I was making $75K as a designer back in the early 2000s!!! About 5 years ago, I interviewed at that same company (out of desperation) for a designer role. The president of the company told me the position paid $65K. I was like, “You were paying me $10,000 more 15 years ago!” He just sat there looking embarrassed. Didn’t have an answer for me.
I switched to UX Design 6 years ago and will never go back. Great $$, full time work-from-home, and no more of those ridiculous, waste-of-space fashion headhunters we’re forced to deal with.
Lol. I was considering UX 7 years ago. Switched to another title in the remote world. The flexibility was enough for me to not consider going back. You are definitely providing insightful info.
Would LOVE to hear from any other people (including you Oracle Boy & Soggysockszzz!) who have made a successful switch from apparel to something else- and what you went for! After 20+ years in the industry, I’d love to do something NEW (that could also be done remote!) where my apparel skills can at least be a tiny asset. (ie: I’m not going to do a complete 180 and become a forensic scientist, but someplace where adobe/project management/organization/creative skills can be a stepping stone, and I can build on them by going back to school to learn something new).
Trying to get some new career pivot ideas going!
I started a product development role at a company in March and I’m making less money than I made in my first job out of college in 2014. It’s rough out there.
Same here. 20+ years in fashion, feeling like I have to pivot or going to get ages out at some point in the next 5-7yrs.
Some friends pivoted to UX/UI some younger coworkers switched to software engineering (which I heard is quite intense for training , also market is super tough with layoffs in tech)
If anyone made a successful transition out of fashion, would love to hear!!
Hi! I would love to find out how you made that switch to UI? Did you do one of those extremely expensive boot camp programs and how was it actually getting started in the field??
I just started a new role at a company outside the industry as well. I’m only on day two so still in the overwhelmed phase but I think it could be a really good eventuality. I just had to give up on ever getting back to footwear, I couldn’t even get an interview for materials roles and only a few interviews for operational roles, my other area of expertise. After nearly 20 years the doors are closed. Here are the pluses and minuses I’m seeing:
This role pays $30K more than the exact same role I interviewed for at a footwear company a few months ago. The interview consisted of one 30 minute phone screen with recruiting and a week later a three person panel interview on-site for one hour. I was offered the job the following day. Most people here have been with this company for 10+ years and I met someone who had been with the company 45 years.
Contrast this with footwear—I was appalled at the low range on the last job I applied for, though it was with a British company and I’ve noticed that almost as a rule their salaries are far less than the same position in the US. But my sister, also in the industry, was just offered essentially the same role she had two years ago—slightly different title but same pay grade—and they also offered far less—though in that case the brand is now owned by another company.
In addition, you generally have to switch companies every 3-4 years in footwear to keep moving forward. And if you even get a job interview it’s a grueling process—often 3 months or more, upwards of 13 interviews (I once had 10 in one day) and now brands want tests and work samples.
On the other had, you often have a beautiful up-to-date place to work in footwear. My new company is very much manufacturing-based. I sit in a windowless loft/mezzanine above a warehouse. No cute shoes to wear! If you walk the floor you have to at least have closed toe shoes. Everyone shows up at 8am and leaves at 5pm. No strolling in at 10am and out at 4pm if your work is done (or the sun is out), like in footwear. There is a dress code, it’s nice casual, I can wear jeans but have to have a more formal top—no casual tee shorts or flip flops. There definitely isn’t any of the soft perks that you get in fashion.
So we’ll see, but it’s something to consider if you’re tired of being laid off every other year or so.
I definitely interviewed at a kids wear place, who still has the same add up from 2 years ago, Designer / Tech / Graphic for 75K. I just said ok, thank you
I don’t know about this particular job BUT companies that have multiple but similar positions, tech designers for different departments or line, will keep the same job listing up all the time.
Similarly, companies will do the same thing with high-turnover positions.
Again, no idea about this job but “evergreen” ads are common. We hate them but they are still common.
I have been a fashion designer for over 32 years. Design school in NYC, worked 12 years in NYC and over 20 years in LA for major retail brands. I left in 2018, early 50s, I didn’t plan to leave and had no idea my last job would be my LAST. I spent 3 years looking with COVID being the nail in the coffin insuring long term unemployment.
I got certified as a fitness trainer and bill $109/hour training 6-7 clients per day on a 2day/week subscription basis so income is steady. I do not work for gyms but do it in upscale homes in the beach area of Manhattan Beach.
I’ll never go back.
So we all agree that the industry has major issues… I’ve been in several different areas - retail, buying and manufacturing.
I used to love it, any way to make it better?
The CEO’s and owners are the ones that really need to know how they’re failing. How does that happen?
Good point on how to make the industry better by addressing owners and hiring agents! …. I am going to vent and rant here , excuse me ! So I have been in the industry all my life , starting as a draper then patternmaker and then in tech design since a lot of companies started to eliminate sample and pattern rooms . Ok , they are expensive and it’s cheaper overseas . I get it . And I am too old to be hired at early 60’s . I get it. But what I have seen in so - called skills like garment construction, fit and quality and the people in charge of that has become a joke ! I have had to work with people that have zero clue on what a good armhole should look like ! Or a good pant rise ! Incompetence all over the place but good at bullying, , superb at butt kissing , and outstanding at yes-saying . And , I am talking about seasoned “skilled” workers . Not the ones that come out of school. They demand executive positions and occasionally get there fast . All they have to do is a lot of “ validation “ to the uppers . Ok . But how about the product ? It is so irrelevant to create quality, to ensure a well fitting and functional garment ! How is that even possible to have these validators and good talkers run companies !??!! I worked with people in that field who cannot sew a button on a garment! On my last job I worked with a seasoned patternmaker who couldn’t do a pocket bag or match notches ! In a pant with front pleats she had sewers stitch though the bag and the waistband and got away with it . I pointed it out and got fired quickly. Seriously! Again, this “patternmaker “ is my age and probably making 100k !!! How is that acceptable ?! ( owner is young , rich, clueless and loves when people admire her ) …. My rant is over now ! I could go on and on .
