Career Planning: Textiles and Clothing (1982)

the young men and women who graduate with a degree in textiles and clothing for the most part are preparing for careers in business and industry most specifically their career interests relate to the fashion industry which consists of a broad network of businesses involved in the production and distribution of fabric and apparel merchandise many who choose textiles and clothing as a major are surprised to realize that together fiber production fabric production and distribution manufacturing of apparel distribution of apparel and related accessories and retailing constitute the sixth largest industry in the United States and thus the career opportunities associated with the fashion industry are vast a good many of the textiles and clothing graduates take their first position with a large retailer retail executive training positions offered by these retailers are often regarded as an excellent training ground for entering almost any part of the fashion business executive training programs with retailers often last from six months to two years and at the end of the two-year period trainees are then advanced into mid management positions executive trainees in 1982 are receiving between nine thousand and fourteen thousand dollars a year to start with salary increases after six months trainees often advanced a position such as department managers or buyers within two years of completing the executive training program with the retailer for those who do not wish to be involved in the buying aspect of the retail business large retail stores also offer good positions in such related activities as personnel management advertising and public relations to mention only a few some graduates use the experience in a large retail operation as a base experience for their ultimate goal to own their own clothing specialty store the distribution of textile goods is not limited to the retail setting some graduates work into careers which involve the distribution of goods at the regional national and even international levels it has been our experience that students with initiative have used the business component built into the textiles and clothing program to go into a wide variety of marketing and management positions regardless of the product type students who are excited by the more creative side of fashion turn to careers in design the opportunities in industry for designers are as diverse as the variety of goods in the marketplace and span the range from high fashion to mass production to custom design their to the Graduate may extend their career opportunities within industry to include positions in apparel production management provided they make wise use of elective credits appropriate use of credits as electives and in options will allow the graduate in textiles and clothing to compete favorably for positions in fashion journalism government and adult education both in the formal classroom setting and in the Cooperative Extension Service a student considering a career in the fashion field should carefully evaluate his or his or her own personal qualities and skills these qualities and skills which are especially important and common to all areas of textiles and clothing include initiative that is the ability to introduce new ideas and begin new tasks independently persistence and that is to carry through incomplete assignments assertiveness or possessing self-confidence competitiveness and ambition as well as the spirit to take on extra tasks and to compete with co-workers for advancement tolerance to stress that is working effectively under pressure and yet remaining patient analytical skills or the ability to accurately work with figures and analyze data organization that is to follow procedures and guidelines and to have a willingness to work hard to achieve his or her career goals the employment opportunities and the outlook for jobs for textiles and clothing graduates are very good retailers are located in every community throughout the United States and thus jobs in retailing are readily available regardless of the geographic location there's no question that if you are geographically mobile however you are able to take advantage of the better opportunities in retailing textiles and apparel manufacturers to are located throughout the country with the largest concentration of industry in New York the North and South Carolina's Georgia Texas and California positions in fashion journalism and education are available in every state while those in government research and development are concentrated in specific geographic areas the textiles and clothing department at Iowa State offers three majors to prepare for the careers just discussed the majors include fashion merchandising apparel design and pattern making and related science each of the majors contains a similar group of general education courses including physical and social sciences humanities mathematics and commute communications including computer science a second component of the course work places emphasis on the technical understanding of textiles and apparel on production and on fashion students learn about what motivates people to buy how individual families allocate resources for clothing and household textiles and how clothing relates to human behavior in addition the fashion merchandising program offers a series of courses in eating fashion industry's merchandising planning and control merchandise management and visual merchandising courses from the School of Business include marketing retailing accounting personal sales and a variety of other business courses which the student may select from among his or her electives the well-rounded program contributes to the students potential for being a successful merchant with both fashion and business sense students that are design majors focus on the related courses in the art and design department as well as on pattern making and clothing construction courses offered by the textiles and clothing department courses include clothing selection fashion illustration costume design flat pattern draping tailoring and construction using mass-production techniques the related science major is appropriate for those students interested in positions in textile or apparel production or who plan to continue their education at the graduate level the program includes a large component of either the physical or the social sciences career opportunities include textile testing text allure apparel management extension and teaching jobs for men and women with related science degrees are excellent and generally have a higher starting salary than those usually found in merchandising and design the key to success in business and industry rests not only with the academic preparation but also with business experience we encourage students to gain work experience in the form of part-time or full-time work throughout their college years in the junior or senior year students may compete for entrance to the field experience program whether in retailing design extension or museum work the full time on the job training is supervised by the campus faculty as well as by the job supervisor it is an opportunity to apply information from the merchandising design and related science programs to the actual work setting and contributes in a way to the students professional development because Iowa State is located outside of the major fashion and textile centers of the country the department requires that all students participate in one of the plans study tours the tours introduce students to the regional or major markets of New York Dallas Chicago Atlanta st. Louis or Kansas City the objective is to expose the student to wholesale markets shopping centers and flagship retailing and manufacturing and design facilities and to allow them to ask questions of persons professionally active in the fashion world the objective of the department then is to provide the student with a broad understanding of textiles and apparel products and to provide also the appropriate professional and business management skills for the graduate to succeed in the wide variety of careers to be found in the fashion business and industry for more information about careers in textiles and clothing please consult the career monograph that accompanies this tape you