Fashion Design and Merchandising at UH Mānoa

05/30/2026

🎉 Congratulations to our Fashion Design & Merchandising student, Luphia Landry, for receiving 2nd Place in CTAHR’s BS Oral Presentation Category at the 2026 CTAHR Student Showcase & Research Symposium!

Luphia completed an independent study with Professor Minako McCarthy this semester and showcased her research among undergraduate students across the College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resilience.

We are proud of Luphia’s hard work, dedication, and accomplishment, and we’re excited to celebrate this achievement with the FDM community. Please join us in congratulating her! 👏🌺

05/23/2026

Please view all of the students' Spring 2026 3D retail store design projects here.

Spring 2026 FDM 339 | 3D Retail Store Design Projects | Virtual Rea...

05/23/2026

Through the Lens of VR Headsets: Stepping Inside Student-Designed Retail Spaces

In the FDM 339 3D Retail Store Design course, taught by Dr. Ju-Young Kang, students learn visual merchandising principles and design exterior and interior retail environments using MockShop (visual merchandising software), Adobe Photoshop, and AI integration. Students create walls, ceilings, flooring, store layouts, fixtures, promotional posters, display windows, mannequins, and planograms, aligned with their brand, store, and merchandise concepts. Please view all of the students' Spring 2026 3D retail store design projects here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_zxVGphMa0k

This Spring semester, Dr. Kang enhanced the curriculum by integrating virtual reality (VR) headsets. This immersive integration enabled students to export and navigate their 3D retail store models on VR hardware, refine VR system settings such as floor level and scale, etc., and view their store models so realistically that they felt as though they were stepping into an actual retail store. It created a uniquely experiential learning environment.

04/20/2026

Aloha 🌺

Join us in celebrating Minako McCarthy on her incredible achievements!

She has received the Innovation Impact Showcase (IIS) Award (2024–2025) for her excellence in teaching, as well as Entering Research and Creative Work (ERC) funding (Fall 2026) for her mentorship supporting student research.

Her dedication to innovation, student success, and impactful work continues to inspire our FDM/FCS and CTAHR community. This recognition is truly well deserved!

Congratulations again, Minako 👏

04/09/2026

https://www.instagram.com/p/DWXWq_CAUWB/

04/09/2026

https://www.instagram.com/p/DWUzHdEgb9H/

04/09/2026

https://www.instagram.com/p/DWyT3ZblRng/

04/09/2026

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04/09/2026

https://www.instagram.com/p/DW0YlaTk5_u/

04/01/2026

✨ Inspiring the next generation of fashion innovators

Students from Maui recently visited University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa for hands-on fashion workshops led by the Fashion Design & Merchandising program. From Computer-Aided Design to e-textiles and sewing, students explored how traditional skills meet cutting-edge technology.

These workshops highlight the future of fashion education while opening doors to creative careers and opportunities in the industry.

📖 Read more:

Students from Maui’s Lahainaluna and Baldwin High Schools traveled to UH Mānoa for a hands-on immersion into the future of fashion technology in February.