It’s a dream of hundreds of Indians to become world-renowned fashion designers. But showcasing fashion designing talents in front of the world stage that is pre-occupied by a hefty line of designing enthusiasts, it becomes difficult for some individuals to keep a track of their progress who are solely dependent on their skills that they have occupied without taking any proper training in this field. As per data suggests, the Indian textiles industry is poised to grow and reach US$ 250 billion this year (2019) from previously recorded US$ 150 billion. This industry supposedly is contributing towards the Indian GDP and has given employment opportunity to more than 45 million people – skilled and unskilled. However, the progress of fashion designing is still at a nascent stage as Indian fashion has always given importance to traditional and cultural beliefs.

The creative minds of the country, however, believes that there is humungous potential in this market to tune the fashion trends of the world with new dynamic and affluent wears. Giving these creative minds a chance to show their ability, there are some online programs that guarantee free learning and provide certificates after a thorough evaluation.  For the fashion designing enthusiasts, we have articulated the ‘Top 5 Essential Free Online Courses for Fashion Designers’ in this article.

1. www.oxfordhomestudy.com (Oxford Home Study College) – It is a short 20hrs course that is endorsed by OHSC (The Office of Health Standards Compliance) and there no specific entry requirements. It is an exclusive course that has world-class tutorials which are made by highly experienced academicians and famous industry personnel. For beginners, it is the perfect course to start with and make an illustrative career in fashion designing. Students can learn at their preferred time. The topics that are covered in this course are industry relevant and impart the most essential principles of fashion designing to make one fit for working in top-notch fashion companies.

2. www.bolc.co.uk (Brentwood Open Learning College) – It is a dream online destination for fashion designing enthusiasts where upon course completion, students receive free BOLC course completion letter that is issued exclusively by the college. This course amplifies creativity, vision, practical skills, and industrial knowledge of the students and turns them into complete professionals. Along with modern fashion techniques, the course content centers on the principles of design and the syllabus is made by experienced fashion professionals.

 3. www.arts.ac.uk (University Arts London) – The fashion course is catered to the students by extremely experienced professionals who know how to perfectly nurture out creativity from the students. There are multiple interactive videos which are user friendly to learn from. The students also get to interact with peers from around the world and learn how world fashion is taking big steps.

4. www.coursera.org (Fashion as Design Course) – Imparting knowledge on the essentials of universal fashion objects, this course primarily focuses on the productive tensions between form and function, automation and craftsmanship, standardization and customization, universality and self-expression, and pragmatism and utopian vision. The course also focuses on a selection of 70+ garments and accessories across the world which ranges from kente cloth, jeans to 3D printed dresses. Students directly learn from aesthetic designers who are known for innovations in fashion designing.

5. www.futurelearn.com (Fashion and Sustainability) – Students opting for this course will learn sustainable issues that the fashion world face and also get an overview about the agendas and contexts related with luxury fashion. The topics that are covered in the curriculum are contextualizing sustainability for a changing world, material dimensions, informed decision making (tools and methods), creative possibilities and creative realization. It is a course for the beginners in fashion designing and it is the gateway to an interesting creative fashion designing career.