Fashion Industry

Today’s youth is passionate about fashion. For this reason, limitless employment opportunities exist in this area. According to industry chamber ASSOCHAM, the Indian fashion industry is slated to cross the figure of 7 billion dollars by 2012.  This is but natural given today’s obsession with fashion accessories in society.
Currently, designers like Ritu Beri, Ritu Kumar, Rohit Bal, Manish Malhotra, Suneet Verma, J.J. Valiya, Tarun Tahiliani and several others are mesmerizing the world with their skills.. Ritu Beri has even designed clothes of Hollywood’s top stars Nicholas Kidman and Cat Holmes. For someone with creativity, style and originality, fashion designing could prove to be a perfect career. On the one hand, this career can satisfy one’s creativity impulses and on the other, it can provide name, fame, success and a life of comfort.

Eligibility
If you have cleared your class XII examinations then you are eligible for undergraduate course in fashion designing. . For admission in a prestigious institute like NIFT, one has to undergo a three-stage process comprising of written exam, group discussion and personal interview. Eligibility for admission in a post graduate course is graduation in any discipline. In reality the preparation for admission in fashion designing starts off during schooling itself. Subjects like drawing, painting, home science, and computer graphics at the school level help in successful completion of the fashion designing course.

Individual Characteristics
To become a successful fashion designer, apart from drawing and sketching skills, one needs an expert understanding of fabrics, textile market trends and colours. Having unique ideas is integral to the profession. Simultaneously, information and understanding of production, technology, business ethics and costing is also necessary.

Scope
There is no dearth of opportunities for creative people in this industry. For designers, excellent opportunities exist in production, merchandising company, fashion retail company, boutiques, export house, and manufacturing units. Here, one can work in the fields of production, fashion marketing, design production management, fashion media, quality control, and fashion accessories design and brand promotion. Apart from this, one can build an impressive career as costume designer, fashion consultant, technical designer, graphic designer, production pattern maker, fashion coordinator etc. Jobs are also available as apparel production manager, fabric buyer, fabric quality-control manager and showroom sales representative, illustrator, cutting assistant and outside sales representative.  In addition, ample opportunities to work as a freelance are also available. After gaining experience of some years, a boutique or fashion house can also be opened.

Course
A course in fashion designing is a necessity for stepping into this field. Apart from the National Institute of Fashion Technology and Pearl Academy of Fashion, there are several other institutes from where one can do a course in fashion designing. Fashion designing is divided into three branches - garment design, leather design, and accessories and jewelry design. In addition, one can specialize in fashion business management, fashion retail management, fashion marketing, design production management, etc. Graduate, post graduate, diploma and certificate courses can be done from recognized institutions in all these fields.

Earning
Income is flexible but high in fashion designing. Initially, monthly salary could be between Rs. 10,000 and Rs. 14,000. However, after two-three years, with increased productivity and efficiency, salary can grow manifold. Once you gain a certain favourable reputation  in this field, you can earn in lakhs.

Institutes
 1. National Institute of Design, Ahmadabad
 2. National Institute of Fashion Design, Chandigarh
 3. National Institute of Fashion Technology, New Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Chennai, Gandhinagar, Bengluru
 4. North India Institute of Fashion Technology, Mohali
 5. Pearl Academy of Fashion, New Delhi
 6. Government Institute of garment Technology
 7. FDDI, Noida
 8. Symbiosis Institute of design
 9. International Institute of Fashion Design, New Delhi
 10. Satyam Fashion Institute, Noida
 11. International Institute of Fashion Technology, New Delhi