Only a selected few are creative and bold enough to choose a career in fashion designing in India. if you are among those few, exciting and colorful (literally) opportunities await you. But, before you jump right into how the life of a fashion designer looks, let’s first evaluate what is the scope, what are the career options, and whether a diploma in fashion designing is what you should consider now.
Future of Fashion Designing in India:
The future scope of fashion designing in India is not limited to India only however you can have job opportunities aboard as well with your creativity and experience
The Indian fashion industry is estimated to be around 108 billion dollars and is expected to grow 2X by next year and to be estimated to be around 223 billion dollars. It’s also an encouraging factor that consumers spend around 6% of their incomes on apparel. While Covid-19 has dented the market as it did for various industries, the sector still presents invigorating opportunities for those who want to pursue a career in it nevertheless. In a country as massive as India, despite dips in trends, the demand will stay up. Fashion in India is also very versatile, it is defined by diverse cultures, traditions, and also sometimes by western trends. The industry in itself is so big that there are boundless opportunities for various skill sets. Fashion Design and Fashion Technology are one of the most lucrative careers you can take up.
Having said that, fashion designing can be a demanding career, has cut-throat competition, and would require you to be always on your toes to reach the peaks. The scope doesn’t also restrict you to India, it would take you all over the world. Of course, the pay would be handsome too, provided you are being creative and managing your time exceptionally well. In addition, you need to always keep yourself updated with the industry as trends change in the blink of an eye, sometimes. So, what’s in store for you?
How to build a career in Fashion Designing:
There might be an innate reason why you want to pursue fashion designing, while you explore outwards, search within yourself, what you are good at? Do you perhaps have an amazing sense of matching colors and patterns, your doodles mostly are ideas for dresses, maybe you are good at styling fabrics, or you have a keen sense of an understanding of clothing and textiles. You can leverage your core strengths in your future career and there are myriad options available. Roughly, you can choose from one of the following careers:
While these are the broad categories that fall in the spectrum, there are various other careers that support these bigger and glamorous roles. Because of the steep competition in the industry, it would really help a fresher to pursue internships./assistant roles in the very beginning of the career to gain a deeper practical understanding of the fashion world of work.
It’s also okay if you haven’t figured out right away in the beginning, you see not everyone does, but that’s where your diploma or a formal course in fashion designing will help you.
Degree/Diploma in Fashion Designing:
Apart from your natural flair towards fashion designing, a degree or a diploma would help you tremendously in stepping your foot into the field. You would need to be qualified from a recognized institute. You can choose whether you want to do a full time degree or a part time certification course after usually finishing your 10 +2 education. There are courses available after graduation level or higher too. Make sure to research the available options. For someone who has a little experience and has confidence that a short term course can set you off, there are also several certification courses offered by many reputed institutes all over India for you to pursue.
Whatever direction you choose, remember to play to your strengths, really lean on to your sense of style and eye for detail. But also, very crucially learn to manage other essential skills like that need to be improved. Management skills, certain software, and soft skills are also very important to succeed in this line.
A diploma or a degree would structurally teach you the history of fashion design, the necessary hard skills needed for the fashion industry, and several practical projects that hone your skills and make you ready for your career.
Still have queries or questions about the scope and careers of fashion designing in India, ask away in comments, we’ll help you out!