You love fashion. You pore over photos and videos from the latest fashion week, and aimlessly scroll through clothing websites in your free time. You know being involved in this industry for the rest of your life would be a dream come true. Sucks for you, though: you don’t seem to have a creative bone in your body. Relate? Well, all hope is not lost. Here’s are some of the lucrative careers in the fashion industry for the uncreative thinker.
Data Scientist
In today’s fast-paced clothing industry, brands need employees who can collect, understand and interpret information about consumer behavior through both digital channels and brick-and-mortar locations. They accomplish this by using different software, machines and mathematical problems. “My time is split between machine learning, engineering and management,” Eddie Bell, former lead data scientist at shopping platform Lyst, told Business of Fashion in November 2016.
Digital Marketing Analyst
Similar to a data scientist, digital marketing analysts are responsible for analyzing consumer insight data, particularly as it relates to a brand’s digital presence. This includes analyzing the effectiveness of social media campaigns, e-commerce channels and all other marketing efforts that exist in the digital space. It’s the analysts’ job to break down all the complex data into something their team can understand — and use to make the most cost-efficient marketing decisions.
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Lawyer
People often steal ideas in the fashion industry, so of course brands need lawyers who are fluent in both corporate and intellectual property laws. Having both skill sets is helpful, because brands need to defend themselves on the business side and the creative side.
Merchandiser
Fashion merchandisers are responsible for making the important decisions about what will be sold, which locations will carry which items, how much of each item will be stocked, what is the best price for an item and more. Designers design, but merchandisers use their love for fashion and analytical thinking to forecast trends and make sure those designs are actually profitable — and manage the process of attaining those profits.
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Supply Chain Manager
The role of a supply chain manager in the fashion industry is to oversee the process of creating items from their original raw materials to the point of sale. This requires an understanding of logistics, manufacturing, distribution, sourcing raw materials, negotiating prices and production planning. If you love solving problems and creating smooth and efficient processes for satisfying consumers, then this job would be ideal for you.
Sustainability Consultants
As consumers are becoming increasingly conscious of their environmental impact, there’s a desire to support clothing brands that speak directly to those pain points of not wanting to hurt the Earth but also wanting to have stylish new pieces. For this reason, brands such as H&M — which has expressed its desire to create a more sustainable future for fashion — need employees who can analyze the carbon footprint of the brand’s current systems and create ways to improve them.
