Career in Leather Designing

The global leather goods market size was valued at USD 394.12 billion in 2020 and is expected to grow at a rate of 5.9% from 2021 to 2028. This billion-dollar industry is driven by changing trends in the high-fashion industry and is highly innovative. If you are passionate about designing a range of accessories like gloves, shoes, jackets, bags, and jewelry, then Leather Designing is an ideal career option for you. With the expanding demand for high-end leather goods, the need for professionally trained leather designers has grown exponentially. This demand has led to various institutes around the world offer full-fledged courses in Leather Designing for budding designers.

Leather Designing Courses

To build a career in Leather Designing, students can choose from a host of options as a wide range of diploma, bachelor’s and master’s courses are available in this field. Further, leather designing is also essentially studied in Fashion Designing courses as well as Footwear Designing courses and there are various specialised programs available as well. To help you in your research, we have listed some of the major programs in Leather Designing offered across the globe:

Diploma/Short Course

• Diploma in Leather Design
• Certificate Course in Leather Designing
• Certificate Course in Accessories Design
• Certificate course in Footwear Design
• Short course in Shoe-Making
• Short course in Bag Design & Production
• Short course in Basics in Bag Making

Bachelors 

• Bachelor’s in Fashion Design
• Bachelor’s in Leather for Fashion
• Bachelor’s in Footwear and Accessories
• BDes in Leather Design
• BDes Accessory Design
• Bachelor’s in Fashion Accessory and Design
• Bachelor’s in Costume Interpretation with Design
• BA in Jewellery and Accessories

Masters

• MTech. Leather Technology
• M. Des. Leather Technology
• MA in Accessories Design
• MA in Future French Luxury
• MA in Design & Applied Arts

Doctoral Programs 

• Ph.D. (Footwear Science & Engineering)
• Ph.D. Design

Also Read: How to Become a Shoe Designer?

Eligibility Criteria for Leather Designing Courses

To apply for a course in Leather designing, it is essential to familiarize yourself with the major course requirements you will have to fulfill. As these requirements can vary as per program and university, we have listed some of the general eligibility prerequisites you must know about:

• For undergraduate courses, you must have completed 10+2 in any stream from a recognized board.
• For postgraduate courses, applicants must have a bachelor’s degree in a related field.
• If you are planning to study these designing courses abroad, you must provide language proficiency scores of IELTS, TOEFL, etc. along with a Statement of Purpose (SOP) and Letters of Recommendation (LORs) and a design portfolio.
• For those aiming to pursue this course in India, many universities and institutes have their own entrance exams like NIFT, NID exam, etc.

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Top Institutes Offering Courses in Leather Designing

Leather Designing is one such field in Fashion Design that is coming up in a big way. With a range of avenues to implement your skills and creativity, you can easily find a place for yourself in the industry. There are a number of institutions offering specialized courses in designing apparel, footwear, and accessories to equip students with the much-needed training in the field. Here’s a list of prominent institutes recognized globally for their courses in Leather Designing:

• Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology University, Australia
• University of the Arts London, UK
• De Montfort University, UK
• Lasalle College, Canada
• Leicester College, UK
• Textile and Fashion Industry Training Centre, Singapore
• Institut Francais de la Mode
• Accademia Costume & Moda
• Italian Fashion & Design Academy
• LCI Barcelona
• Indian Colleges for Leather Designing

Institut Francais de la Mode

Institut Francais de la Mode is located in Paris, the fashion hub of the world. The institute offers a Master of Arts in Fashion Design. It is a comprehensive degree with the following areas of specialization: Garment (Womenswear/Menswear), Knitwear, Creative Pattern Making, Leather Goods, Footwear, Image. This fashion institute has a record of working closely with renowned luxury brands like Chanel, Dior, Saint Laurent, Louis Vuitton, Hermès, Chloé and Lanvin.

Accademia Costume & Moda

Located in Rome, Accademia Costume & Moda is revered among the top designing schools in Italy and around the world. The academy offers a wide variety of courses in Designing, one of them being an Academic Master’s in Accessories Design. The institution takes a limited number of students to ensure academic quality and placement. Moreover, the coursework of Leather Designing programs is supported by some of the leading companies in the field and several manufacturing companies of ‘Made in Italy’ leather goods.

Italian Fashion & Design Academy

Italian Fashion & Design Academy is located in Milan which aims to create your future in fashion. The academy offers an 8-months Master in Shoes Design. The course curriculum primarily focuses on the art of shoe design with various other aspects of Leather Designing. 

