As one of the most requested topics, in this article I am sharing with you the skills needed to work in fashion, what recruiters look for in candidates (from fashion interns to managers) and which you should acquire for a career in fashion.
To begin, it’s important to clarify that the skills for a fashion career, depend a lot on the type of role you would like to pursue in this industry. Besides a couple of skills that are common between different roles, each fashion career has its own specific skillset. Not everyone in fashion works with clothing and accessories every single day. Fashion designers and pattern makers need particular technical skills for the design process and product development. But you won’t need to learn how to sew or sketch if you don’t want to work in the design department. As well as you don’t need to have a sense of style and be great at putting looks together if you are not interested in becoming a stylist.
Each role in fashion is completely different and requires a different set of skills.
In this article, I am sharing the most important skills in fashion but remember to read carefully the job description to know what skills are required for that specific position.
10 Skills Needed to Work in Fashion
Communication skills
While communications skills might sound like a standard and not something really important, actually this soft skill is critical. Communication skills are needed internally between team members to operate efficiently. If there isn’t good communication between the team, there cannot be a good working flow. Some processes can take longer and the work could not be excellent as it should. At the same time, communication skills are also essential externally to speak to the right audience. And build relationships with press, editors, or other fashion professionals outside the company. These are critical skills, especially for those who want to work in PR, marketing and social media, where the main job is to communicate and convey the brand’s message through a social post or marketing campaign. Excellent written and verbal communication skills are something everyone needs to add to their resume right now whatever job they want to get.
Languages
Fashion is an international industry and you will be in touch with many people from different cultures and countries. Most global fashion brands have offices around the world. And you may find yourself talking to the designer in Milan and the PR in New York on the same day. This is why companies always require at least one additional language. English, Italian and French are the most popular languages to speak if you want to work in fashion as most of the companies are based in Italy, France, UK and the US. Start learning a new language today: download an app on your smartphone, watch movies and videos, read books. Practice it daily and set the goal to become fluent asap.
Computer Skills
If you want to work in graphic design, advertising, art direction, photography and social media or anything that involves creating graphics and fashion images, knowing how to use programs such as Photoshop, InDesign and Illustrator is essential. You might need to build the entire graphic of a social media post or something that goes on the website, the layout of a magazine, or retouch some photos of fashion shows or lookbooks. That’s why these computer skills are essential for this type of career.
Organisational skills
Fashion interns or assistants spend most of their time organising the magazine closets, keeping track of and organize samples that stylists will use at the photoshoots or supporting the supervisor with any tasks. Organisation skills are the basis of every job well executed. An organised person knows what is necessary, what to prioritize and how to be efficiel to deliver the best work on time (or even earlier). Organisation skills show responsibility and guarantee you trust from your boss and the whole team. Whatever career you seek for in fashion, being super organised is important.
Social media Skills
If you are interested in a career in fashion digital or social media then you must have a knowledge of all the platforms including: Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and TikTok. Social media have been playing a huge role in the fashion industry. We all spend hours of our days on social platforms. So having the right social media strategy is vital for new and established brands nowadays. Your expertise on these platforms should not be limited to your personal use. You need to understand how to use social media for business purposes: from building communities to sharing the right brand messages. And eventually also driving sales.
Microsoft Excel
You might be surprised to read that Microsoft Excel is an important skill to work in fashion. The truth is that everyone in fashion uses Excel. From analyzing sales, marketing strategies and past ready-to-wear collection performances to predicting trends and sales forecasts to manage samples tracking between PRs and stylists, Excel is used to analyze but also to organize all of the fashion work.
Start noticing how every job description requires Excel, from internships to manager roles. I even had to do an Excel test during my job interview to land my first internship at Alexander McQueen. Some fashion roles use it more and some with less frequency. But it’s required for wherever role you want to pursue. For buyers and merchandisers this is the most important skill you’ll ever need. As you’ll spend everyday on Excel to make analysis and buying decisions. Want to learn Excel? Enroll in the online course Excel for fashion, the first and only Excel course tailored to the fashion industry.
Design Skills
Fashion designers work on the new collections from concept to production of finished collections, within the given design calendar. They do everything from developing innovative designs to sketching. Up to using CAD and other computer programs to bring their sketches from paper to digital. That’s why if you are interested in working as a fashion designer or similar such as pattern maker, you need technical competencies such as designing skills, sketching, pattern making, draping, illustration, computer-aided design cad, hand/ machine sewing skills, and fabric knowledge. Â
Industry knowledge
While a fashion degree is not necessary to work in this industry, this doesn’t mean that your knowledge about the fashion industry is not important. With today’s digital access to any type of information online, there is no excuse not to stay up to date about the industry and learn its history. That’s why industry knowledge is a skill often required by many fashion companies. It is important to know who the key players in fashion are (and were). The current fashion trends and global issues including sustainability and inclusivity.
Learning something new and staying up to date weekly with what’s going on in the industry is essential to be successful at your job. Don’t stop learning once you got the job neither. Just because you got the job, it doesn’t mean that you are untouchable and outside the industry is still competitive. Whether to have a conversation with someone in the office or the recruiter during a job interview or to use this information and knowledge in your job, be curious and never stop learning. Want to understand more about the fashion industry and its history? Enroll in the online course Inside the Fashion Industry
WordPress and SEO
With digital magazines that produce more content than print issues, fashion editors and writers no longer need writing skills only but they need to complete their skillset with new technical skills. Today fashion writers publish their stories online for the website of Vogue & Co. So they need to know how to upload an article online and learn SEO (SEO = Search Engine Optimization.) to make sure that their articles rank high in the search results (aka more people find it when they Google about the topic). So make sure you learn how to use CMS platforms such as WordPress that you’ll use to publish articles online together with SEO best practices to help the magazine get more traffic and readers.
Confidence + Passion
Self-confidence is a skill you need to work on. Why? Because it will help you in any difficult moment AND it will help you acquire any other skill you might lack. Many people believe they are not enough to work in fashion. That they are not qualified to land a job or work at the top companies in the industry. And for this reason, instead of reacting, they give up. But practice that dose of confidence that will engine your motivation and help you believe that you can learn everything you need for your job, especially at the start of your career.
Passion is another key ingredient of success, the engine that will keep you going on the worst days. Especially during your internship; companies want to hire people who are enthusiastic and have energy and passion for the job and the company. Recruiters can see those who are driven by passion are quick to learn on the job.
