Introduction

When approaching degree choice, the number of options available is basically infinite. You can choose degree curriculum, learning mode (online or in presence), institution, and so forth. 

The choices are so many it’s almost disheartening to approach the decision. This is why we’re quick to see that in some cases, the safer options are the most desirable. A degree in business – for instance –  will always provide a safety net for your career, and there’s nothing wrong with that. 

At the same time, we should also don’t give in to our fears. So students regard more artistic and creative degrees as a waste of money, with unclear career options. Among these degrees, a fashion degree (business or design) is easily grouped with more poetic degrees and easily dismissed. 

In the case of fashion, however, this may be a big miscalculation and in this post, we’re going to explain why a degree in fashion maybe not only one of the most stimulating options but also one of the most rewarding (both personally and financially). 

If you’re thinking about enrolling in a fashion degree program, read along, we’ve got more to share with you.

Fashion is a Large and Growing Industry

The fashion industry is a fast, growing industry that provides huge employment opportunities. Here are some quick facts you can consider to understand the size and influence of this industry. 

• Fashion’s Breadth and depth. At a foundational level, fashion fulfills a basic primary need, the one of sheltering ourselves from the weather, however, fashion does not limit itself to fulfill only these basic needs, on the contrary, it provides garments that embody status, distinction, and profound emotional rewards. To some level, the fashion industry is present in any country and is constantly evolving as it needs to reflect an ever-changing society. 

• Fashion Professional Profiles. The fashion industry is extremely unique. Within a fashion company, you can find an incredible variety of professional roles and specializations. As you move from research and design to production, from marketing to sales, you can call a colleague an artist, an operations manager, a material supplier, a communication specialist, or an area store manager. No other industry provides such a perfect blend and combination of art and management. This unique quality is what makes fashion companies a wonderful environment to experience and live in, getting exposed to a broad variety of people and skills.
  

But hey, this is not all. Getting a fashion degree does not mean that you necessarily have to work for a fashion company. On the contrary, the blend of skills that you can gain in a fashion school translates very effectively to many more areas. Let’s examine this point in the next paragraph.

Highly transferable skills

Fashion is matching the tangible with the intangible, the perception with reality, the experience with the quantifiable number. In this sense, fashion graduates are a great mix of both qualitative and quantitative skills. Here are some of the most immediate industries where these skills can apply seamlessly. 

• The broader luxury industry. Luxury is only a part of fashion, and fashion is only a part of fashion. The luxury industry is connecting to many more fields and experiences spanning from real estate to travel, from fine dining to clothing. Students who understand the dynamics of fashion products can easily apply these frameworks to a broad set of organizations working in many different industries.
  
• Software and Saas (Software as a Service). As the industry is very customer-focused, a degree in fashion will allow fashion graduates to apply their knowledge to highly innovative industries and processes like the ones met in software development. Software houses are not struggling to find software developers as much as they are having a hard time figuring out how to help their customers and serve their needs. The behavioral and user-oriented reading of fashion customers is a skill that applies very effectively to developing new software and hardware features that make technology user-friendly. 

But of course, the humanistic and scientific nature of fashion can open many more doors in other sectors of research and work, and that’s what we’ll be looking at in the next section of the post. 

Conclusions

There you have it! In this post, we’ve analysed some of the things to bear in mind, when evaluating your options and career opportunities with a fashion degree.

Here at 440 Industries we have a lot of interesting resources for entrepreneurial individuals who are exploring the creative industries. Don’t hesitate to browse further in our blog to look for new and engaging articles. Enjoy!