LCI Barcelona

If you aspire to pursue a designing course in Spain, then LCI Barcelona has an intensive degree in Master in Design of Footwear, Bags and Leather Goods Collections for you. The coursework covers the entire process of creating a collection, starting from the conceptualisation of creative ideas to the development of viable products. However, the course is only delivered in Spanish. 

IUAD Accademia Della Moda

IUAD Accademia Della Moda based in Italy offers a full-time 2-year Second Level Specialist course in Accessories Design (Shoes and Bags). Taking this course, you will be able to design and develop accessory collections like leather goods and footwear from a stylistic, technical, and production point of view. 

Top Entrance Exams for Leather Designing in India

• NIFT
• UCEED
• CEED

Indian Colleges for Leather Designing

With the opportunity to create your own designs and turn them into saleable leather accessories, a career in Leather Designing can be both rewarding and satisfying. If you have a knack for designing, you can surely make it to the leather industry, however, a degree can polish your skills and creativity in designing. The top fashion brands around the world have started to use ‘leather’ as a part of their designer wear merchandise, which opens up a place for enthusiastic designers.

• NIFT, Chennai Chennai
• NIFT, Delhi
• NIFT Bhubaneswar
• NIFT, Mumbai Mumbai
• FDDI, Noida 
• FDDI, Mumbai
• FDDI, Chennai
• FDDI, Kolkata Kolkata
• Indira Gandhi National Open University, School of Engineering & Technology
• Karnataka Institute of Leather Technology, Karnataka
• Government College of Engineering and Leather Technology, Kolkata

Job Prospects 

With a degree in Leather Designing, students are exposed to a myriad of options to work with the leading fashion brands of the world. Individuals can develop skills to build their own leather brands. As a professional, you can choose to work with a technical team responsible for executing designs and transforming them into final products. Below is a list of career opportunities for designing graduates: 

• Footwear and Leather Goods Designer
• Pattern Designer of Footwear and Leather Goods
• Coolhunter
• Fashion Consultant
• Product Manager
• Accessories Illustrator
• Leather Goods Production Technician

Find out how to make a career in shoe designing!

Footwear and Leather Goods Designer

This job is full of numerous challenges of varying kinds. As a career, it comes with stimulating and creative challenges to stay on top of the industry. Footwear and leather designers work with the trends and design a range of goods that are chic, fashionable, and have a unique air about them. Working as a part of a major fashion conglomerate, footwear and leather designers network with a large number of people and ultimately bring new styles of footwear and leather products for consumers to use. 

Coolhunter

In a world where everyone is looking to be ‘cool’, the role of a coolhunter is crucial. Organizations employ people as coolhunters who predict future fashion trends by analyzing current trends and predicting the way society is likely to accept a new creation over the years. A new form of marketing, coolhunters come up with relevant ideas and create collections in the world of leather that is likely to last for years to come.

Accessories Illustrator

With learning to design comes the ability to draw illustrations and patterns that can take the world by storm and this responsibility is on an accessory illustrator. Completing a course in leather designing allows the individual to pursue a career as an illustrator that reaches out to people and inspires them to consume the wide-ranging products of leather available.

Fashion Consultant

In a world driven by everything of fashionable, fashion consultant is an ever-in-demand job profile. The role of a fashion consultant is to help individuals pick accessories that complement their styles and lend them a sense of uniqueness. Becoming a fashion consultant can be demanding but it offers unbelievable space for an individual to grow professionally along with nurturing their own style. This is an up-and-coming aspect of a career in leather designing.  

Product Manager

Product managers are the most important people responsible for the success of a product. They work in a multi-layered team with a wide range of networks reaching out to customers to gauge their reaction to a product and work on enhancing it to be more saleable. The position entails roles of marketing, forecasting, and understanding the profit and loss of the product. A role with undeniable potential, becoming a product manager is a wonderful career option in leather designing.

Also Read: BSc Fashion Designing

Top Recruiters

Some of the biggest international brands leading the leather designing industry are Gucci, Prada, Fendi, Burberry, and Armani. These companies employ highly skilled and creatives individuals to design high-end luxury leather products. Here are other popular brands that have shaken up this industry-

• Nappa Dori
• Cmplt Unknwn
• Square Loop
• Bhartiya International
• Diesel India
• Index Sports
• Vogue N Hyde
• DUKAAN
• Quirk Box
• India Circus
• Baggit
• Llyod Baker
• Burlap People

FAQs

Leather Designing has acquired its own identity and a relevant position in the fashion market, to the extent that students from all over the world are actively building a career in this field. This is a great profession for those with a good sense of fashion and a love for leather products. Our Leverage Edu ‘AI-tool’ can help you assess the best choice of fashion institute based on ranking, course structure, the tuition fee, location, and the opportunities it offers.