By Akshra Dalal, Director, JD Institute of Fashion Technology

 

A brimming career in the fashion industry is the most sought-after passion for one who appreciates the paradigm on paraphrasing, designing, experimenting; creativity on practical grounds. From mere shifting of the display of collections to experiment with creativity along with technology ascensions aided in fashion designing, fashion industries have come a long way striving to reshape it to new levels. The constant development has led to the proliferation of employment opportunities and continue to discover more in the coming years.

 

As per a survey by fashion innovations company Alvanon, around 62 per cent of fashion managers go through a hard time in hiring people due to lack of engagement with the growing development in the sectors inclusive of business, technical grounds etc. In the present age, firms are demanding a highly skilled labour force, asking for expertise in handling the business, commercial and technical purview of an organization.

 

The circumference of career options in fashion industries has been that of models, garment designers, photographers, fashion journalists, stylists, fashion merchandising etc.

 

The switch in fashion designers

There has been an exemplary shift as garment designing has further evolved to a more resilient 3D print designing in the form of executing garments with captivating colours, innovative patterns etc. According to Business of Fashion (BoF), 3D printing ‘bridges the technological aspects of the business as well as the creative vision.’ The annual report of Wohlers Associates shows more than a whopping 278,000 3D desktop printers being sold worldwide in the year 2015. The industry went on to grow from $3.7 billion in 2013 to $12.8 billion by 2018 and is expected to hit $21 billion by 2020.

 

Graphic Designers

With the advancements in technology and growing age of visual communication compel for a huge market for creation of logos, banner designs, eye catchy covers, etc. If your creative desires, innate imagination is something people should look forward to, then one should opt for this career option.

 

Illustrators

Being an illustrator, these days asks for skills as the expertise in using the CAD software for sketching designs is yet another sort of a new age career, which imbibes technology and creativity thus captivating the masses.

 

Sustainable Leap in Fashion

With the ‘Vegan Fashion’ being the awakened culture, the designers are venturing into the redefined concept of sketching, designing layers, manufacturing garments thus making efforts in reducing animal killings and ergo adopting sustainable fashion. The apparel industries keep on developing new technologies to create new sorts of materials that empower sustainability, enhancing style and performance. Sustainable development of fabric enhancement is the new drift with smart fabrics as Ralph Lauren is constantly innovating on wearable technology which is sort of making consumers express through their clothes. In a way, it is highly important to be upfront with the needs of our customers.

 

Fashion Buyers

The sort who have their eyes glued in the latest trends of fashion, which requires affixed attention to the persistent fashion happenings throughout. It requires a set of analytical skills to select and buy the latest trends in effective costs based on consumer behaviour, has an impeccable business sense which requires one to be an excellent communicator and make it accessible to the retail stores negotiating with the merchandisers who are responsible for managing dazzling stores to appeal the customers.

 

Data Analysts

The quality of owning the websites, going through every page and coming out with ample amount of information on the latest styles, cumulating it is one heck of a job that requires an adequate amount of effort and labour. One needs to be a complete enthusiast in fashion as well as in computer science. They have to collect, study and analyse the customer preferences and thus act accordingly. Due to brands shifting to customising themselves according to consumer needs, advanced machine learning has become a potent need of the fashion industry. As when a consumer searches for a thing, data science personalises it into different sets according to the various preferences by a user. Data science can expand a business to 60% per cent than in general, being a step ahead in user preferences with the help of data-centric insight rather than the general analysis of statistics.

 

PR and Digital Marketing

If you know to make one clickbait, this one is highly profitable for you. Digital marketing involves communication through new media about the latest trends, about advertising to the general public at the right time with the right cumulation of ideas. One should possess the qualities of grabbing the viewers’ attention. Public Relations should be maintained both internally as well as externally on a qualitative basis. It leads on making the ground level of a fashion industry stronger than ever before when it comes to publishing magazines, press notes, press releases, house journals etc., a fashion PR should always be a step ahead and simultaneously come up with innovative, latest methods in making a fashion industry discernible.

 

Fashion Cinematography

A forthcoming career in the fashion industry, where companies look for spectacular promotional angles to enhance the brand communication. It has the calibre to simulate sensations amongst the fashion fanatics to follow the particular style. Also, Fashion Photography is beginning to have diversified realms with glimpses in wedding photography giving fashion goals, where the lavish weddings of Isha Ambani, Priyanka Chopra, Deepika Padukone, etc with its breathtaking pictures creates a zest amongst the fashion enthusiasts.

  

Blogging/Content writing

An upcoming career with the advent of social media, websites, blogs. Creating interesting content like editorials, essays, blogs on social media as well as the digital face of companies via websites has become a prime need in making the objectives of a company visible to the netizens. These coteries of content creators are highly required in terms of updating new, refreshing content daily to retain the attention of the viewers. There are avenues of becoming a freelance writer if one has diverged interests, thereby working for several companies simultaneously.

 

Fashion Stylist

Another major career option which forecasts a growth in the coming years as netizens look up to the major fashion trends donned by the celebrities. With the proliferation in e-commerce, there is a growing demand for virtual assistant as stylist giving crisp ideas on providing a personalised touch to the wardrobe according to the needs of the customers.