By IANS,
New Delhi : After successfully running training centers across India that focus on the garment industry, the Apparel Export Promotion Council (AEPC) has expanded its educational and training initiatives through its Institute of Apparel Management (IAM) for the fashion and lifestyle industry.
Launched in 2007, IAM has been promoted by AEPC to address the “national talent deficiency” of competent professionals in the textile, fashion and lifestyle industries.
Other than this, AEPC also runs the Apparel Training and Design Centre (ATDC) that aims at upgrading the technical skills of those employed in the garment industry. It was launched in 1991 and is also sponsored by the government and the textile ministry.
“We are run by the government and have in depth knowledge of the textile industry. We know the problem areas and through our courses we will fill the gap by providing good managers,” Darlie Koshy, director general and CEO of IAM and ATDC said at a press conference here Wednesday.
“The council has the expertise to promote the domestic industry,” he added.
Koshy emphasised on the fact that the textile industry presently lacks in two aspects – talent and skills.
“The industry is growing but we do not just have to produce designers. We believe in producing business professionals who understand the industry tid-bits,” AEPC chairman Rakesh Vaid told IANS.
With apparel exports crossing $13 billion in 2008-09, the industry now aims to reach $25 billion by 2015.
“With the industry growing at such an astonishing rate, it is short of key professionals like junior merchandisers, design managers, export managers and brand managers. Hence, our aim is to mould people in such a way to fill in the gap perfectly,” Vaid explained.
IAM offers graduate courses in fashion and lifestyle design and fashion and textile merchandising respectively. At the post graduate level, it offers courses in apparel marketing and merchandising and fashion design management.
Presently IAM has campuses in Gurgaon and Navi Mumbai respectively. It has also tied up with Britain’s Wolverhampton university, RMIT university Australia, George Brown College Canada and the Ontario College of Design, Canada.
“Our courses are very different and our collaborations with world-class universities gives us an edge over our contemporaries,” Koshy explained.