Fashion is an exciting, innovative, and sometimes controversial industry, with a wide scope of careers across the globe.

The global fashion industry

Let’s start by taking a look at what we mean when we talk about working in fashion and what the current global situation looks like. This is a great way of understanding some of the current trends and the future outlook for those in the industry.

What is it?

Fashion can be viewed as a form of storytelling through self-expression, using clothes, footwear and accessories. This innovative industry is huge all over the world, although the fashion capitals are generally considered to be London, New York, Paris and Milan. 

However, this is a fairly eurocentric approach to fashion, as there are incredible designers and industry professionals all across the globe. Those working in fashion can generally take several different career paths.

They might be interested in high street fashion, which consists of the brands you see everywhere that sell ‘regular’ clothing, such as Zara, Nike, and JD Sports in the UK. Alternatively, they might be drawn to the more glamorous but competitive world of designer fashion, which is generally more abstract and expensive, geared towards celebrities, models and the elite.

How big is the industry?

As you can probably imagine, the global fashion industry is huge. Statistics show that the global apparel market is predicted to grow in value from 1.5 trillion U.S. dollars in 2020 to 2.25 trillion dollars in 2025, which is an enormous amount of growth.

Approximately 430 million people across the world are thought to work in the fashion and textile industry, which converts to 1 in 8 people globally. A large amount of this workforce exists in Asia, due to the large quantities of clothing factories.

Once you understand the huge size of the industry and workforce, you can begin to understand why it’s so important to pay attention to things like who makes your clothes, improving factory working conditions, ethical practices in fashion, and textile waste reduction.

Sustainability in the fashion industry

This brings us on to the topic of sustainability within the fashion industry, which is of growing importance as we try to reduce our impact on the earth. The fashion industry is responsible for an estimated 10% of global carbon emissions and is also the second-largest consumer of the world’s water. So, if you want to work in fashion, it might be worth considering these figures.

If you’re aware of the problems with the industry such as fast fashion, overconsumption, poor working conditions, and textile waste, you are able to make positive changes in your own work. To learn more about how to live sustainably, you can check out our blog, and read the section on sustainable fashion.

If you want to learn in more depth, we have some great courses on fashion and sustainability. You can gain an introduction to issues, agendas, and contexts relating to sustainable fashion on our Fashion and Sustainability: Understanding Luxury Fashion in a Changing World course by UAL: London College of Fashion and Kering. 

Alternatively, learn how to create a plan for fashion that protects Earth’s ecosystems on our Fashion Values: Nature course, or become an expert at sustainable fashion on our 10-week microcredential, Fashion Sustainability: Shaping Fashion’s Future by Institut Français de la Mode and Kering.