The fashion technology lab at St Xavier’s College in Ranchi. (Hardeep Singh)

St Xavier’s College in Ranchi has taken a smart and fashionable step forward.

The premier cradle inaugurated a fashion technology laboratory on the top floor of the four-storey building on Purulia Road on Monday.

Sprawling across 5,000sqft area, the lab is divided into four sections — classroom, workshop, conference room and designing room.

The sophisticated lab, set up at a cost of around Rs 50 lakh, is equipped with high quality state-of-the-art machines for sewing and designing cloths worth Rs 20 lakh.

The college has started a three-year degree course in fashion technology this year and the lab will be of great help for the students.

Principal of Apparel Training and Design Centre in Ranchi Arif Nadeem, who was also the chief guest on the occasion, lauded the college’s effort. “Fashion is one of the promising careers. The emerging sector has huge prospects. The new lab will help students learn the tricks of the trade better,” he added.

Head of the fashion technology department Gautam Rudra said that the lab would give the students the right infrastructure to study a subject like fashion technology.

“Although the total strength of a class is 50, the first batch has only 27 students. Four faculty members from National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT) in Hyderabad and Calcutta will conduct classes six days a week for eight hours. The course fee is Rs 32,000 per annum,” Rudra added.

To enrol for the course, one simply needs to have a Class XII degree. Besides, he/she will have to sit for a written examination followed by a personal interview.

Radhika Agarwal, a twelfth pass out who has enrolled for the course, said that she was looking forward to pursue a career in fashion designing. “This course will help us in learning the basics of designing,” she added.

Echoing Agarwal, classmate Sushmita Sen from Dhanbad said that all the facilities that were promised to them before admission had been set up.

“We were told that we would have facilities of video demonstrations and interactive slideshows. With a laboratory like this, all these seem to be plausible now,” she added.