Seattle Fashion Academy

About Us

Mission Statement

Seattle Fashion Academy is a private, locally owned and operated, fashion design school. The academy's mission is to promote creativity and imagination by teaching proven industry techniques that will give students the foundation they need to achieve their fashion goals.

SFA believes fashion is a skill-based art and vocation. In order for students to execute their design visions, they need a strong technical foundation. By studying and practicing couture techniques developed over hundreds of years, students learn to recognize true quality and create garments with couture-level construction and design.

The basic skills necessary for placement or advancement in the fashion industry are: pattern design skills, fashion illustration skills, and sewing skills. SFA teaches these skills in the context of high fashion.

Design, illustration, and sewing classes are each taught in a sequence of beginning, intermediate and advanced classes. These classes are in turn supported by a number of ancillary classes which broaden and enrich the scope of the student's education. Because classes are small and intensively taught by working professionals, students efficiently gain mastery and advance through the curriculum.

In addition continuing the old school techniques, SFA looks forward to expanding its curriculum to include an exploration of textiles and their creation. This will further enhance the study of fashion art by deepening the students experience of creating unique garments from start to finish.

Is Seattle Fashion Academy for you?

Students of all ages and abilities are welcome at Seattle Fashion Academy. No prior knowledge, ability, or experience is required or presumed. Imaginative, creative beginning students are particularly encouraged!

Academy instructors are all experienced, talented professionals currently working in fashion. Their teaching methods emphasize fundamental fashion design principles and helping students fully understand and master subject matter. By focusing on mastery of core skills, students will develop the confidence to tackle more difficult projects.

Small class sizes are an important and effective element of the SFA approach. Class sizes rarely exceed 10 students. This enables instructors to treat every student as an individual.

Students are encouraged to develop their own style as they design and produce their apparel. The goal for students at SFA is to demonstrate mastery in the skills they are taught, not to reproduce a particular look, and to understand the elements of good design, not to learn a single approach to design.

SFA accepts the reality that people come in as many different shapes and sizes as there are humans. The fashion industry as a whole employs mass production techniques and standard sizing that allow clothes to be made cheaply and quickly. At SFA, we teach you how to make high-quality, beautiful clothes to fit your body, instead of expecting your body to fit the clothes.