THE FASHION INDUSTRY IN ONE TAKE

"only dead fish swim with the tide"

The fashion and textile industry is undoubtably a huge market, creating many job opportunities, therefore   creating money and helping the economy a great deal. It is estimated that it contributes to nearly £21 billion of the UKs economy, with over 12,000 clothing businesses and employing around 156,000 workers, approximately 20.000 of these people are working as designers. 

The high speed of the industry means that there is always radical change, the consumer tastes are constantly adapting due to the new trends each season. This change also means that globalisation continues to develop and there is always increasing focus on consumerism, with advertisements and temptations to purchase around us every day.

There are three clothing sectors, these being value (eg. Tesco, Primark), middle market (eg. Topshop, Zara) and Premium (eg. Paul Smith, Vivienne Westwood). The premium markets have the strongest growth and it is estimated that by 2014 this market will be worth £8.6 billion, an increase of £1.9 billion from todays values. Although shopping with value retailers has increased, having doubled during the past decade. Research shows that this will grow from £9.9 billion to £12 billion during the up coming three years.

The chinese wage inflation means there is a rise of commodities, which has an impact on VAT and increased fuel prices. As a result shoppers will start to spend less money on clothing etc... as concerns for their jobs and personal finances increase.

Besides the negatives and positives of the industry it is in no way thought that the creativeness within the UK is a problem as the reputation is of a high standard being known for world class designers. 

I can imagine that working freelance is a challenging job, many would wonder how it would work due to pricing etc...

The main things to remember are

- develop your own identity and handwriting style

- keep all sketchbooks

- continually develop portfolio

- copyright work

- standard rate for a graduate is £300 per piece

- prices are negotiable

- ask for a deposit

- send an invoice