Achieving the new graduate dream: building sustainable business success at a small scale
Abstract
Fashion graduates are increasingly electing to direct their professional
ambitions towards small business entrepreneurship rather than traditional corporate
modes of practice. These fashion entrepreneurs must engage with business development
and management, skills that are normally not required of designers within the corporate
business model. How can the fashion entrepreneur of the future be prepared? What
knowledge and skills are required for becoming a fashion entrepreneur? Is there a disconnect between what graduating fashion entrepreneurs think they need to know, and
the practices that will actually best prepare them for starting and maintaining a fashion
design start-up business? The authors summarize fashion entrepreneurship in New York
City, discuss the logistics of the globalized mass-market, and the current challenges in
fashion design pedagogy with regard to preparation for this global fashion context. The
authors then highlight the counter-trend of the small-scale local venture. Finally they
propose broad strategies directed toward the fashion entrepreneur who wishes to create a
sustainable small-scale fashion business venture in New York
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