The paper discusses the issues faced by students pursuing fashion programmes in Ghanaian Technical Universities, with specific reference to curriculum design, general training barriers, the theory-practice gap, and lecturers' attitudes towards competence-based and student-centred pedagogies.  The study used a cross-sectional survey design, involving 290 fashion students and 25 lecturers from five Technical Universities, selected using stratified random sampling. The data were collected using a five-point Likert scale, with a reliability coefficient of 0.863; descriptive and Exploratory Factor Analyses were used for further analysis.  Findings showed that students' skills were mainly gained through internships and industry exposure, with little attributable to lecturers' instruction.  Evidence of a strong divide between applied competencies and classroom theory led students to find it abstract and lacking any contextual references.  Despite these challenges, lecturers were found to support competence-based strategies, which have a higher potential to provide more integrated learning.  Its results highlight vital gaps in the curricula, indicating the need to strengthen practical elements, expand industry collaboration, and incorporate sustainability.  The implications of these findings are practical for curriculum developers and policymakers who want to ensure that fashion education is relevant to the changing industry requirements.  The research therefore provides empirical data on structural and pedagogical issues in Ghanaian Technical University fashion programmes, offering a subtle analysis of theory-practice discrepancies from the perspectives of both students and lecturers in the context of African technical institutions.  This two-sided approach paves the way for in-depth analysis of the issues and opportunities of technical fashion education in Ghana