Ultimate Guide on Choosing your Diploma

Published/Updated on:
July 7, 2022

Choosing a 3 to 4 month Diploma at TaF.tc can be tricky at first, especially if more than one Diploma catches your eye. Essentially, you want to choose a Diploma that aligns with your goals and interests. To guide you in your selection, we have prepared this guide for you to better evaluate which Diploma suits you best!

To start, here are the Diplomas we offer at TaF.tc:

If the Diploma is not what you are looking for, you can explore our other options such as the Advanced Certificates and Short Courses here.

Diploma in Apparel Design and Product Development

For those who wish to make their own clothes and journey through the entire process from design to construction.

Total Hours: 561 hours

Max Pax: 14 students per intake

Full-time: Up to 4 months

Part-time: Up to 12 months

No. of Modules: 15

Outcomes: Fashion Designer, Fashion Sales Associate, Pattern-Maker, Technical Designer, Virtual Prototypist, Product Developer, etc.

You will learn how to make all types of garments from t-shirts, shorts, blouses to shirts, skirts, and pants, according to industry standards. The best part is, for your "Fashion Design Collection" module, you will get to create an ensemble of garments that is uniquely yours as long as you work within the limited time! 

"If you have the impression that by studying here at TaF.tc, you will learn a lot of illustrative design, you will be disappointed"

Our curriculum here focuses on imparting in-demand technical skills that prepare our graduates for a career in the Fashion industry. For example, instead of illustrating creative designs, you will learn how to produce useful production sketches. Instead of simply copying paper patterns, you will learn to draft paper patterns, perform pattern alterations, and cut and sew the panels together. You will also learn how to operate an industrial lock-stitch, overlock, and cover-stitch machine.

Our industrial sewing machines!

Additionally, to help you keep up with digital trends in the fashion industry, we have the Digital Fashion Design course where you create your 2D designs on Adobe Illustrator, as well as the Virtual Fit Evaluation course, which uses the CLO-3D software to create real-to-life 3D virtual garments. Learn more about how 3D Fashion contributes to sustainability.

The CLO-3D software

Not sure if the Apparel Design Diploma is really for you? Read this blog.

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Diploma in Fashion Business

For individuals interested in the business side of fashion and/or who wish to manage a successful fashion business

Total Hours: 493 hours 

Max Pax: 14 students per intake

Full-time: Up to 4 months                                       

Part-time: Up to 12 months

No. of Modules: 19

Outcomes: Fashion Brand Owner, Fashion Entrepreneur, Retail Professional, Merchandiser, Junior Buyer, Sourcing, Executive, Fashion Digital Marketer.

This Diploma includes two important elements of fashion business - merchandising and digital marketing.

1) Merchandising

"The art of striking a balance between maximising profitability and customer satisfaction."

Merchandising focuses on the art and science of formulating a buying strategy, with a focus on consumers. You will get familiar with planning seasonal collections, calculating budgets, and acquiring key skills such as sourcing tactics and handling multiple processes involved in the life cycle of a product using production tracking tools.

In the world of fast fashion today, the demand and pressure on the fashion industry are higher than ever. One needs to be knowledgeable about fabric and apparel, have the ability to identify fashion demand, procure and sell fashion merchandise.

2) Digital Marketing

"The skill of reaching out and attracting the right audience."

In this diploma, you will learn digital marketing in the context of fashion. By the end of this course, you will learn how to set-up an e-commerce store using Shopify, and run live Facebook Ads under a fixed budget for real websites, allowing you to measure and learn from real results. You will also learn Search Engine Optimisation (SEO), which will teach you to optimise your website so that your customers can easily find your website on Google.

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Advanced Diploma in Fashion Technology

For the full-suite of both the apparel and business side of fashion.

Total Hours: 766 hours                                    

Max Pax: 14 students per intake

Full-time: Up to 9 months                                            

Part-time: Ask Us

No. of Modules: 25

Outcomes: Lots of doors are opened for you - everything and more from the Apparel Design & Fashion Business Diploma!

The Advanced Diploma is a combination of both the Apparel Design Diploma and the Fashion Business Diploma.

The first 9 modules are the same, which means you will only need to take 6–9 additional modules to complete the second diploma and be awarded TaF.tc’s Advanced Diploma in Fashion Technology.

The 9 modules shared across both diplomas build the foundation of your understanding of the Textile and Fashion industry. Here is a rundown of the 9 modules: 

1) Textile Processes and Principles - Find yourself plunged into the world of fabrics, receive 50–60 fabric samples to identify and analyze their properties.

Learn to identify different types of fabrics

2) Garment Construction - Analyse and identify the different seams & pattern pieces in a garment. 

