All About Fashion Designing

If you have even a slight interest in fashion, the industry may offer what you need to have an engaging, exciting career. This industry caters to a range of interests, including fashion photography, merchandising, marketing, buying, fashion stylists, and fashion design.

Some have what it takes to survive in the fashion industry. Some don’t. Some say success in fashion depends on talent, others sure will power. One thing is for sure- very few make it to the top echelon of fame and fortune to design fashion couture. But one may succeed in the fashion industry on a smaller scale.

Merchandising, marketing, and buying skills will most likely be the part of the same job description, unless you work for a large company that can afford to employ specialists in each area. A fashion merchandiser makes sure a storefront puts on a strong front. They are in charge of the presentation of items- the placement of clothing on mannequins- what jewelry highlights which outfit, for example. A fashion merchandiser is a trend spotter in a sense- they keep up on latest trends so they may know what to stock the store with.

Fashion merchandising requires more than a knowledge of what’s hot in fashion. A merchandiser must also be business savvy- they have to make sure the clothing bought by the store is in the target customer’s price range, that the store itself can afford to purchase the clothing at a certain price, and how much of the clothing will sell. And a merchandiser will need a few marketing tricks up his or her sleeve. A fashion merchandiser must also know how to negotiate with the suppliers of the clothing. Negotiating skills involve excellent communication and possibly ability to wheel and deal.

Fashion photographers must have the best job in the photography business. The high end photographers get to meet famous people. Fashion photographers must go where the shoot is, so they may take many expenses paid vacations.

A fashion stylist is the bridge between fashion and psychology. Stylists match clothing to people’s personalities. A good stylist is able to ensemble an outfit that will list the spirits of the wearer. A fashion stylist may work for individuals and prepare outfits for special events and occasions, or they may work for television shows or on a movie set.

Fashion styling requires pure talent. A stylist must choose clothing that is a flattering color as well as the right fit and shape to flatter the individual’s body type.

An entrepreneurial nature is a bonus in the fashion industry. Many jobs require you to work for yourself and your success will depend on your ability to market yourself. An entrepreneur must be self-motivated and able to network socially.

The fashion industry is always changing. This makes for a lot of work for someone working in this field, albeit a perfect field for anyone who becomes bored easily! Competitiveness and creativity are perfect personality matches in fashion related occupations. If you have what it takes the fashion industry has a lot to offer.

As an assignment I am trying to write a promotional plan for an apparal retail store. Any advice I can be given about fashion trends or marketing would be appriciated. Also any advice on budgeting.

i currently transfering to a school that offers fashion merchandising and dont know if is better to major in it or minor in it and major in maketing because i would have more options

A new link was created to extend commercial capacity and offer customer the convenience of an online shopping service. It offers the largest selection of discount sunglasses with the lowest retail price of the world. The wholesale sunglass category is filled with Sports Sunglasses, Metal Sunglasses ,Plastic Sunglasses and so on. All high-quality sunglasses advertised through this internet were delivered to retailers’ doors quickly and inexpensively from factory floors, with no middlemen, no minimum orders and no hassles.

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How retailers can come up with quicker, superior resolution in a move to react quickly to shifting shopper demand? The retailers are under noticeable pressure in order to respond continuously evolving fashion trends. The consumer’s demands are continuously changing with the fashion trends, whether its design, fabric types, colors or even the modest technology. The major point is to get known about the product that would be saleable in stores and at what time. To cater the most sensitive moods ever of shoppers, there is a requirement of precise anticipation, buying and planning the merchandise.

The retailers will voluntarily agree that the buying behavior is hard to forecast. There are many reasons which can affect the behavior, such as fashion trends, style-setting by celebrities, brands, monetary-standards and even the change in weather. These irrepressible outer issues can lead surplus stock, heavy loss, and stock wear-and-tear. Simultaneously, the greater than ever before competition in the High-Street to offer ‘Fast Fashion’, urges for lesser lead times, enhanced sourcing and buying plan.

Additionally, many times merchandisers and consumers cope-up with plans for various seasons at single time, foreseeing the trends for one or even two upcoming seasons. Also, they have to take care that the errors from the current season are not being carried-out into upcoming seasons. One of the major difficulties, which retailers have to face in a response rapidly to evolving consumer demand, is a blend of rigid systems and a short of on-time information. Converting data into real-time information is one of the problems faced by present business houses.

Tons of data can be produced is a seconds, however very little amount is helpful and provides gainful information. Thus, the retailers are on constant expedition to search the ways that can offer rapid action, better decisions and make them to test in advance, analyze them after production and alter them faster if the production doesn’t match the desired results. In all these regards, it is palpable to move towards technology. However, the better decision is a result of a perfect mixture of good information quality and the experience and expertise of the people who take the decision. Regardless of best technology that gathers data and presents information, it is the know-how factor which supports in the decision-making and initiatives, and really counts.

