Welcome+to+Fashion

The fashion industry is __big__ business. In 1999 there were 5.7 trillion articles of clothing sold in the United States, costing consumers 41.4 trillion dollars! There is a huge need for workers in the industry, **__if__** you have the right skills. Deciding which skills you need to have depends on what part of fashion you are interested in, because there are so many different areas to choose from. Retail companies are crying for skilled employees. Having a career in retailing is very different from getting a job selling in a store, although retail sales is a great place to start building your skills while you are getting an education. One advantage to retail sales is that you can start learning about the fashion business right now, before you have the education or skills needed for your career. To work for a clothing manufacturing company, which is where the designers are, you will need a four-year college degree, called a bachelor’s degree. The type of degree you should have depends on your interests. You could choose to get a Bachelor’s in Business Administration, with a minor in fashion, if you are interested in the business side of the industry. Or you might major in art, with an emphasis in fashion. Artists are needed to design the fabrics used in clothing, as well as the actual clothes. If you want to specialize in fashion design in college, you will need to choose your school carefully, because only a few colleges have that area of specialization. Fashion designing is a very competitive field. You will need to do everything you can to become better than the other applicants for a design position. When you get the job, you will be an assistant designer, learning as much as you can from the more experienced designers so you can get more experience. What about a degree in marketing? You would be educated in buying and selling fashion. You might have a career with a manufacturing company, working closely with the design staff to be sure they understand the market. Or you could become a buyer for a large retail company, choosing the right lines for their stores. Are you interested in having your own fashion business? An entrepreneur is someone who is willing to work harder than everyone else is, and take more risks, to be the owner of their own company. A smart entrepreneur will work for others first, to learn the business, before venturing out with their own company. Do you like science? The textile industry is a huge field, creating all kinds of exciting new fabrics available to us because of modern technology. Getting a Bachelor of Science degree would probably be just a start in your education for this field.

How does **__Fashion Careers & Clothing Design__** fit into all of this? Whether your career interests are in manufacturing, business, sales, or science, there are some skills that you will need to know about in any fashion career. This course is designed to give you beginning level skills in several of those areas. It can help you to decide what you are the most interested in, and it can also give you a head start when you graduate from high school and go on to college. If you should decide to work in retail sales after high school instead of going to college, you can use these skills to be a better sales person.