Fashion Designing Course - Careers, Salary, Jobs, Scope

Why Fashion Design?

Fashion designing is an applied art which is devoted to creating and designing new clothing and lifestyle products developed accordingly with the dynamic changing social and cultural trends. Earlier considered an off-beat career option, today this field is a glamorous, appealing and filled with lucrative packages and career growth.

On one hand those interested in the hands-on production process, pattern graders, sample machinist, upholsterer are among few job roles offered and on the other hand, those with people’s skill can get into roles like a personal stylist and personal shopper.

Working hours depend on the job profile. Usually, in-office jobs require normal/regular working hours. Outside the job work involves attending fashion shows, meeting fashion journalists and organizers and selection of material.  A job such as fashion designing is full time which may demand long hours to meet deadlines and adjust their timings according to client’s schedule.

Key Skills Required in Fashion Designing

• Artistic Ability
• Creativity
• Communication Skills
• Computer Skills
• Decision Making

Jobs and career opportunities in Fashion Design

Graduates in fashion course can find placements in garments, jewellery and leather industry as fashion designers, coordinates, consultants, fashion stylist, merchandisers, and journalists.

Garment store chains, leather companies, textile mills, export houses, fashion show organizers are keen on hiring such graduates.

Following is a detailed list of few common and popular job & career opportunities-

Fashion Designing

Fashion Designing is a primary and an obvious choice for every fashion artistic candidate. Developing new apparels with new styles and patterns according to the latest trends is the key role of this job.

Creativity and innovation are personal attributes of this job. Sketching, the combination of right shades and visual merchandising are potential abilities which one must possess.

The average salary for a fashion designer is India is around Rs 3.5-5 Lacs, varying as per the company.

Textile or Fabric Designer

Textile Designer are trained professionals in fabric i.e knitted, woven or printed fabrics dealing with design, painting, embroidery and printing development.

The job involves the creation of design, studying fabric, preparation of samples, outlining basic ideas via sketch and awareness of latest fashion trends.

The average salary for a fabric designer ranges from Rs 2 to Rs 6Lacs.

Fashion Merchandisers

This is a marketing job which involves promotion of product and all necessary steps required to deliver it to target customers. It involves apparels, accessories, housewares, and beauty.

Creating strategies, developing campaigns, display and advertisement, stockpiling and control process are few important job roles which one has to perform.

It can involve attending national and international events, buying fashion goods and negotiating with merchants.

For beginners, the salary starts at around Rs 20,000 per month which can go up to Rs 60,000 per month and beyond depending on the brand.

Fashion Journalist

The job involves writing about brands, styles, fashion trends, covering events and reviewing products. They are required to prepare editorials for magazines, newspapers, books, television and lately, blogs.

It requires a considerable interest in the fashion world to pursue this career.

Right terminology, effective research, and editing skills are a key requirement of this job. Acquiring training in fashion merchandising and knowledge of fashion is an added advantage.

The average starting salary of a fashion journalist can be anywhere between Rs 2.5 to 3Lac per annum.

With the increasing need for exclusive content about the fashion industry, this career option can be considered an ideal choice.

Fashion Photographer

The job is not just about clicking photographs but also to make sure they are as per the requirement of the client and complimentary to their brand. They can work as high-end fashion photographs, magazine photographers, and catalog photographers.

Location of the work can be studios or field job in different locations, conditions, and timings.

An assistant photographer can get paid around Rs 25,000-40,000 per month. Professional photographers change Rs 1L to 3.5L per assignment.

More options

• Fashion coordinators
• Fashion consultants
• Cutting assistant
• Sketching assistant
• Stylist
• Colourist
• Industrial designers
• Jewel & precious stone worker
• Buyers and purchasing agents
• Visual Merchandising
• Modelling

Salary in Fashion Industry

Fashion Industry is a dynamic but lucrative field of work, as trends are bound to change with economic, technical and social reforms.

Starting salaries in the fashion sector can be anywhere between Rs 15,000 to 40,000 per month depending on your role and the organization. The average salary offered to a Master’s degree graduate is around 6 Lakhs per annum.

Graduates have a choice to go for a fixed-salary job or choose to become a freelancer. Also, this is an artistic job where opportunities and perks are purely location based. Therefore, if you are settled in metropolitan cities like Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, Kolkata, Chennai, Hyderabad, Pune, you have a higher rate of success as compared to other cities.

