Experience and Connections

Fashion design school is a great way to get your foot in the door but doing school projects is not enough. 

A lot of time and effort goes into building your career as you juggle school work and fine-tune your skills. As a student, it isn’t the most manageable process. However, with emerging technologies like RTO software, Australia popular among online training institutes, your practical education can also be world-class.

It’s no news that in any professional field, experience and practice matter most. Practical experience is going to teach you the finer nuances of this profession.

Remember, while you work for internships and projects outside school, you’re also indirectly networking. 

In an industry where you depend on collaborating with professionals and clients, your reputation is always on the line. Making connections is your safety net. These alliances speak for you. It’s easier to land jobs based on recommendations rather than having to prove that you’re worth it. 

Competitiveness and Individuality

Demand for fashion designers is anticipated to grow by 3% over the next decade. Even with these odds, you’re likely to face fierce competition in this industry. 

You need to grow and adapt to the times, stay on top of current trends and cultivate as many skills as you can. As long as new brands with unique concepts keep emerging, there will always be someone to compete with. 

The fashion design stream is not just sewing clothes and having fashion shows. There is a business aspect to it that involves effort and strategy. You should be able to multitask and acclimatize.  

Fashion trends keep shifting. New techniques are introduced every year and it’s necessary to be able to upskill and perform linearly. Trends from a year or ten years ago may make comebacks and you should be able to work them into your board.

Multiple designers can have the same idea, but their perspectives make their work unique. As a student and a beginner, you’d be filled with ideas. Keep those creative juices flowing. Unless you have something new to bring to the table every once in a while, you’ll fade out. 

Consistency and Criticism

The fashion industry isn’t always as glamorous as it seems. A lot of blood, sweat and tears go behind the scenes. To make your mark as a designer and gain that title, one needs to be consistent. 

Everything from your ideas to your designs is on a platter for the world to see. Once it's out, it’s everyone’s business. 

To succeed in this industry, feedback is your best teacher. It may not be positive all the time. Experts may rip your art apart in their comments. Constructive criticisms are difficult to handle. But you need to learn to be okay with them. 

Financial Instability and Stress

As a student of fashion design, you work with a lot of materials - different fabrics, tools and equipment. 

In the beginning, funding your art is costly. Most schools expect you to buy your own materials but provide equipment for as long as your semester lasts. After this, you’re on your own unless you land a job. 

If you freelance, you might have to make a starting investment. Freelancing offers a lesser chance of income due to the lack of job security. 

So, unless you’re recruited by a big fashion company or have an excellent network, financial instability will be your biggest obstacle. 

Learn to save and manage your money, as early as possible.

Conclusion

Fashion designing needs a lot more than your creativity. 

The stress factor in this line is as huge as in any other. 

You will have deadlines, rude clients, unimpressed supervisors, monetary limits and inconvenient, unprecedented issues. And as you will learn with experience, people in the industry are indirectly affected by every little error. One needs to be trained to handle this amount of responsibility.

But the fashion design world is just as complex and challenging as it is rewarding. The industry is an incredible business for creative people and has no bounds or limits. If that sounds like you, go for it!