You took admission in Fashion Design Course and passed out with flying colors. Now what?It’s time for you to choose a path in Fashion Designing and it is getting very confusing. Let us give you some clarity on what to do after completion of the Fashion Design Course.
There are 3 main career paths for a fashion designer:
[1] Self Employed
[2] Freelancer
[3] in-house in an organization.
Self Employed:
Many students choose this path after graduation because it gives you the freedom to work in an industry of your choice. However, it also involves a lot of hard work and planning at the same time. These are the main areas where you need to focus on when taking this route:
1) Work under an organization for 1-2 years to understand how business functions in real-time. The market is a lot different from the books and a good working experience will be very helpful in understanding how things work.
2) If you have completed an MBA, then it becomes easier for you to manage your business by yourself as the financials need to be handled by someone who has proper knowledge about it. Other than that, if you do not have an MBA, then you can take the help of professionals to get your work done.
3) To begin with, you can sell products online or offline keeping in mind that you will not be able to run your business successfully by selling only a few pieces. You need to be very careful when it comes to running a business because everything is calculated in numbers and you cannot bear any loss.
4) Try to get into big organizations through recommendations or by applying in their stores directly. If your line is good enough, then they might come to you for work otherwise keep meeting people in the industry who can help you with bigger opportunities down the line.
Freelancer:
When you are looking for a Freelancing Career, you will have to begin with small projects and later on build your portfolio. Here are some quick tips that can help you in getting there faster:
1) You need to show your line of products or designs to the companies directly depending on what kind of job opportunities they might have. If you are a textile designer, then you can directly talk to them about the fabrics that they need to be designed.
2) Make sure that you have a proper online profile of yourself with your portfolio on LinkedIn and other social media platforms. This is one of the most important things because most companies will prefer a freelancer who is already a part of their network.
3) Try to get into some companies that are ready to pay for your work. You can take up small projects or even an internship where you can learn a lot about designing new products for future use.
Organization:
This is the most preferred career path after completion of the Fashion Design Course because there is less risk involved along with learning a lot about the business side of Fashion Designing. The general requirements for this career path are:
1) You need to have an MBA in Fashion Designing or should be pursuing it during work hours. The reason is that you will get to learn more along with gaining expertise in the industry, which no professional can match up to.
2) You need to gain some experience in the field of Fashion Designing for about 3-5 years after graduating from a good institute. This will give you an idea of what kind of work is required and how you can manage your time between freelancing, designing products, or working on the shop floor.
3) The other factors that can help you in building a career in this field are:
– Experience of being a part of any Fashion Event.
– Knowledge about merchandising and market trends.
– Good knowledge of tools to be used for sketching or designing clothes.
– You can also take up an internship in a big store to get your hands on real-time experience.
– You need to be quick at designing clothes or accessories because that is the key to success whether you are working for yourself or in an Organization.
Overall, do not forget to take up small projects which will help you in gaining more experience and giving you an opportunity to earn some extra cash at the same time.