Unit GWorkplace Readiness

7.03Summarize careers in the fashion industry.

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The fashion industry as a career…

A self-evaluation and guidance testing will help to determine

• Interests: Things one likes and/or enjoys doing.

•Aptitudes: Talents or things one is naturally good at doing.

•Skills: Specific tasks one has the ability to perform well.

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Sources of fashion industry information

•Trade publications

•Internet websites

•Industry experts

•Library materials

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Personal characteristics needed for success in the fashion industry

•Ambitious

•Willing to work hard

•Pleasant in appearance and manner

•Genuinely interested in people

•Energetic

• Inquisitive and willing to learn

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Education and experience requirements

• Work-study program or internship: An educational program in which a school teams with employers to provide students with on-the-job training toward an anticipated future career.

• Apprenticeship: Training for an occupation under the direction and guidance of a skilled worker.

*EXPERIENCE IS ALWAYS AN ADVANTAGE!

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Post-secondary training

• Associate degree: A two-year degree usually earned from a community college program.

• Major: A specific field of study in college.

• Bachelor degree: A degree earned at the completion of most four-year programs.

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Forms of compensation

• Compensation package: A combination of wages or salary, vacation time, and other benefits.

• Salary: Payment based on a fixed dollar amount for a specified period of time. No overtime paid Based on a person’s education,

experience, and job requirements

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Forms of compensation (cont.)

• Fringe benefits: Employment rewards in addition to pay. Examples: sick leave, medical

programs, company discounts

• Bonus: Monetary reward offered as an incentive by certain companies at various times and for varied reasons. Examples: high sales, meeting

deadlines, year-end accomplishments

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Steps toward a career goal in the fashion industry

• Career planning: The process of outlining the steps to be taken toward reaching a career goal.

• Job: A specific work assignment or position within an industry.

• Career: An occupation that is undertaken for a substantial period of a person’s life and that usually includes a series of jobs leading up the corporate ladder.

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Levels of Employment in the Fashion Industry

Fashion career opportunities can provide satisfaction for all levels of workers.

• Entry-level jobs: Positions that offer beginning employees a chance to prove themselves and learn about the business.• Retail sales clerk• Stock clerk

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Levels of Employment in the Fashion Industry

(cont.)

• Management-level jobs: Positions that involve handling the administrative and supervisory duties of running a business.• Know how to analyze information• Communicate effectively• Think clearly• Entry level employees with a

college degree may begin in lower management and work their way up the career ladder.

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Career Opportunitiesin Textiles

Range from developing the initial fibers to selling the finished fabrics

Best opportunities are for people with strong education, continually developed and updated skills, and bilingual communication skills.

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Career Opportunitiesin Textiles (cont.)

Research and Development

• Employment opportunities• Fiber manufacturing• Textile mills• Testing labs

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Career Opportunitiesin Textiles (cont.)

Research and Development• Aptitudes, skills, and

knowledge required• Love of science• Patience in working towards a

solution• Creative imagination• Curiosity• Strong attention to detail• Good communication skills

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Career Opportunitiesin Textiles (cont.)

Design• Work ahead of current

season to research and forecast upcoming trends with proper yarns, blends, textures, and performance characteristics

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Career Opportunitiesin Textiles (cont.)

Design• Market analyst: Conducts

market research to discover future textile needs.

• Print/repeat artist: Creates original textile surface designs which may include color combinations and repeats.

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Career Opportunitiesin Textiles (cont.)

Design • Motif artist: Designs an idea

or theme (a motif).

• Colorist: Creates color combinations for designs.

• Strike-off artist: Arranges prints on fabrics after motifs and colors have been established.

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Career Opportunitiesin Textiles (cont.)

Design • Fabric stylist: Serves as

the bridge between the creative and business aspects by coordinating fabric design, production, and sales.

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Career Opportunitiesin Textiles (cont.)

Design • Aptitudes, skills, and

knowledge required• Imagination

• Creativity

• Artistic ability for different design careers

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Career Opportunitiesin Textiles (cont.)

• Production• Largest segment of the

textile industry• Employees operate machines

that perform manufacturing procedures.

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Career Opportunitiesin Textiles (cont.)

• Production• With the advancement of technology,

most production operations have computerized equipment. The computer skills needed to perform tasks in this work environment can be learned on the job or through formal education.

• Production jobs in America are decreasing due to decisions by textile companies to outsource work to other countries, resulting in the downsizing or closing of many plants in the U.S.

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Career Opportunitiesin Textiles (cont.)

• Sales• Salespeople are the

communication link between their company and the market, selling to yarn producers or fabric manufacturing firms. Firms with finished fabrics sell to apparel designers and manufacturers.

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Career Opportunitiesin Textiles (cont.)

• Sales• Aptitudes, skills, and

knowledge required• Ambition• Knowledge of fashion• Good communication skills• Integrity• Stamina and pizzazz

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Career Opportunities inApparel Manufacturing

• Ready to wear apparel is mass-produced in large quantities.

• The number of apparel industries in the U.S. is decreasing due to imports, higher technology, and lower retail sales.

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Career Opportunities inApparel Manufacturing

(cont.)• Fashion designer: Creates new

ideas that combine function and beauty.• Top fashion designers create their

own custom designs or ready-to-wear lines two to six times a year.

• Success depends not on creativity buy on whether customers accept and purchase what the designer has created that season.

• Examples: Armani, Liz Claiborne, Mary Quant, Tommy Hilfiger.

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Career Opportunities inApparel Manufacturing

(cont.)

• Design stylist/copyist: Adapts and mass produces high-priced fashion styles for sale within the price range of their customers.• Qualifications include technical

knowledge of fabrics, expertise in pattern making, manufacturing costs, awareness of changing social and economic trends and a strong sense of color, line and proportion.

