Pennsylvania's Thriving Fashion Design Environment

Pennsylvania is home to state-of-the-art fashion design schools all across the Keystone State--from historic, lively Philadelphia in the east, to the spirited three river communities of Pittsburgh, PA. Pennsylvania has a wide range of large-sized or smaller, intimate fashion design programs, with more than a dozen major schools across the state.

If you go to fashion design school in Pennsylvania, you'll live and study a short train ride from Manhattan's fashion center, yet enjoy a lower cost of living, as well as Pennsylvania's rural splendor and metropolitan flair.

When you graduate from your fashion design school program you can stay in Pennsylvania, where the apparel industry is thriving. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics' Consumer Expenditure Survey, there were more than 4 million people purchasing apparel in one year--in just Pittsburgh and Philadelphia alone! And Pennsylvania is the sixth-largest state in the nation and growing.

There are plenty of opportunities to enhance your Pennsylvania-based fashion design school program by visiting fashion urban centers in Pittsburgh and Philadelphia, where design fairs, fashion shows, museum exhibits, and trade meetings abound. There are upscale shops and design boutiques to visit, whether you choose the trendy South Street or Bellevue fashion sections in Philly, or the Shadyside, Station Square, and South Side fashion districts in Pittsburgh.

If you're a fashion design school student, the cost-of-living in Pennsylvania is appealing. According to Homefair statistics, you would need to earn $20,000 more a year than you do in Pittsburgh or Philadelphia to afford equal-value housing in New York City. Those figures should make Pennsylvania suddenly seem more fashionable.