I’ve been considering possibly getting another degree, most likely a Master’s. Has this been beneficial for anyone? Is it better to acquire a degree close to related to the apparel field, or possibly even Supply Chain Management?
For those who have acquired a degree or certification in a different field (ex: law school, real estate, or business) has this helped you in your career today? Do you still use some of your apparel industry knowledge or contacts?
As someone who went and got a master’s here, and just recently completed it here’s my $0.02.
At the end of the day it’s all about:
If you do want to get a master’s specifically, hindsight being 20/20, I would suggest:
Don’t talk to the school about these things, find people who are actually going there to get some honesty
be willing/able to take a pay cut, maybe for a long time to get started in a new field, even if it’s adjacent you’ll probably have to take (several) steps back
the budget bill just cut finding for grad loans, pushing people into private grad loans, just another thing to consider taking on.
This goes for school or not: network. See if people in the role you want will have coffee chats with you, this way you can figure out what the job entails and what the right questions are to ask /how to present yourself for a role that you want. Dedicated networking happy hours aren’t really a thing in fashion, as we know, but if you want to do, say, supply chain management in tech DTC, you could go to those kinds of events. They are easy to find on eventbrite/ luma/ partiful
If you’re thinking something other than a school route:
If you’re in, say, PD and you want to move into supply chain, it might be easier/ cheaper to get a PD role in a firm that encourages lateral and latticed career tracks over vertical ones. This usually means a larger company and not a small or even medium size enterprise.
Freelancing is also a good way to get in somewhere larger and make a switch, if you’re having a hard time breaking out of smaller firms, as there is a bias that larger firms hire people with experience in larger firms over smaller ones for many positions.
I have an MBA, and I chose that to reset as more of a generalist. I am looking to make inroads in something that is highly competitive (sustainability) within a highly competitive (fashion) industry. I certainly have the fashion background but making this career transition is super hard and the business degree isn’t really anything to employers, outside of people with direct connections to the school. This could be due to the hesitancy in the market for all the reasons we already know. Both the general market hesitancy and the shifting priorities in and around sustainability.
Hope this helps!
Network, Network. Network. Your best job leads will come from a second-third- or fourth-degree connection. There are some fashion industry organizations in NY like the Accessories Council, NYFWDC, and the Underfashion Club who may be able to assist in connecting you with other organizations, companies looking for specific talent, mentors and other connections and information that may be helpful. LinkedIn can also broaden your contact base. And talk to strangers! You never know- I have a odd track record of making great connections in an elevator!
Ten years ago I would have told you not to bother. The fashion industry seems to be more about networking than degrees. But as a supply chain professional, I do think my career has been stunted a bit because I do not have an advanced degree or even something like APICS certification. It’s pretty much required in any other industry. Now people are graduating with master’s and because they’re at the start of their careers they can accept lower salaries (no real world experience but in my clearly jaded mind that doesn’t matter to recruiters). Being older, costing more and not having only having a bachelors degree is a quick way to be filtered out of the candidate pool. That said, I still wouldn’t go back unless you’re truly passionate about what you’re going to study. It’s just too expensive to experiment with.