Footwear Technology
With the growing awareness about how one looks the fashion industry in general is going through a boom time. Footwear being the most important accessory, good times for the footwear industry is assured even for the future. Manufacturing footwear has become a highly specialized affair and requires sophisticated machinery and technically skilled manpower. Government on its part has been very supportive to the sector and has encouraged exports through various schemes.
The profession involves a lot of hard work, and therefore those aspiring to join this industry should be capable of hard work. Thorough knowledge of science and machines is essential for managers and supervisors since they have to handle advance technology. Designers, on the other hand should have good visual imagination and be creative and innovative.
Education Qualification:
Science graduates with a diploma in can find an opening in this sector at the executive level. Graduates with diploma in footwear design are taken as designers. There are only a few institutes like the Footwear Design and Development Institute (FDDI) in NOIDA and Chennai or the Central Footwear Training Centre (CFTC) and the Centre for Leather Research Institute (CLRI) Chennai, which offer courses in Footwear Technology at the undergraduate level. In the post-graduate level footwear science and engineering can be taken as a specialization.
Other than the technical courses FDDI also offers courses in human resource development, like the 18 months diploma course in Footwear Technology (MFT). Required qualification for this course is BE/B.Tech in mechanical or production engineering. Graduates in leather technology or post-graduates in Physics or Chemistry can also join the programme. There is also supervisory course in Footwear Technology (SFT) and diploma in Footwear Designing (DFD). SFT is open for science graduates or diploma holders in mechanical engineering or leather technology. DFD is open for graduates in fine arts or simple graduates having a flair for sketching.
