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Build and pitch a fashion brand in this 3-week fashion business program for high school students at UCLA.
Rated 4.5 out of 5 for classroom experience by students who took this course in 2026.
Course Description
A collection has to reach the right customer at a workable price. Follow a fashion idea through the business decisions that bring it to market.
In this course you will examine how trends, materials, pricing, sourcing, consumer behavior, branding, and merchandising shape fashion products. Current industry examples and brand analysis make those decisions concrete.
Students build a trend board, compare the life cycle of fashion movements, identify fabrics, and map a product’s path through a global supply chain. Costing exercises show how materials, labor, transportation, and retail markup affect pricing. A mock buying challenge asks teams to balance a target customer, trend forecast, budget, and product assortment, while a social media challenge explores how brands position and promote a collection.
The capstone brings these pieces together in a fashion brand launch. Students define a concept or mini collection, identify a target market, create a brand identity, plan products and pricing, and develop a merchandising and marketing strategy before pitching the idea to the class.
This three-week high school program takes place at UCLA in Los Angeles, California. The program is developed by UCLA and offered in partnership with Summer Discovery. It is available to residential and commuter students.
What You Will Do
• Analyze fashion trends, brands, target customers, and global fashion capitals
• Build a trend board using color, fabric, silhouette, and consumer research
• Compare materials and consider performance and sustainability
• Calculate product costs, retail markups, and pricing decisions
• Map a fashion supply chain and make mock retail buying choices
• Develop and pitch a fashion brand launch with merchandising and marketing plans
Learning Outcomes
By the end of the course, students will be able to:
• Analyze how trends, consumers, costs, and supply chains shape fashion products
• Apply branding and merchandising principles to a defined target market
• Present a fashion brand launch that connects product, pricing, and promotion decisions
You’ll leave with your trend board, fashion brand launch proposal, and a certificate of completion.
Why Fashion Business Skills Matter
Fashion business requires creative ideas to survive real constraints. A product must appeal to a target customer, use appropriate materials, reach the market at a workable cost, and fit within a clear brand. Trend analysis helps students notice change, while costing and supply-chain mapping show how decisions in one part of the process affect everything that follows.
Branding and merchandising add another layer of communication. Students must explain who a product is for, why it belongs in the assortment, and how presentation influences what customers notice. Those skills strengthen research, commercial reasoning, and the ability to defend a recommendation with evidence.
Who Should Attend?
For students who have completed 9th, 10th, 11th, or 12th grade.
If you track trends, notice how brands present themselves, or enjoy building a visual idea, this course opens up the business behind fashion. Research, numbers, team challenges, and a brand pitch give you a way to connect creative choices with commercial decisions. Artistic drawing or sewing experience is not required; the focus is on the business side of the industry.
Recommended by More Than 4 out of 5 Students
Based on students surveyed in Summer Discovery’s 2026 UCLA high school program.
Your Summer at UCLA
UCLA gives high-school students the opportunity to explore an academic interest while experiencing university life in Los Angeles, a city where entertainment, technology, business, science, and culture constantly intersect. The campus has its own community and rhythm while connecting students to a wider environment built around creativity and new ideas.
Students learn alongside peers, navigate a large campus, and gain independence through everyday choices and responsibilities. Time outside class expands the experience through friendships, campus life, and opportunities to notice which subjects and settings hold their attention. For families, UCLA offers a valuable combination of substantive academics, personal growth, and clearer direction about what a student may want to study, experience more deeply, or pursue next.
Summer Discovery Certificate of Completion
After successfully finishing this course, you will be awarded a certification of completion for your accomplishment.
*This is a preview, not what you will receive