Finding a Fashion Design Niche in New York

Finding your niche in fashion design can help you start and solidify your career. Match your passion for fashion with solid business skills, and you can position yourself for long-term success. Just take a look at designer Brooke Samad.
In fashion design, there is room for just about anything. So when a young designer brings her ethnicity to market, she can find a perfect niche. Designer Brooke Samad seems destined for a successful career in fashion.

Fashionable Modesty

Samad went to New York for a general education, but she ended up at a fashion design school in the big city. Her clothing designs center around the concept of modesty, taken from her Muslim heritage. Long skirts, kimonos, and jackets highlight her line, and they're designed for Muslim women who don't want to trade style for culturally appropriate dress.
One New York fashion editor emphasized the importance of Samad's designs in the fashion marketplace, noting that Muslim designers are few and far between.

Finding your Fashion Niche

As a designer, you can find fashion niches in ethnicity, religion, body type, social arena--the list is nearly endless. Of course, to follow in Samad's footsteps, you'll need more than an innate understanding of fashion. Fashion design school helped her balance her passion with practical skills and business sense--and it can do the same for you.
One part heart, the other education, Samad is a great example of how to begin a career in fashion design in New York.
Source
Kansas City Star, "Modest, modish fashion"

Joe Cooper is a freelance education and technology writer and edits medical literature. He holds a bachelor's in American Literature from UCLA.