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A thing of beauty is a joy forever! This thought holds complete significance in the fashion industry. It is an exciting industry that attracts many brilliant, ambitious, creative, talented, committed and hard working people. Success in the fashion industry calls for an ultimate passion and enthusiasm to achieve set targets. The desires to create, see, explore and appreciate beauty must be inherent. It’s a creative field and one needs to possess as well as acquire certain skills that are indispensable, such as thinking creatively beyond the obvious and the ability to carve a niche in almost all the possible projects by making it different yet stunning than the previous one.

Careers in the fashion industry revolve around beauty. In order to be successful in this field you should have the unquenchable thirst for beauty in its all-relevant forms. Changing fashion statements determine the change in the trend of clothing, ornamenting and above all, adopting new ways of carrying oneself.

It is the style that brings elegance with a difference in different designs. Style is an individual aspect. No two people can have exactly the same style statement because every person has a unique style of their own. Therefore, the concepts related to fashion are also different. Some people feel that fashion is the passion of the slaves and that is why they try to dress and carry themselves in a manner similar to that of models walking on the ramp. This thought is challenged by a different thought; those who go against the fashion trends are themselves the slaves of the fashion.

No matter what different concepts abound, fashion is a career industry that is never going to fade. There are immense opportunities in this field, as you can opt for any of the following job prospects pertaining to your areas of interest: modeling, catwalk choreography, fashion photography, designing, merchandising, make-up artists, hair styling, and accessory designing.

Modeling: Modeling is a promising career that requires having a certain confidence and a pleasing appearance that needs to confirm to the basic standards of fashion designers. One needs to have an inclination towards glitz and glamour, as it is part and parcel of this industry.

Catwalk Choreography: Catwalk Choreography aims at training models to present their attire in an appealing and professional way. Designers hire talented choreographers because they know that every movement with the background music counts on the ramp. It can make or break an entire fashion show.

Fashion Photography: Fashion Photography is a very demanding career that requires the utmost dedication, sincerity, sensitivity and at the same time objectivity towards the subjects. It is the job of the fashion photographer to present clear expression to almost all the possible facets of style such as fabric, design, designer, model and the like.

Fashion Designing: Fashion designing is one of the most promising careers in fashion industry. It needs to have the ability to think, comprehend and implement the latest and original ideas in order to be successful in this field. Designers can specialize in apparel, textile, accessory designer and many more.
Fashion Coordinator: A fashion coordinator is responsible for coordinating fabrics and trimmings, quality and design. He/she needs to keep a constant track of production schedules and needs to be aware of the status of buyers’ orders.

There are several career options that need to be explored by aspiring students. You can certainly excel in this field provided you believe in the proverb; “work is worship” and have immense potential to rise and make your mark in the fashion industry.

My boyfriend and I both recently graduated from a community college and we are now looking to transfer to a 4-year institutuion together. I want to go for fashion merchandising, and he wants to go for graphic design.. problem is, we cant find one that has both of our majors!! we preferablly would like to remain in the northeast.. but we none of the schools meet our expectations.. and we dont want to settle! HELP!

Previously designers and buyers used to visit very regularly. Carrying their order requirements on a platter requiring no homework by the merchandiser. Today the scenario has changed and more people from the production, compliance, management and technical side of the business travel to the destinations for follow-up and the actual buyers and designers do not travel so often.

Correspondingly they are also unsure of what to buy, as consumers have become very finicky. Further their needs have multiplied and so also have the number of collections per year at the retailer.

With shrinking budgets and demanding consumers, based on rapidly chancing fashion trends, buyers are now looking more towards their suppliers to give ideas and directions in fashion. This chancing attitude of the buyer has placed increasing responsibilities on the buying agencies to provide sourcing support for not only pre set ideas and concepts but to create new looks and fabrics appealing to the consumer base of the retailer. With this widening scope of buying operations, merchandisers, who are responsible to interact and interpret buyer needs, are entrusted with the job of product development and sourcing.

Senior merchandisers are expected to be equipped with knowledge and insight to suggest different yarns, weaves, fabrics, blends. For this they require to be innovative and proactive to suggest as per buyers’ needs and profile. This is indeed challenging as prices have dropped 15-20 per cent in the last six years but the demands of quality have to be intelligent enough to source from not only the country but from all over the world to quote prices acceptable to the buyer.

Merchandisers have to be trained to not only work out the best possible price but also advise design limitations to buyers and suggest alternative options. Sometimes orders have to be placed with vendors outside the country to ensure that business is retained by the agency.

With their understanding of the buyer, merchandisers are expected to know how much he is willing to pay and offer only those developments, which suit his budget. This added responsibility of combining development and price has made the role of a merchandiser more than just that of ‘production trackers’. The job is more hands on. In fact even the basic role of tracking has become more difficult and demanding. The pressure is constantly on the merchandiser to bring in business from the buyer and not let him take away business to other destinations o buying offices. Marketing for new buyers is not part of a merchandiser’s operation. Separate people are trained to make presentations to new perspective clients.