The salary varies with the field you choose. An experience of 2-3 years can give you a pay scale of Rs 4-6 lakhs per annum.  The salaries of a fashion freelancer depend upon their work, client base, experience, and skills. With wider knowledge base and professionalism, candidates can earn up to 7 lacs per annum and even work on ‘charge-per-assignment’ basis.

With a growth rate of 17% in the apparel sector, this industry can be an ideal choice of career option with an eye-catching work environment.

Fashion Industry Recruiters

Following is a list of top recruiters in the fashion Industry.

• Raymond group
• Aditya Birla fashion & lifestyle
• Lalbhai Group
• Lifestyle
• Pantaloons
• Shahi Exports
• ITC Ltd
• Madura Garments
• Gokuldas Images
• Uni Style India
• Texport Overseas

You can also work under famous fashion designers who are keen in hiring graduates specialized in various fashion programs. This can lead to a great learning experience and entrepreneurship knowledge, for those interested in setting up their own studio and boutiques.

Here is a list of popular Indian fashion designers–

• Rohit Bahl
• Raghuvendra Rathore
• J. Valaya
• Rajesh Pratap Singh
• Sabyasachi Mukherjee
• Varun Behl

Courses & Subjects

The right choice, of course, is very important for one, as they are the footsteps leading to the persuasion of one’s dreams and achieve their goals. They also act as a foundation on which careers are built.

Following is a list of Fashion courses and the subjects they comprise.

Top colleges offering Fashion Design courses in India

Below is a list of some of the popular colleges in India offering fashion design courses–

National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT)

NIFT established in 1986, is a group of fashion colleges set up by the Ministry of Textile, Government of India. The main campus is set up in New Delhi and other campuses at Mumbai, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Chennai, Bangalore, Jodhpur, Patna, Srinagar etc. In total it has 17 campuses spread across India.

It offers undergraduate as well as postgraduate courses in areas of design, technology, and management.

Being a top rated institute, the admission process is no easy game. Candidates have to score the cut off marks NIFT Entrance Test for admission.

The per semester tuition fee is around Rs 90,000.

Famous NIFT alumni include Manish Arora, Ritu Beri, Shivaji Dutta, Sabyasachi Mukherjee, Neha Sharma to name a few.

Following is a list of popular courses offered by NIFT Delhi-

• BDes Fashion Design
• BDes Textile Design
• BDes Accessory Design
• BDes Leather Design
• MFM
• MDes
• MFtech
• Ph.D. programmes in Design

Pearl Academy

Founded in 1993 by Little People education society, today the institute offers undergraduate, postgraduate and diploma courses in fields of media, design, and management.

With a 95% placement record, 1:13 faculty-student ratio, strong advisory board and international exposure, Pearl Academy can be an ideal choice.

The admission is through Pearl Academy Entrance Exam, followed by a Personal Interview. The exam takes place 5 times every year.

Various scholarship programs are offered by the institute to deserving candidates.

Economic Times recognized it as the Best Education Brands(2017) in Fashion Design Category.

As of 2017, the institute has 4 centers in India- Delhi, Noida, Jaipur, and Mumbai.

Following is a list of few courses offered by the academy-

National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad

National Institute of Design is set up under Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Government of India in 1961 for research and development in the field of design education.

It aims at creating design professionals to cater the needs and demands in the Industrial and commercial sector.

One has to clear NID Entrance Test to be eligible for admission into the institute. The exam consists of two sections: Drawing Aptitude Test (DAT) and Studio Test-Interview.

A bachelor’s degree in Design can cost anywhere around 2.5 Lacs per annum.

Dibakar Banerjee, Nachiket Barve, Sujata Keshavan, Pravin Mishra, Aditya Pande, Ishu Patel, Orijit Sen are a few notable alumni of this institute.

Various areas of design offered by the institute include:-

• Product Design
• Textile Design
• Furniture Design
• Ceramic and Glass Design
• Graphic Design
• Animation Film Design
• Film & Video Communication
• Exhibition Design

International Institute of Fashion Technology (IIFT)

Established in 1990 by leading fashion technologist Ratnadeep Lal, IIFT is a premier group of fashion colleges India. Its vision is to promote professionalism in the field of fashion studies via, designing, producing and export clothing. Also, to train personnel as Merchandisers, Designers, Garment technologists and managers in the Readymade Garment Industry.

