The didactic model proposed in the courses of Milano Fashion Institute is innovative: not only in-class lectures, but also case studies and best practices, project works and laboratory activities.
Topics covered in the course alternate between case study discussions, meetings with managers and other industry representatives, classroom activities, and project work. At the end of the course, career guidance is provided to students aiming to work in the industry and a shared evaluation of business ideas with participants who want to start an entrepreneurial venture. The course awards an official MFI certificate. The topics covered are:
Fashion Processes & Business Models
The course aims to introduce students to the main business models that characterize the fashion system, the underlying business logic, and the different positioning choices and strategies, up to their impact on the configuration of characteristic processes. The most current and relevant trends in the sector will also be introduced, with a focus on the fashion and luxury segments.
Fashion IP Processes
This course will look at the different intellectual property rights that can be used to protect products in the fashion industry. Analyzing requirements and procedures, the course will look at how and under what conditions to obtain these rights.
Fashion Design
The course aims at delving into the different phases of the development process of a fashion collection, identifying both the activities related to the organization and management of the creative processes and to the planning of the architecture of the collection according to corporate and market constraints, with a focus on the different design processes adopted: research, scenario, and architecture of the collection, final development.
Fashion Negotiation
License agreements are among the most effective tools to exploit the value of brands and other forms of intellectual property. Consequently, the course will analyze how to negotiate a license agreement, focusing on the pros and cons of the most frequently used clauses.
Fashion Pipeline & Counterfeiting
The course focuses on ways to prevent and limit counterfeiting, working on the production-distribution chain as well as on communication via the Internet. At the same time, the course also provides an overview of the most recent regulatory developments introduced to facilitate IP-companies, including, for example, the favorable tax regime known as the 'patent box'.
Field project: fashion mock trial and fashion critical analysis
The course will be attended by many guests and will conclude with a mock trial.
Through an interdisciplinary approach, the analysis projects will be based on a wide range of topics: from competition policy to the protection of intellectual property, thanks to lawyers and fashion professionals (designers, photographers, entrepreneurs) with significant experience from both academic and professional perspectives.
Students will be able to study the principles of design contracts, theories of consumer consent, communication design, intellectual property, franchise law, real estate, commercial law, as well as fashion show/presentation law (covering issues in general, design rights, and labor law) and supply chain law (with a focus on sustainable fashion).