Ask Fashion Girl

Dear Sarah:

If you're a budding entrepreneur, Apparel Manufacturing Management could be for you! Students who go into Apparel Manufacturing Management typically want to have their own clothing line and produce it. It's more the production side of the fashion business. You learn what is involved in getting clothing manufactured from concept to completion. There could be a lot of travel involved, because 85% of products we use here in the U.S. are manufactured overseas. You might be overseeing factories in other countries!

In order to run your own company, you need to learn the production side of fashion. As head of the company, you are overseeing both the production team and the design team. Another aspect of the Apparel Manufacturing industry is fabricating products for well-known companies, who contract for items to be produced and then put their name on the label. You could own or work for a company like this. There are also opportunities to work at firms such as Guess?, which produces their products in-house.

The pay in this field is according to the volume of the company. For an employee, the entry-level position in Apparel Manufacturing is Production Assistant (starting salary $25,000 US -$30,000 US), moving up the ladder into Production Manager, where the compensation can be between $50,000 US and $100,000 US, depending on the volume the company produces. If you own your own company, the pay can go even higher.

If learning to produce the fashion products that we wear sounds like a good fit for you, find out more about majoring in Apparel Manufacturing Management at FIDM by clicking here . In just two years, you could be launched in a career doing what you love: immersing yourself in the world of fashion!

Sincerely, Fashion Girl