Is the Fashion Design Degree Worth It For Young Designers?
What are we teaching these kids? The politics and possibilities in the fashion industry are confusing to the younger generation of fashion designers.
It has been 10 years since I walked into my Advanced Garment Construction class at the Wabash Building of Columbia College. I was accepted during my senior year of high school and started taking classes on campus the summer before in order to complete my elective courses more quickly. Every fiber of my being longed to be in college, surrounded by other designers, learning from industry professionals. Unfortunately, I didn't have anyone in my life who looked like me that I could turn to for advice as a young black woman aspiring to be a designer. Therefore, I had to learn everything through trial and error, completely on my own.
My college journey towards obtaining a Bachelor's degree in Fashion Design ended before I could graduate with all the required credits. I breezed through my core construction and pattern development classes in order to prepare for my design thesis. Just as I was getting ready for my senior year, I became a mother in the spring. However, this didn't deter me from bringing my little baby to class while I continued working on patterns and attending lectures. I completed my senior design thesis, but unfortunately, I knew that I would never be able to go back to college again to finish the remaining credits.
For almost 10 years now, I have been working as a full-time designer and buyer. Sometimes, I wonder if I missed out on a crucial lesson when I left school. However, the truth is that I have learned the ins and outs of the industry firsthand, navigating it on my own.
This year, I had the opportunity to speak to a young high school girl who was interested in pursuing a career in the fashion industry and wanted to know how to get started. Mrs. Reed reached out to me via LinkedIn and kindly asked if I would be available to have a conversation with the student. I accepted the invitation immediately. While preparing for the interview, I anticipated the basic questions she might ask, but I was surprised to find myself pondering the very same questions long after our conversation had ended.
How should students today choose a great design school?
It’s no surprise the decision to pick a college in a time when student loan forgiveness has many people living in debt is a hard decision to make. There’s a few Fashion Design Colleges with prestigious history of famous industry graduates, mostly residing in New York and Italy. These schools have programs set to the tone of learn to sew and make cool art collections. There was a time when I attended Columbia College Chicago and couldn’t wait to make something in the sewing lab with my peers. In the moment, we thought producing avant-garde art collections would guarantee us a job at a popular house once we graduated. We were completely wrong and not industry ready.
The fashion design degree guarantees that you leave with a working knowledge of garment construction, tailoring, pattern making, and product development. Now colleges have moved to keep up with the critical business skills that they left out of past curriculums to encourage more enrollments with the promise of great post job possibilities. When a student who isn’t familiar with the grunt work inside the industry they are choosing their college educations based on the dreams and expectations of where they want to end up in the future, think about where you’ll be starting from when college is over. How much will you have learned before you enter the industry? Pick the education that gives the best skills and knowledge for the industry as it will be tomorrow.
How do you get the most out of an art school degree?
You get as much as you put in with any degree and art school is for the souls who desire art more than reality. You should have the motivation to create through any obstacle before choosing a school because you will indeed face a lot of them when you’re working in the industry. The will power you have to get up in the middle of the night to sew will need to stay engrained in your mind and spirit when you begin to build collections only you and a few people will see and no one will pay you for. Make these realities of the industry the purpose of your degree so you know it’s entirely up to you to show up as you want to be seen. Use the access to sewing resources, events, educational tools, mentors, job opportunities, and MONEY to make the most of your time at college. These will be assets you will have little to no access to post-graduation.
What can independent designers do to gain visibility in the industry?
Designers have a vital responsibility to explore and implement sustainable approaches when creating new garments. In recent years, sustainability has become increasingly attainable and practical, in stark contrast to the past when we merely paid lip service to the concept while churning out a staggering 92 million tons of clothing that would ultimately go unworn. As independent designers, we now have the opportunity to establish a more ethical footprint by prioritizing the development of collections crafted from recycled, upcycled, and repurposed clothing. Additionally, the textile and tech industries are actively collaborating to discover innovative solutions for repurposing existing garments into new textiles. (CIRC)
By embracing these sustainable practices, designers not only align themselves with ethical considerations, but they also exhibit a firm commitment to intentional design and production. Such conscientious decision-making sets them apart from larger brands notorious for their tendencies to engage in unsafe and unethical practices within the industry. Moreover, by proactively learning how to responsibly source materials and design processes from the early stages of their careers, designers can establish themselves as leaders in sustainable fashion.
Couture is fun but we need more retail ready designers.
As the college education would have young designers produce avant-garde collections, the industry is ready for designers who can create market ready clothing for contemporary and modern apparel markets.
The first thing a designer should learn is that they will make zero dollars until the collection is sold. The cost of producing a single garment for retail production can range between $3,000 and $10,000. When designers create collections for fashion shows, they incur thousands of dollars in expenses but don't generate any income from the collection. Once the garment walks down the runway, it is up to buyers to select the pieces that go into stores. If stores don't choose to order the garments a designer produces, the designer makes no money. This is the reality of the business that fashion colleges fail to explain to young designers.
The alternative to not selling directly to stores is for designers to mass produce and distribute their collections on their own, but this is possible and incredibly expensive. Designers need resources to pay factories for production, materials, shipping costs, e-commerce expenses, and other obstacles that every designer will inevitably face after college. This process slows down the growth of fashion designers, especially those who are people of color and women, as they often don't receive even a third of the funding and career placements in the fashion industry.
In summary, as the young generation looks to fashion, we must encourage them not only with access to education but also with the resources and full transparency of the process of building a business. While it is unlikely that many young seamstresses and tailors will become future creative directors of legacy houses, they do have a future in meeting the demands of a paying clientele with their own creativity and designs.