How to Work in Fashion Remotely

Fashion is your dream but you don’t live in a fashion capital or you can’t move anytime soon?

Although most of the people in fashion are working at the brands’ headquarters in offices, there are some jobs that you can do remotely.

After the pandemic, where everyone was forced to work from home, companies have realized that many jobs are doable from home. Lots of companies are offering remote opportunities still today when everyone in fashion is back in the office or working hybrid (going into the office just a couple of days and working from home the rest of the week). 

So there are more remote fashion jobs than ever and if this is what you’re looking for, in this article you’ll find all the information you need. 

First of all, what are the things you should consider if you want to work in fashion remotely?

Working remotely is not for everyone and it’s different from working in an office environment. You’ll be communicating with people via email instead of in person, look at photos of clothes from a screen instead of touching them, work at home by yourself instead of being surrounded by a team. If you don’t like to stay alone, you prefer to go into the office and you are not an organized person, then this could not be made for you. 

Freelance or full-time?

Like for any other job, if you want to work remotely you have mainly two options: you can become a freelancer and so work with different companies at the same time – for example, you could write for multiple publications or work 10 hours for a company, 10 hours for this other company…- or you can be a full-time remote employee working remotely for a single fashion company. 

The choice here depends on what you like, if you prefer to be involved in more things or just work with one company, but also what you are able to find on the market. 

If you want to write for fashion magazines for example, and you can’t find a full-time remote opportunity at a single magazine, you should be flexible and start by becoming a freelancer instead and writing for different publications.

Most of the people working remotely are freelancers.

Big brand or startup?

What’s also very important to consider is that there is a difference between working remotely for a big brand vs a small brand or startup. At a big fashion brand, the departments are all set so the possibilities to work remotely are limited to just some roles.  If you dream of working for a popular fashion company remotely, you could do it with fashion magazines as even the top of the industry such as Vogue, Marie Claire, Glamour & co. offer remote opportunities.

The reason why is quite simple: it’s easier to manage a job such as the role of the editor remote compared to the one of a fashion buyer. That’s why magazines offer more remote opportunities than fashion brands. 

When you work for fashion startups or new fashion brands instead,  they are more open when it comes to hiring so you could potentially even be a designer or a merchandiser who works remotely.

What fashion jobs can be done remotely? 

Of course, there are fewer opportunities compared to all the other jobs. This should not demotivate you, but more prepare you for what you are going to find on the market. You’ll need to work harder to find these opportunities as there are fewer than all the others but you can definitely make it. 

Not all of the jobs in fashion are doable remotely, for example, you can’t be a photographer without going on set or traveling where the models and the team are. Most of the designers work in-house as well. 

While you can still be a digital stylist and give styling advice through your Zoom camera, the fashion jobs that you can do remotely are more those that include working on a laptop.

There isn’t a single rule here. After the pandemic, many companies have understood that they can manage their team remotely so while before 2020 it was almost impossible to work as a fashion buyer remotely, during the pandemic many buyers have managed their job online so it can happen that some brands have kept this kind of opportunities remote. 

So while I’m about to give you some examples, these are not the only jobs that you can find remotely, but the most popular ones. If you don’t know where to start or what kind of fashion jobs are available remotely, the examples below will give you some ideas. 

Editorial Intern / Fashion Writer

Working for a fashion magazine is one of the most popular and best remote options that you can explore. You can be a remote intern and help the editors with some research for the articles or even write your pieces. 

You don’t necessarily have to be in the Vogue offices to write for the publication. Fashion magazines work with more freelancers than contract employees so they are used to communicating a lot via emails to assign, review and receive works. 

If you are looking for a remote job in fashion, writing for fashion publications is for sure the easiest and best option that you can explore. 

Copywriter/ Copy Editor

Writing for fashion magazines is not the only writing option you can explore. 

You can become a Copywriter or Commerce/ Copy Editor and work in eCommerce or for fashion brands and write product descriptions or any copy/text that go into the website pages, newsletter, or any other document that needs to be shared inside or outside the company.

PR

If you dream of a career in fashion PR, there is a way to do it remotely but the only limit is that you’ll mostly work in PR remotely for smaller brands/PR agencies as the biggest companies normally prefer to have their team working in the office or hybrid. Again this is not the rule, it can happen that a top brand posts a position in this department that is remote, but it’s rare, while you can definitely find this opportunity if you want to work with smaller brands. You could even consider becoming a freelance PR or starting your own PR agency and working with small fashion brands. 

The job of a fashion PR is to make sure that the brand gets as much coverage and exposure as possible. You can develop relationships with fashion editors and influencers online to propose the products or the fashion brands you are working with as their PR agent. You can for sure write press releases from home and send them to editors and influencers.

Social Media Manager

You can work as a social media manager for fashion brands and create their content and graphics, manage their social media profiles, organize the editorial calendar, and create videos and graphics remotely. 

Graphic Designer/ Fashion Illustrator

Are you great and do you enjoy creating graphics and illustrations? You can turn that into a job and work with companies remotely creating graphics for their social media channels, website, marketing materials…

Customer Support

Online sales have become vital for fashion brands. Nowadays every fashion brand has its own eCommerce and when it comes to buying online where customers don’t see the products, they have many more questions about the materials, the fit, and the size to choose. That’s why fashion companies have a customer care team ready to answer any question of the customers via live chat or emails. This is another job that you can for sure do from home. You’ll have training with the brand that will teach you about their products so you know exactly how to assist customers. 

What do you need to work in fashion remotely? 

A stable internet connection and a laptop with a good camera are enough to get a remote job. 

You’ll need basic programs such as the Microsoft Office package or Google Drive Sheets to work on and send your documents. 

You’ll need a professional email address [email protected] as you’ll manage all your communications with your boss, team, and clients via email and you can’t use your old address. 

You have to become familiar with online communication tools such as Zoom for online meetings and Slack which is a tool to communicate with the team. 

If you are getting a job that includes graphic design then you’ll also need Photoshop, InDesign, or any other tool that you use to create the graphics. 

You need to be very disciplined. No one is actually there to check your desktop, or when you are really going to start working or end your day. So you have to be professional and very organized. Some companies might even require you to install on your computer a tool that tracks your screen during your working hours so they make sure that you are really working. But in general, just be very professional if you want to build strong long-lasting relationships with your clients. Just because you are working remotely doesn’t mean that your job is less important so work like you were in the office. You can even dress up a bit and do some make-up like if you were going to the office so you’ll feel more productive.

If you are a workaholic like me, you could forget to take breaks when you are working remotely, but just like you’d have if you were working in the office, take your lunch break, go for a walk. Work for 2 hours straight and then take a 10-minute break. It’s important for yourself but also for your productivity. 

Where can you find remote fashion jobs? 

You can do your research online by adding the word “remote” in your search. On LinkedIn, there is even the option to filter for remote jobs.

Like for any other job, also for remote fashion jobs I highly recommend not waiting for the jobs to get posted online, but make a list of your favorite fashion brands, magazines, and people you’d like to work with, and email them. This strategy works really well, especially for remote jobs and with startups as there are fewer jobs posted online. 

Need help getting your dream job in fashion? Register for my free masterclass here where I’ll teach 3 strategies to break into the fashion industry.