, founder of Folk Fibers; SCAD alum Chuck Chewning, principal of Charles H. Chewning Interiors; and renowned artists The Haas Brothers, Carla Fernández, Chiharu Shiota, lgshaan Adams, Shoplifter, Liz Collins, Cynthia Gutierrez, and Barbara Earl Thomas. Through SCAD FASHION shows and showcases — like the highly anticipated annual SCAD Fibers Open Studio — fibers students connect with design VIPs and captivate global audiences with extraordinary knit, woven, beaded, and embellished collections.
Jewelry
At SCAD, bright new talents in jewelry refine their technical design skills and artistic voices to shine in a multibillion-dollar industry that fuses cultural and commercial relevance. Graduates of SCAD’s STEM-designated degree program amplify the future of jewelry as designers, creative
directors, merchandisers, production leaders, and entrepreneurs. Through SCADpro, the university’s innovation and design studio, students dazzle in professional collaborations, adding glamor and insight to global companies including Chanel, Swarovski, Movado, and more. Alumni apply these professional practices to brilliant careers at LVMH, Givenchy, David Yurman, Tiffany & Co., Lorraine Schwartz, and Kendra Scott and as founders of their own award-winning lines and brands adored by celebrities and praised in the pages of Vogue, Vanity Fair, i-D, and lnStyle. SCAD jewelry students and alumni hone signature styles that have earned Halstead grants, International Design Awards, and International Lab of Mittelmoda awards, along with glittering features at the CFDA Fashion Future Graduate Digital Showcase.
SCAD jewelry students create within a 13,800-square-foot studio environment outfitted with leading-edge technology, including two laser welders, an induction casting machine, two Orion arc welding systems, a B870 engraver, a microscope system, dual handpiece micro-motor systems, Roland JWX-1D milling machines, GraverSmith engraver with air compressor system, and Wacom Cintiq tablets. Software resources include Adobe Creative Cloud, MatrixGold, ZBrush, KeyShot, and an authorized RhinoFabStudio, which enables students to earn Rhino certification before graduation.
Through career-focused curriculum like JEWL 387 Jewelry Innovation Lab, students transcend technological advancement as they take an experimental approach to precious works of great complexity. Emerging artisans at SCAD are nurtured by jewelry visionaries like Sybil and David Yurman, who donated $1 million in gemstones to the department. Through sales at the university’s boutique retail gallery shopSCAD, the popular annual Jewelry Trunk Show, and invitation-only activations at New York City Jewelry Week, the Smithsonian Craft Show, DesignMiami/, the Philadelphia Museum of Fine Art Craft Show, and more, jewelry students develop a devoted following of collectors even before graduation.
The De Sole School of Business Innovation Programs
Business of Beauty and Fragrance
From cosmetic lines to bottom lines, the confluence of beauty and business means big money: a market expected to exceed more than $700 billion by 2025, according to research by Fortune Business Insights. Students in SCAD’s pioneering business of beauty and fragrance program are poised to make their impact in this expansive industry — one of the fastest-growing globally — as influencers, entrepreneurs, and executives. Led by faculty from powerhouses like Estée Lauder Companies and L’Oréal and mentored by celebrated guests from top brands like Rare Beauty by Selena Gomez, and Chanel, students are immersed in global beauty branding, product development, business modeling, visual storytelling, long-term customer relationship development, and entrepreneurial opportunities.
SCAD students explore three professional paths as part of their coursework: creative strategy and design, marketing strategy, and product development. Design thinking is layered into the curriculum in courses like BEAU 330 Beauty and Fragrance New Product Launch where students create a comprehensive strategy to price, market, package, and distribute a new product launch within an existing brand. Students conclude their academic journey in BEAU 440 Collection II: Branding and Launch, where they research, ideate, and present a new beauty brand and business model that fills a whitespace in the industry. These future beauty business leaders develop their collaboration skills by working with students in other disciplines to develop their concepts. Through SCADpro, the university’s boutique creative consultancy, they work closely with international brands like Urban Decay, COVERGIRL, Coty, and Calvin Klein fragrances.
Since the program’s inception in 2018, students have earned scholarships like the Ulta Beauty MUSE 100, CFDA x Coach Dream It Real, Glossy 50 Honoree, and Virgil Abloh Post-Modern Fashion Scholarship Fund. They also benefit from recruitment visits by Goop and Benefit as well as industry mentorship by executives and guests including Tom Ford Beauty Senior Vice President of Global Marketing and Strategy Dexter King and Allure Magazine Editor-in-Chief Jessica Cruel. SCAD students graduate as globally minded, business-centric professionals ready to launch their own companies or land top jobs at major beauty brands.
