The Growing Potential of Fashion Careers in Sri Lanka
When we speak about fashion, most people imagine a catwalk, extravagant outfits, models and sometimes even hairstyling and beauty culture; as someone actively engaged in the fashion sector here in SL, I can say that the reality of fashion today is completely different to that. Fashion has evolved far beyond seamstresses making clothes for the wealthy; today it stands for the choices we make and the roles we play professionally, socially and personally. Because of this critical need for all humans, fashion has risen to become one of the most powerful industries in the world. In Sri Lanka too, it is a multi-billion dollar industry that brings in the country’s largest export revenue through apparel manufacturing and contributing nearly 10% to the national GDP by producing some of the top fashion brands in the world. It is also the single largest employer empowering over 1 million Sri Lankans with secure jobs. People who work in fashion are the force driving this massive industry; they are highly educated and qualified professionals whose careers are not only stable and financially lucrative, but also have fantastic opportunities to work with international brands and travel abroad. Sounds like a fantastic line of work right? It is really one of the most rewarding career sectors of today presenting remarkable growth opportunities for youngsters. So, let’s look closely at this powerful sector and identify the potential of the many different career paths in it.
Being a designer is obviously one of the most visible roles in the fashion industry. However, despite popular media selecting amateur designers through reality shows and fashion competitions etc. being eligible for a career as a designer in fashion is not easy. It is a very serious role that requires proper education, training and skill to research, analyse and design to markets outside Sri Lanka in order to be employable by industries like apparel where fantastic careers await. I have observed young designers getting the opportunity to design for world renowned brands like Victoria’s Secret, Calvin Klein, Tommy Hilfiger, Gap etc. through careers in the apparel industry. Here, a fantastic sector that designers get to specialize in, is sports and performance wear - a very technology driven sector with specialized fabrics, bonding techniques and always looking to bring in the most up-to-date research on fashion technology that assures better performance and speed. This involves designing for brands like Nike, Reebok, Speedo etc. which you may be surprised to know are designed and made in Sri Lanka quite often for Olympics and other occasions for international sports personalities . Similarly there are sectors like casualwear, lingerie design, resort and swimwear.
Outside the fashion and apparel industries, designers also have a very exciting possibility to become fashion entrepreneurs leading their own businesses; there are several great examples of educated designers leading their own successful fashion labels such as Buddhi Batiks, House of Lonali and Nithya and truly living their dream.
An emerging fashion career with great demand from Sri Lanka’s massive apparel industry and fashion retail sector is Fashion Marketing. This is a career where design and business intersect. It is the work of Fashion Marketing professionals that you see on fashion billboards and magazine covers; basically, they promote fashion using photography, advertising, social media, shows, visual merchandizing, retail design and campaigns etc. It is a very challenging career which demands spearheading marketing strategy and promotions for some of the most valuable brands in the world.
You have probably heard of Fashion Merchandising as it is one of the most popular fashion careers coming through our apparel industry. Merchandisers track and monitor fashion trends and consumer trends and work with designers/product developers to create new fashion collections and products. It is a well-established career path where can make really decent money and get first-hand knowledge of a multitude of brands and their marketing strategies etc.
There are several more fashion career paths that hold great potential in Sri Lanka although currently, they are new and limited to a few experts. One of these is Costume design for Theatre, Film & Video Productions. Costuming is vital to the film and theatre industries and several fashion graduates have contributed to this sector creating garments for movies or theatre and working on-location. A similar sector is ‘Fashion Styling and Production’ which includes styling to meet certain looks and themes based on extensive research and trend analyses, for shows, TV, movies as well as retail. Similarly, a very independent and new sector developing in fashion is fashion journalism and public relations – this means researching, writing and curating journalistic pieces for fashion publications around the world such as magazines, blogs, webzines, books, presentations and collectibles.
All these remarkable careers today demand for designers who have a global perspective on design; a designer who can sit here and cater to North America, Europe and even emerging markets like Russia, China and India. This kind of fashion professional is only created through a fashion education that brings in international exposure from lecturers, study tours abroad to fashion capitals like New York and London along with the latest study resources which allows them to think globally. The good news is that, this kind of education is available today in Sri Lanka for our youth. It presents them the possibility to become global fashion citizens and grants them access to all the amazing career opportunities that I mentioned for qualified fashion professionals. Fashion is no longer considered a hobby or a superficial job as it is recognised as the newest value addition for Sri Lanka’s powerful apparel sector and also provides valuable services such as uniform design to large-scale industries like tourism, hospitality, banking etc. So it is undeniably one of the most fantastic sectors that provide a vast number of stable, financially lucrative and rewarding career paths for our youth.