• Personal traits such as creativity, drive to succeed, and enthusiasm are very important.

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Career Opportunities inApparel Manufacturing

(cont.)

• Sketchers: Draw freehand illustrations of ideas designers have created with fabric draped onto mannequins.

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Career Opportunities inApparel Manufacturing

(cont.)

• Production• Plant manager: A person in

charge of all operations and employees at a manufacturing plant.

• Pattern makers, graders, and markers are pre-production employees that complete their functions either by hand or using computers.

• The production process includes jobs such as spreaders, cutters, assorters (or assemblers), and operators.

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Career Opportunities inApparel Manufacturing

(cont.)

• Sales• Showroom sales: In-house sales

employees who present the goods to visiting potential buyers.

• Merchandise coordinator: Verifies that merchandise is visually presented as effectively as possible within the retail stores.

• Traveling sales representative: Sells away from the showroom to established accounts and new customers within a designated sales territory.

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Career Opportunitiesin Retail

• Aptitudes and skills required• Ability to work well under

stress• Ability to get along well

with others• Ability to think quickly• Good organization skills

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Career Opportunitiesin Retail (cont.)

• Retail sales associate: An entry-level employee who sells goods directly to the customer.• A job that can lead to other

positions in the retail industry.

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Career Opportunitiesin Retail (cont.)

• Retail buyer: A merchandising professional responsible for selecting and purchasing goods for the company.• Must adapt to a variety of price

lines and types of merchandise

• Travels often

• Performs a great deal of research, planning, and record keeping

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Career Opportunitiesin Retail (cont.)

• Fashion Director: A person that creates and coordinates the fashion image and buying program for one or many stores.

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Career Opportunitiesin Retail (cont.)

• Management Opportunities• Merchandise Manager:

Coordinates the merchandise of several departments within a store; oversees a group of buyers using creativity in developing new merchandise ideas.

• Operations Manager: Oversees a department or group of departments; acts as a liaison between the buyer and the sales staff, providing feedback regarding sales and inventory; works to maximize profit and maintain effective customer service.

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Career Opportunitiesin Retail (cont.)

• Additional Retail Opportunities• Stockkeeping: Responsible for

receiving goods, protecting them, and controlling their movements.

• Distribution planners: Keep track of all aspects of merchandise through computerized systems at central or regional distribution centers.

• Trainer: Responsible for giving orientation classes to salespeople on equipment, procedures, and soft skills.

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Auxiliary Services Career Opportunities

• Promotion: The process of communicating fashion information to the public.

• Modeling: The combination of advertising and performing whereby someone wears garments or accessories to show how they look.

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Auxiliary Services Career Opportunities

(cont.)

• Photography: Taking still pictures showing fashionable clothing and accessories and using creative props, backgrounds, and special settings to create a specific mood and image.

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Auxiliary Services Career Opportunities

(cont.)

• Writing: Creating, editing, and sharing fashion information through the mass media.

• Visual merchandising: Responsible for creating and setting up walls, racks, and displays to show the merchandise being offered and to reflect the desired image of the store.

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Auxiliary Services Career Opportunities

(cont.)

• Advertising: Responsible for formulating approaches to attract and inform potential customers about a product or service.• Account executive: Serves

as the liaison between the advertising agency and the client and is responsible for selling to and handling specific advertising accounts.

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Auxiliary Services Career Opportunities

(cont.)

• Advertising • Media buyers: Selects and buys

the best media for the client’s advertisements after negotiating for times, positions, and the lowest rates.

• Art director (advertising designer): Creates the concepts of advertisements for all forms of media including newspapers, magazines, and flyers, radio, outdoor media, and television.

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Auxiliary Services Career Opportunities

(cont.)

• Fashion forecaster: Highly-skilled consultant who predicts future trends based on observation and work with fiber producers, colorists, and researchers.

• Public relations: Helps a company project a specific image through all forms of media using publicity and special events and by anticipating problems and handling complaints.

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Auxiliary Services Career Opportunities

(cont.)

• Entrepreneur: Organizes and launches a new business venture and assumes the financial risk and uncertainty of the enterprise.

• Home-based business: A business operated out of the home. With the increasing use of the Internet, home-based business are becoming more common.

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Auxiliary Services Career Opportunities

(cont.)• Entrepreneurship

• Retail owner: The owner of a small fashion retail store or a franchise.

• Mail order business: A company selling goods manufactured personally or bought from another source by using warehouse space for inventory, toll-free telephone numbers, and a rented post office box.

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Auxiliary Services Career Opportunities

(cont.)• Entrepreneurship

• Freelancing: Selling of expert skills to accomplish a particular task. Example: An individual designs fashions and sells them to a manufacturer.

• Theatrical costuming: Creating wardrobes for performers in a stage play, opera, circus, commercial, or television show taking into consideration the script, lighting, and budget limitations.

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Internet-Based Opportunities

• Research fashion retailing websites for job opportunities.

• Research online trends related to fashion.• 1999 marked the introduction of

Internet companies marketing themselves as malls as opposed to search engines.

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Internet-Based Opportunities (cont.)

• E-commerce: The buying and selling of goods and services over the Internet. (business on the Internet)• In 1998, 31% of website users

purchased online regularly or occasionally.

• In 1999, 42% of website users purchased online regularly or occasionally (1999 Cyberstudy of U.S. Internet Users).

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Internet-Based Opportunities (cont.)

• From 2000 to 2002, online holiday shopping for apparel increased by 13%. The ever-increasing popularity of shopping online for apparel has surprised those who predicted that customers would be reluctant to buy what they could not first try on.

• The typical shopping pattern among new users is to first browse e-tail sites, buy low commodity items such as CDs and books first, then gradually purchase more products and those of greater value.