3) Drafting and Sewing: Casual Knits - Experience the entire industrial process of pattern drafting, cutting, sewing and finishing. Walk home with your very own industrial (M-sized) t-shirt and shorts made with the industrial sewing machines. 

Learn to operate the industrial sewing machine

4) Intermediate Production Sketching - create production sketches to better communicate with your manufacturers, your requirements and specifications.

5) Digital Drawings for Fashion - Learn Adobe Illustrator to create production sketches digitally. 

6) Quality Management in Fashion - Learn how to identify garment defects in order to differentiate the good quality garments from the bad

7) Apparel Product Development - Learn to strategically plan seasonal budgets, and design a mood board for your target audience.

8) Intermediate Fashion Merchandise Buying - Learn stock your store by identifying seasonal trends and, place a purchase order according to market trends and consumer demands

9) Fashion Brand Management - Learn how a fashion business is created and managed. 

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Diploma in Footwear Design

For the shoe lovers who wish to learn to make their own footwear or start a shoe brand.

Total Hours: 442 hours                                    

Max Pax: 14 students per intake

Full-time: Up to 4 months                                            

Part-time: Up to 11 months

No. of Modules: 15

Outcomes: Footwear Designer, Footwear Brand Owner, Footwear Operator, Footwear Sales Associate, Footwear Footwear Brand Owner, Footwear Stylist, Footwear Merchandiser 

If you’ve always had an affinity for shoes and leather products, this is the perfect fit for you! Just like how every KungFu master first began, you will start from the basics - learning about the different types of leather, the anatomy of shoes and their different components. After you’ve mastered the art of differentiating calf skin from cowhide, you will take the form of Thor himself, hammering and creating different types of shoes - from Ladies' Sandals and Pumps, to Men’s Derby and Athletic Shoes

Top Left: Ladies Sandals, Top Right: Ladies Pumps, Bottom Left: Men's Derby, Bottom Right: Athletic Shoes

Besides just learning about the workmanship and techniques of making good shoes, we want to make sure that our students stay up to date with the latest digital trends - which is why, we have a Digital Footwear Design component, where you learn to design your shoes on Adobe Illustrator! 

Design shoes on Adobe Illustrator

Your journey doesn’t simply end at making shoes, you will learn essential skills to create a successful footwear brand and collection. After all, it is important to know how to price your products, and ensure that they stand out from competition with costing and brand management skills.

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Diploma in Bags Design

For the bag and small leather good enthusiasts who wish to learn to make their own bags or start a bag brand.

Total Hours: 476 hours                                    

Max Pax: 14 students per intake

Full-time: Up to 3.5 months                                            

Part-time: Up to 11 months

No. of Modules: 17

Outcomes: Bag Designer, Bag Brand Owner, Bag Technical Designer, Bag 3D Designer, Bag Merchandiser, Bag Brand Owner, Bag Product Developer 

Introducing Singapore’s first ever Bag Diploma course with industrial standard facilities at our bag-making lab and studio environment! Learn to make a variety of different bags from hobo bags, briefcases, duffle bags to wallets and cardholders!

Top Left: Duffle Bag, Top Right: Hobo Bag, Bottom Left: Briefcase, Bottom Right: Small Leathergoods

The best part is, this Diploma is not just about your pure bag-making skills. It provides a full-suite of skills to prepare you for your very own bag brand. After a series of hands-on courses, delve into the world of digital marketing to help you reach out to the customers you want! Set up your very own online bag store on Shopify, and get the upper hand by ranking above your competitors on Google’s Search Pages

An added benefit of taking our Bags Diploma is that you will be one of the only 3D bag designers in Singapore with our Virtual Prototyping for Bags course (what a unique advantage!). If you play your cards well, this added advantage will easily get you into bag companies with ease. 

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To sum it up...

"This diploma is not for everybody"

Our diploma is structured to be highly intensive because we do not want to waste people’s time. Second, we want to simulate the intensity of working in a fashion company so that students get a taste of what it is like and are better prepared for their next posting. Lastly, we want to harness the creative confidence in our students that they don’t even know they have.

If the above scare you, we want to leave you with this quote:

“Nothing in the world is worth having or worth doing unless it means effort, pain, difficulty… I have never in my life envied a human being who led an easy life. I have envied a great many people who led difficult lives and led them well. Chase your dreams.”

Do not be afraid to ask us questions! Taking the Diploma is a huge commitment and we want to make sure we see you through your entire journey.

If you are not familiar with our approach here at TaF.tc, our goal is to help prospective students make informed decisions about fashion in general and provide them with as many learning resources as possible to review first before taking the leap.

Do WhatsApp us or drop us a call at 6011 8066 or visit our website to find out more!

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