To optimize the potential of the merchandisers we at Textile Network are departmentalizing merchants according to products and not accounts. A different set of merchandisers is looking after woven shirts and knit shirts even if they belong to the some buyer. I feel that product-specific merchandisers are better equipped for the challenges that the job throws up in today’s context. A merchandiser with basic knowledge of a product is a better team member for that category. An ideal team for any product would be one senior merchandiser with two assistants (one more experienced) and a quality controller.

Though Indian merchandisers are very sharp in sourcing, pricing, innovations and crisis management. They are lacking as compared to merchandiser in Hong Kong in the eye for details in color matching. Pattern making and giving correct response to comments and queries made by the buyer in the approval, process. A lot of stuff is sent for approval, which should never have been sent in the first place.

Many times because of the lack of knowledge of fits and patterning, comments from the buyer like ‘I don’t like the collar, it is not covering the back, or ‘the armpit is too tight’ is simply passed on to the vendor without providing solutions. In many cases the factory may also not have the right type of people to provide solutions and a sample is resubmitted with miner adjustment, which in all probability will be rejected again. This to and fro of samples wastes a lot of valuable time. If the merchandiser has an idea of how to solve the objection, the process would be faster and less irritating for the buyer.

Where Indian merchandisers definitely score is in the sourcing of raw materials. They are constantly surprising in their initiative to find out new sources at much lower cost sometimes even making a difference of $2 on one meter of fabric. New sourcing channels are investigated regularly for new options on price and product. Some times even suggestions in ways to cut cost are coming from the merchandiser which was not seen or expected from them even three years back.

Because of their growing proactive ness and willingness to apply their skills more and more. Company heads are willingly giving them independence of operations in matters purely related to approvals and sampling. Since market and product are the key to get business today. Merchandisers are gaining in the professional ladder and are considered important employees in a garment set –up.

I perceive a change in the role post-2004 as work is going to increase and price war is a foregone conclusion .The buyers will be in a position to select fabric from anywhere and do production somewhere else. In this scenario, the job a merchandiser will be broken down into two basic segments, one responsible for costing, pricing and development work and the other for monitoring and follow-up Even today I am seriously thinking of dividing my merchandising operations into two well-defined roles for optimization and greater productivity.

The depiction of working adults returning to college to better their long term financial outlook while opening the door for better opportunities is accurate, though not all working adults view academic enrichment in those terms. Working adults are returning to school in record numbers, but many are doing so in order to find a career that affords a better lifestyle through a career that holds their interest.

One academic field of study that has seen increasing numbers of older students is fashion merchandising, and surprisingly, many of those choosing to make a career change to the fashion industry are men.

At one time, fashion merchandising as an educational option was limited to specialty schools devoted to the field. Since fashion merchandising entered the mainstream of academia in the early 1990’s, many colleges and universities now offer business based degree programs with a focus on the unique challenges inherent in the fashion industry.

As for the fashion industry itself, which is responsible for over 250 billion in worldwoide sales and growing steadily every year, the influx of interest is welcome. With all forms of media projecting the importance of fashion consciousness through art and advertisements, shortages in number of qualified merchandising personnel are felt industry wide.

For many adults, the fashion industry offers a welcome respite from career paths that provide little in the way of personal satisfaction. Some view fashion as a lifelong interest while others would simply like to be a part of a lucrative industry that offers opportunities outside the office environment.

A degree in fashion merchandising opens the door to a wide berth of opportunities, from buyer and visual merchandiser to public relations manager and fashion director. In fact, from the manufactuing arm of the fashion industry to the retail outlets that sell products to the masses, the number of career paths is virtually limitless.

This much is certain. There are select industries whose related products or services are virtually immune to economic fluctuation, and the fashion industry is undoubtedly one of them. For working adults seeking a career with an exciting working environment that also offers above average financial compensation, few other options seem quite as fashionable.

I really love shopping and want to do something with picking out clothes. And was wondering if thats what fashion merchandising is.

I already know where Im going for college but im not sure about my major. Does anyone know about fashion merchandising? Im also intrested in latin cultures..especially Puerto Rico, does anyone know how that can translate into a career?

I’m thinking of applying there but I want to know if it’s a good school for someone who wants to be a fashion buyer and if i’ll be able to get a job after graduating with a degree from there.

It’s a lot of tedious work and our major isn’t only making clothes, but that’s what everybody thinks. Initially wanting to be a psychology major, Lewis found a niche for fashion and fell in love with the creative aspect of it. Others who have sported her work include Tanisha Fordham, who wore Lewis’ dress during the Miss A&T pageant and the requests continue to increase. Having no experience in sewing prior to coming into her major, Lewis has come a long way to where she is now. A textile class, a sewing class, a section of learning how to make flat patterns, and finally to where Lewis is, making clothes on a regular basis. Although she doesn’t have a favorite designer or a favorite store that she likes to shop in, she admits to having a taste for old, vintage style and often gets her clothes off of Ebay or from GAP, where she currently works. Learn More