Career in Apparel Designing: A Glamorous Road Ahead !

If you are creative with that quirky sense of fashion, have good knowledge of colour and aesthetics, then a career in Apparel Designing is a right path for you. With changing times, fashion industry too has undergone loads of transformations and has emerged with brighter tones. With new opportunities surfacing, the awareness and growth options in this sector have left Indian market spellbound. Thus, students who are incessantly drawn towards latest fashion trends, colours and garments have wonderful opportunity of pursuing a Career in Apparel Designing.

Those who take up this field get to convert computerized 2D images to 3D dresses. Moreover, they get to explore customer's psychology and analyze current needs of the market. Since the field in intricately linked with a consumer's emotional satisfaction as one invests into it with high expectations, it infuses a nice feel as well as enhances one's persona.

Industry Scenario

The apparel industry has been largely targeting both national and international markets. In terms of exports, India is currently facing a cut throat competition from other global big fishes such as Bangladesh, China, Vietnam, and Cambodia. But with India's fibred to fashion technique, it has managed to niche an advantage. In the domestic market, India's footing continues to dazzle. Sky scraping rise in middle class income and growing awareness within today's youth are the two major causes contributing to purchasing power capacity. This in turn benefits retailing industry.

Moreover, since the changing weather conditions are becoming a major cause of worry in our everyday lives, it shouldn't come as a surprise if in coming times, trends like organic cotton and eco-friendly garments occupy the limelight.

Skills Required

Since a career in apparel designing requires students with a keen eye, it should be only pursued by people interested in foretelling fashion trends and aesthetics. Those with good observatory skills and knowledge of history of fashion i.e. its origin and meaning too have potential in this field. Above all, one needs to have sound technical knowledge of key skills like:

• Illustration
• Pattern making
• Draping
• Garment construction

Since all the above skills truly help a person while climbing the ladder of success, they need to present within one willing to make it big.

Some of the Colleges Offering Apparel Designing

• Vogue institute of Fashion Technology  
• S Nijalingappa College - Karnataka 
• Hyderabad Institute of Fashion Technology Pvt. LTd.
• Army Institute of Fashion & Design (AIFD)    
• Sir Vithaldas Thackersey (SVT) College of Home Science

Money Matters

How much money a fresher can make depends on his/her caliber as well as the field one chooses to pursue within apparel industry. For instance, if one begins as a fashion designer then he/she can make anything above Rs 15,000 whereas if one chooses to become a designer merchandiser then he/she can make anything around Rs 20000, while a person with both manufacturing and merchandising skills can earn anything in range within Rs 20,000 to 25,000. Since it all depends on demand and supply chain, the money may slightly differ.

Final Words

If you ever ask an apparel sector professional, a secret to their success then one of the most evident answers you will in return would be good communication skills. So, it doesn't matter what you spin, what matters is how well you sell. So if you can effectively convince a customer to buy your ‘story' then there is nothing obstructing your way to success.

Source: Priyanka Wali (Shiksha Team)