Turning Fashion Design into Retail Success

If you want a wide variety of job opportunities available to you after you complete your fashion design degree program, consider studying in fashion-friendly Los Angeles, CA. The growth of "lifestyle" malls offers new opportunity for boutique fashion store owners, and the trend is spreading.

Malls Growing, Offering Opportunity to Fashion Boutique Owners

From the glamorous stretches of Sunset Boulevard and Rodeo Drive to the airy, expansive malls of Century City and Santa Monica, Los Angeles is home to a whole host of retail opportunities, including malls. Lately, LA malls are seeking to become "lifestyle" centers, not just shopping centers. Accessories, luxury goods, and home furnishings are increasingly found in malls in addition to clothing.
Los Angeles is a center of this kind of trend, which is spilling into other cities in California, like San Jose, San Francisco, and Sacramento. Residential and office space are also popular at these new malls, and fashion retailers can thereby increase their surrounding property values.

Learning the Business

Many fashion school students graduate and pursue their dreams of owning their own store, while others strive to have their designs picked up by a larger chain store. Fashion merchandising can be an important skill, teaching designers how to expand their clothing lines and reach larger audiences. Fashion design school can help designers learn the business savvy needed to establish a boutique fashion store, as well as the design experience to develop a portfolio.
Sources
News 10, "New Fashion Rage: Mall Makeovers"
Virginia Pilot, "As local fashion shops bloom, guys have more choices"

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