NIFT

Hi Akash,
You need to qualify NIFT only if you are appearing for NIFT Institute. For IIJ, there is no entrance exam as such. You can directly apply to the college for admissions.

Firstly, you should be appearing class 12th or passed from a recognised board. Other than this, depending on category, the age limit is a part of the criteria. The stream (maths, bio or commerce, arts) does't matter. The classes generally start in the month of July.

Leather designing is a field of real hard work, especially of physical strength.
The most important capability in this field is to have a brain to think beyond. As leather is something very difficult to work with, many a time people find themselves out of ideas while designing stuff off leather. So, it's very important to have the capability to think out of the box and make something new while never running out of ideas and designs.
Apart from this, yes it requires the other basic qualities.

Hi Anupama!
The seats reserved for SC / ST / Person With Disability (PWD)/ Foreign Nationals / SAARC / NR / State
Domicile, in each programme are as under:
SC - 15%
ST - 7.5%
OBC (non-creamy) - 27%
Person With Disability (PWD) - 5% Horizontal reservation for Person With Disability (PWD) (with 40% or more disability) cutting across all sections I.e. SCs, STs, OBCs Non-Creamy and General category. Campus and programme will be allotted on rotation, at NIFTs discretion.
Foreign Nationals/ SAARC/NRI - 15%
State Domicile - 20%
The qualifying candidates need to meet the eligibility and admission requirements of NIFT.

Hi Priya!
Cut-offs vary every year and are different for every course as well. According to last year's closing merit list, the cut-off for B.Des in Fashion Design closed at 264 rank, Fashion Communication- 517, Accessory Design 902, Textile Design- 1001, Knitwear Design 1007.

Hi Kranthi,
No, you don't need to apply separately. NIFT conducts a single exam on the national level. You can select the exam centre close to your location while applying for the exam and also give your preference for the institute you want to take admission in. Rest, NIFT will decide according to the rank you secure in the exam. You will get a seat according to the seat availability in these institutes and your rank in NIFT exam.

Of course, leather designing is one of the major course under fashion designing. You come across so many things in your daily life, which are made of leather like footwear, jackets, carry bags and handbags, belts and a lot in clothing as well and minor things hard to imagine. All these are to be designed by a leather designer. It may sound very basic but leather designing is really tough and demands a very creative brain.

Basically, the Diploma courses are designed for the people who are currently in handloom or fashion sector. If you want to do anything, then I would suggest you to join Masters in Fashion Management or Technology. The average package was around INR 6.5 lakhs.