Admission is based on Personal Interview and/or Admission Test.

IIFT organizes several fashion competitions, seminars, market surveys, research projects to provide their student’s industry exposure.

Its students exchange program is tied with some major fashion institutes across the world helping their students understand global trends and demands.

Few popular courses at IIFT Delhi are-

• BBA Fashion Designing
• BBA Apparel Merchandising
• BBA Textile Designing
• MBA Fashion Designing
• MBA Textile Designing
• MBA Interior Designing
• Diploma Interior Design
• Diploma in Accessory Design
• Diploma Jewellery Design

Symbiosis Institute of Design, Pune

Symbiosis Institute of Design (SID) was founded in 2002 and is affiliated with Symbiosis International University under Faculty of Media.

It offers 4-year undergraduate courses (BDes) in fields of Design, communication and industrial design.

Candidates who wish pursue education in SID have to clear Symbiosis Entrance Test(SET).

The tuition fee per annum is around 3.5 Lac (Exclusive of Hostel fee).

The institute has its own placement cell which acts as a coordinator between industry and students. It has further helped students to get placed in corporate giants like Infosys, Cognizant, Whirlpool, Mudra communications and SME’s like Leaf Design, Fitch Design, Onio Design, ADP, Multia Studio, AKG Media Pvt Ltd, Book MY Show, Craft UX to name a few.

The 5 Bachelor course offered by SID are-

• BDes Communication Design
• BDes Industrial Design
• BDes Fashion Design
• BDes Textile Design
• BDes Fashion Communication

Top International Fashion Colleges

Following is a list of popular fashion design colleges across the world-

1. London College of Fashion
2. Central Saint Martins, UK
3. Parsons, The New School for Design, New York
4. Istituto Marangoni, Italy
5. Bunka Fashion College, Japan
6. Tafe Institute of Technology, Australia
7. Antwerp Royal Academy of Fine arts, Belgium
8. Shenkar College of Engineering and Design, Israel
9. Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising, USA
10. Ryerson University, Canada

Requirements for Fashion Designing course

For pursuing any course in the fashion sector, one should clear class 12 examination (For diploma courses one must clear class 10th).

Entrance exams are conducted by various prestigious institutes as part of the admission process. CAT (Creative Ability Test), GAT (General Ability Test), DAT (Drawing Ability Test) are a few common exams conducted at both national and college level.

Usually, the admission curriculum is divided into three steps- Written Test, Group Discussion and Personal Interview.

NOTE– The minimum and maximum age for appearing in mostly every entrance exam is 17years and 23years respectively.

Scope of Fashion Design in India & Abroad

Increasing fashion consciousness and greater demand for “Designer Clothes” has played a major role in the expansion of this industry in the last decade.

Textile playing a major role this industry has seen an immense boom in the exports. It is expected to develop around 35 million jobs by 2024-25. As per various sources, the textile industry is growing at a CAGR of 8.7% between 2009 and 2023.

*E- Estimate 

Fashion graduates have a plethora of options in fields of Fashion design, media, consultancy, management, representatives and coordination which offer jobs in cloth industry, garment manufacturing, designing, and printing. With such wide range of options available, one can choose the areas of his/her interest and pursue a career accordingly.

According to Indian mirror, 81% of Indian men & women below the age of 45 years have become fashion conscious in urban cities like Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, Pune. This figure is likely to increase in the forthcoming years; therefore, possibilities to pursue this career are endless.

Indian Fashion is gaining a lot of popularity abroad with designer saris and textiles, providing international job opportunities and universal exposure.

Global Demand

Speaking internationally, every country has its own fashion culture and ethnicity, therefore, fashion enthusiasts are exposed to a vast range of opportunities abroad depending on their area of expertise.

As per reports by McKinsey & Company, major cosmopolitans like Paris, London and New York have emerged as international fashion hubs whereas cities like Moscow and Beijing have significantly grown and prospered.

However, one must remember studying and practicing abroad is not easy, as it attracts global competition and other hardships. People aspiring to work on international platforms must develop valuable contacts and plan their study from a global perspective.

Also, Fashion enthusiasts who have a niche for travelling can visit various countries & cities and gauge their inspiration and work globally rather than settling at one place.