I feel your pain!!! I was in the industry for 40 years draping and patternmaking for a wide range of garments from fast fashion juniors to designer sportswear, dresses and gowns. Covid ended my career but I was getting disenchanted with a career that I really loved for most of it because experience and knowledge of how to make a beautiful pattern is completely disregarded now. It is a good suggestion to target owners, it would be welcome for the future of the industry if they could see beyond the profit and care about creating a good product.
Massive layoffs at major apparel companies this month. Home stores shuttered - BBB, Tuesday Morning out, Christmas Tree shoppes bankrupt, Boll&Branch layoffs, etc. People no longer have the money to shop and they’re obviously not interested in bland, poorly made, ill fitting, ugly goods.
Inexperienced people create lackluster product. Uninteresting and poorly made product isn’t selling and those companies are failing. We all benefited from mentoring by experienced creatives. This is no longer possible. Experienced, talented people are not being hired because we’re deemed too old. So it’s an absurd cycle that’s easily remedied but prejudice and short sighted leadership is prevailing. The stores and companies that are doing well have diverse employees with varying ages and a customer centric approach. When people lack discretionary income, they choose to spend more thoughtfully or not shop at all. When you’ve been designing for many years, you know what sells and what doesn’t. You have an eye for color, knowledge and good construction, and want people to enjoy what you make. These are hard earned skills that cannot be faked.
I am right there with you about the armholes and pant rises!!! Two of my biggest complaints about the product out in the marketplace now. I also have decades in the industry as a patternmaker and technical design “fit expert”, and it is appalling that people who want to make a garment look a certain way but with no clue as to how pattern parts are supposed to fit together are giving pattern correction and sewing construction direction, and then wonder why a garment doesn’t fit well. This is a problem that became more prevalent with the rise of “fast fashion”, when trendy items were available at cheap prices & the actual quality of a product became less of a consumer concern. It seems technical expertise means nothing anymore, and climbing the corporate ladder is the main goal for younger people in the industry.
Yes , it’s just awful . I am trying to figure out how these con-artists get hired . I figure they talk a good talk during the interview process . ….and continue to talk a good talk once hired . In the meantime, I am better at corrections than ever ( decades of experience and passion for it )but doubt I will ever get a job in TD . The industry is demoralizing to say the least . And , just in the last few years , when I thought I have seen it all, I freelance at a company that is not a fashion company but more of a uniform company, and this nasty , incompetent con of a TD manager gets away with 25 fit-rounds for a top with a short sleeve. 25 ! And then it’s still way off in fit ! And the owner has been around for a long time . You would think he knows better . But no ! He does not ! He is another one just happy with the validation he receives . SMH
Wow! 25 fit rounds? Who even has time for that?? But it supports my point that the younger generations don’t know how to fit a sleeve anymore. And then add in performance fabrics…… totally different parameters. Hardly anyone knows real pattern drafting any more- no one wants to work with their hands, all the kids in design school want to be designers and they don’t grasp that you really need to understand construction and even if you are using 2D or 3D software, you need to know all the geometry-both the body geometry and the plane geometry: the software is only a tool, it won’t make the patterns for you.
Yes , it is hard to believe . This particular company does have a pattern and sample-room. That patternmaker is not a young person ! But if the sample is being fitted and the manager keeps insisting on ridiculous corrections that actually makes the garment worse , and the Director of Design also goes along with this nonsense , and the patternmaker agrees to do so bc she is a good yes -sayer, then the process “works “. Ultimately the sample was way too tight to fit well . But ultimately, it’s irrelevant. As long as all people agree , that’s what matters most these days .I didn’t last long there …… Regarding 2or 3D , you are right , it’s just a tool . Some patternmakers are good at handling it but have no clue about the rules and shapes of patternmaking . So the computer program is not going to improve the fit at all . Just ask a patternmaker how much shorter the inseam on the back leg should be compared to the front leg . From the knee up . In a soft fabric. And why ! If they don’t have a clue , you know you dealing with an amateur/con- artist. But I also noticed that these types of workers don’t even care . And sometimes it gets even worse : they start feeling threatened by competent workers . And then the knifes are being sharpened all for the sake of ensuring the paycheck .
Ah yes, the tricks of the trade! I have developed quite a few myself- and it is interesting to see who has listened to me over the years & moved on & then my tricks have been included in other companies’ Fit Manuals (yes! stride depth- key anchor points-balanced tensions!) & who still can’t get a garment to hang straight. Sometimes they do feel threatened, but the smart ones will watch and listen: these are things you can’t really learn from a book or a webinar, they are best learned through practice and at someone’s elbow.
So I’ve been in a career transition like many us fashion dinosaurs, this industry is brutal
Low pay
No equal pay
Salaries have been stagnant for decades, if some run sweatshops. Imagine
No diversity in leadership roles (old white men)
No flexibility or real hybrid in this industry
No support for people to grow and make more money if they want to buy a home or move far out and start a family
Some are family run-nepotism
This article is interesting, kinda what I’ve even thinking Tech jobs seems to pay way more and have remote opportunities
Fashion is tactile and visual but the calendar has ups and downs and at times you can wfh on creative or proto comments etc. the industry seems to have those old fashioned ways of thinking and honestly I am appalled how large luxury brands don’t pay or want to pay. For example a job at RL or Trina Turk pay garbage and most companies won’t pay more that 90. In my experience of course everyone has a different experience