Luxury and Brand Management
The luxury economy is booming. Stretching from goods like new-gen tech, jewelry, beauty, and fashion to lifestyle areas like hospitality, wellness, travel, and real estate, the luxury market’s capital is projected to reach nearly $400 billion and a consumer base more than 500 million strong by 2030, according to industry forecasts from Bain & Co. SCAD alumni are already making an impact in the growing luxury economy, staking powerful roles at major brands such as Parfums Christian Dior, Audi of America via Aquent, and Hermès. As future innovators, brand leaders, and visionary marketers, SCAD luxury and brand management students are prepared to join these alumni in leading the trendsetting growth of venerated companies around the globe.
The distinctive luxury and brand management curriculum at SCAD, centered on global distribution and marketing strategies, financial analysis, supply chain management, and consumer engagement, explores the entire spectrum of the international luxury industry. In courses like LXMT 740 Visual Narrative for Consumer Engagement, students employ visual storytelling, technology solutions, and multimedia brand-building practices to reach luxury consumers. LXMT 730 The Art of Luxury: Trends, Strategies, and Insights empowers future luxury leaders to effectively master the components of brand equity and confidently design strategies to successfully augment brand value. By consulting with industry partners and analyzing real-life scenarios and case studies, SCAD students develop a robust managerial foundation and sector-specific business acumen.
Further courses of study combine creative, sociological, psychological, and economic frameworks, helping students build the expertise to identify and capitalize on opportunities across all industries, including automotive, financial services, wellness, retail, and beyond. SCADpro, the university’s innovation and design studio, primes students to collaborate and consult on launching new strategies and products for luxury brands. Students also benefit from unprecedented access to CEOs, founders, and leaders of top global luxury companies, as well as unparalleled opportunities to tour the epicenters of the luxury world in Italy, France, New York, and Miami. From these exclusive hotels, shops, showrooms, manufacturing sites, and boardrooms, SCAD students are uniquely prepared for career success.
GRADUATE PROGRAMS
SCAD prepares fashion graduate students to step into powerful roles at global companies, to launch entrepreneurial endeavors, and to master creativity, design, and professional competencies. Through award-winning degree programs, small class sizes, and professionally connected faculty, students are prepared to realize their highest aspirations. The university’s fashion graduate degree programs emphasize research and analysis alongside studio creation and fieldwork, engendering a holistic, integrated understanding of design. Peer and individual critiques and seminar discussions provide a forum for the development of a self-critical framework. Students select electives that reflect their interests and enable them to delve into related disciplines — for example, classes offered in fashion journalism and fashion photography. Each program culminates in a final project or thesis, a pinnacle of the graduate experience that may include traditional scholarly research, a body of work, exhibitions and more. These academic quests often develop into specialized career tracks and lead to groundbreaking exposure.
As part of the De Sole School of Business Innovation, SCAD offers the world’s first M.A. and M.F.A. in the specialized fields of luxury and brand management. Offered on-ground in Savannah, Atlanta and Lacoste, the M.A. program is available completely online through SCADnow. The luxury and brand management course of study emphasizes operations and leadership through strategic studies in consumer behavior, marketing, brand and supply chain management, communications, and promotion. Coursework involves research and exploration of existing models, consumer needs and new opportunities. Digital media and interactive environments are incorporated into assignments. Students in the M.A. program use these learning experiences to create their own compelling proposals and business solutions of relevance to the international luxury market. Through wide-ranging electives, internships and thesis research, M.F.A. candidates hone strategic expertise that prepares them for powerful roles at the highest echelons of the industry or in academia.
First to the scene once again, the sneaker design M.A. and M.F.A. programs at SCAD are a testament to the university’s comprehensive approach to design and technology, combining innovative VR prototyping with classic stitching, soling, and wrapping techniques. M.A. students focus on design and execution with an optional internship or SCADpro collab while M.F.A. students further immerse themselves into the entrepreneurial aspects of product development and branding.
The M.A. degree program in jewelry offers in-depth study and a focused approach to jewelry creation, meeting industry specific objectives. The M.F.A. degree culminates in a thesis project to showcase students’ sophisticated contributions to their field. At all levels of study, students are encouraged to think independently and to embellish existing notions of personal adornment.
In the fibers track, graduate students hone professional expertise through advanced study and the completion of a focused research project at the M.A. level, and through fieldwork, teaching internships, a fully articulated body of work and a thesis engaging a specialty fibers topic, they reach the M.F.A. level. SCAD's fibers department offers the largest facility dedicated to a fibers program in the U.S.
