Today we have another fascinating interview for you. As usual we bring you a side of fashion not usually covered by mainstream media and certainly not covered during our recent fashion week. This fashion designer (who prefers to remain anonymous) has been working in the industry for about 12 years and has been responsible for many of the big brands you see at your local mall, department store, and even mass-merchandisers. Her range of experiences makes her the perfect person to share her thoughts on working as a designer in corporate America. At the moment she works for a mid-sized company overseeing two women’s brands and a huge private label business, her team of four assistants, associates and graphic designers do about 42 million dollars of goods a year.
1) Do you feel your formal fashion education helped prepare you for working in the industry?
Yes, definitely. I attended a traditional four-year university and got my Bachelor’s degree with a major in apparel design. I was very concerned that because I hadn’t attended Parsons or FIT I would struggle finding work or even be unqualified. Surprisingly, that couldn’t have been farther from the truth. In many ways I was better prepared because the grads from those schools were so focused on couture and illustrating that they were not well rounded. I had four year of fashion like them plus cad, graphic, and Adobe classes. At that time those schools were not even teaching any computer design, so I actually had a leg up. Plus, since I have a University degree if I choose to leave fashion, I believe it gives me more options as far as other careers or a graduate school.
2) You moved here after graduation from the Midwest, do you like living in NYC, and are you glad you made the move?
Absolutely, this is where fashion is in the US. The city itself is inspiring and this particular neighborhood is so full of fashion professionals and resources. There is nowhere else you get that in such a concentrated area. The amount of opportunity is amazing here and I think if I had never tried, I would’ve always regretted it.
3) What one piece of advice, would you give to someone wanting to start a career in fashion?
Make sure you really want it, be prepared to work hard for long hours and low pay in the beginning, and get an internship. The internship is a great way to get your foot in the door, especially for your first job, after that your work history and portfolio speak for themselves. I would also say, move if you need to. For recent grads, this is before you have kids, mortgages, medical bills etc, this may be the one time in your life to pick up and move to a big city or different country and not have much to lose. Oops, I guess that is a lot more than one thing.
4) You have worked for some major apparel companies in the garment center, what would like to see companies improve on?
Quality of life for their employees, better pay for everyone but salespeople, who frankly are already overpaid, and most of all I’d love to see Human Resource departments be mandatory for apparel companies and benefits greatly improved. My last company had so many incompetent people who got away with it, while qualified people got frustrated and quit, yet the owner never even knew what was going on until employee exit interviews. There was no HR, no way to notify anyone at the executive level what was going on. The owners of many mid to large apparel companies are so disconnected; they may breeze in and out of the office a few times a week/month and not even know who their employees are. I realize this is the case in many industries and at many large companies and that is why they have HR departments. We need that too!
5) What is you day-to-day schedule like as a designer working for a large corporation?
Well, I think that would surprise most people. I would say being a senior level designer is 85% business and 15% creative.
I spend my mornings following up emails from overseas factories. Seeing where they stand, what questions they have, what problems need to be solved that day etc. Then mid-morning my samples usually arrive. The assistants go through and check/spec them and any problem are brought to me. Any samples for production and fittings are giving to me for review as well. Then I usually meet with my team and review sketches they have and give them any design direction I prepared the night before.
Then I will meet with the sales team and hear the selling reports, what’s doing well in stores, what’s not etc. They will let me now what their buyers want more of, and what styles they are looking for etc. This is probably the most stressful part of the day. Lots of yelling by salespeople of what designs they want to see, how they hate this idea but want that, why one of them believes her request is more urgent then another’s, and how they all want stuff designed and sent to the factory asap.
After this I take an associate designer with me to fit any samples that need to be fit with the technical designer and patternmaker. Then I begin to work on the sales requests and come up with a game plan. At this point I try to eat lunch while working, as it’s usually around 2-3pm. I then pass on the sales info to my assistants and start them working on new sketches and techpacks to be sent tonight. Usually a fabric supplier or trend forecaster will stop in to meet with me, which I try to get done quickly. And often around 5pm-6pm the VP or big boss will want a meeting, have a question, or need a sample review, before they leave for the day.
Then after 6pm it gets quiet with only the design and technical teams left and I can get some work done. I start checking and reviewing my team’s sketches and techpacks, making my comments and corrections as needed. Then I will start finding design inspiration for tomorrow and doing some of my own sketching and techpacking. Finally, I will follow up on all emails and go through any budget, expense, or employee paperwork that needs to be done. Finally I will head home around 9pm-10pm!
6) What do you wish people would understand about working in the fashion industry?
How freaking hard it is! It’s a business, its manufacturing; it’s much more than style and shopping. Fashion is hard work but can be incredibly rewarding as well. I wish people, students especially, would realize it is serious business. Having interns who show up thinking it is all going to be styling outfits and going on shop trips, and whine when they have to track packages or get stuck measure dozens of pre-production samples, makes me crazy! Yes, there is fabulousity, yes, there are shop trips to Europe but they are not the bulk of the business and they don’t come easily.
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