Bhubaneswar, Nov. 18: Leading academicians, researchers, business practitioners, consultants, designers and students from the fashion industry will be in the state for a symposium from tomorrow.

Extensive studies on fashion and merchandising, marketing, handloom and handicrafts, sustainability and fashion technology are on the cards for the event.

The two-day event titled "International Case Symposium in Fashion, Retail and Management," is being organised by the National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT), Bhubaneswar. It will be held at the Toshali Sands near Puri.

"The case method of teaching has become synonymous with management education today and adopted by almost all the top MBA programmes in the world. However, there is a knowledge gap in availability of such case literature in fashion retail and management relevant to Indian and south Asian context," said NIFT director KCS Ray.

The symposium aims to debate, discuss as well as brainstorm in the form of case studies in the broader area of fashion, retail, consulting as well as management cases.

As many as 73 cases will be presented at the symposium by senior researches from France, United Kingdom, Turkey, Ethiopia and Bangladesh, providing the students with wide cross-cultural views in the ever-growing fashion industry.

"Selected cases from the symposium will be widely published as a "Case Handbook in Fashion Retail Management" and is expected to benefit fashion management, design and technology students and practitioners across the world to a massive extent," Ray said.

NIFT director-general Sudhir Tripathi will inaugurate the symposium.

Other noted guests for the mega event will be Anthony Kent, professor at Nottingham Trent University, United Kingdom and Bikram Patnaik, the merchandising director of Nike, India.

The case presenters would include experts from various premier institutes such as the Management Development Institute, Gurgaon, National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad, Institute of Rural Management, Anand (IRMA) as well as various National Institute of Fashion Technologies all over India.