Getting Ahead in the Apparel Industry
Enthusiasm, great computer and communication skills, and a passion to work beyond the regular 9-to-5 routine are just some of the things that can help students excel in the apparel industry.
“[People don’t want] someone who is looking for a job but someone who is looking for a career. A job is a paycheck. A career is the future,” said Vera Campbell, owner and president of Knit Works, a Los Angeles company that employs 85 people and makes knitwear for children and tweens.
Campbell spoke at “The Business of Apparel Design in a Global Economy” seminar for fashion and design students, organized by the California Fashion Association and held March 12 at the Otis College of Art & Design.
She noted that all her designers and assistant designers did three to four years of grunt work before they made it into the design room. “Don’t leave here and think you are going to sit at a desk and design because you need to learn what a design room is about,” she cautioned.
Campbell said she looks for people who have enthusiastic attitudes and know what her company does. She also wants employees with good math skills, particularly in the design room, where precise measurements and estimates mean the difference between staying in the black and floating into the red.
Tadd Zarubica, most recently president of Yanuk jeans and U Denim, noted that with the help of technology, the apparel industry has turned into a global venture. Good computer skills and knowledge of various software systems for sketching and producing garments are extremely important now.
“The huge technical side of designing on computers has totally revolutionized the internal workings of the design room,” Zarubica said. “Many of the designers who have strong reputations do not have those technical skills. The types of people they need can bring those skills to the office.”
In recent years, branding has become an important ingredient for succeeding in the apparel industry. It is no longer just about who can make the best shirt or dress.
“Today it is about the best marketing and public relations. Once you have sold it, you figure out how to get it made,” Zarubica said.
“You have to understand who your target customer is and what the product represents.”
John Montgomery, founder and creative director of Media Art Group, stressed that branding is not just about creating a postcard and passing it out at market weeks.
“It helps customers create an emotional bond with your product,” he explained. “One of the biggest assets you will have is the brand you build.”
Lynne Sperling, co-founder of the retail and manufacturing consulting firm The Sperling & Hileman Group, told students that a successful apparel company has to know how to make its retail customers happy and profitable.
“Small stores will buy your product because they think that is what their customers want or it’s the next trend,” she explained.
“Big stores want to know they will make 45 percent gross margins.”
Apparel manufacturers need to know industry terms such as open-to-buy, turn over and BOM (beginning of the month) stock to be able to communicate with retailers. They also need to keep on top of retail reports showing how well their product did and understand retail mathematics to know which costs to build into their product.
“They are going to set the standards by which you have to perform,” Sperling said. “If you don’t understand what those standards are and how they arrive at those standards, how can you be successful?”
—Deborah Belgum
