Fashion and clothing design are always changing. There are new styles, aesthetics and trends in the fashion industry. Fashion consultants assist clients in defining and adapting their personal and professional style. Fashion consulting is a great career option if you are passionate about clothing design and wish to use your creativity. This article will explain what fashion consultants do and how you can become one. We also discuss the salary potential and what it takes to succeed as a fashion consultant.
What does it mean to be a fashion consultant?
A fashion consultant, also known as an image consultant, is a professional stylist who assists clients in developing or improving their professional or personal image through fashion and clothing styles. Fashion consultants assist clients with choosing the right clothing and accessories for different occasions. They work with clients from the entertainment, business and other industries.
What is a fashion consultant?
Clients who wish to create or enhance their own unique style can turn to fashion consultants as stylists. Fashion consultants work with clients to help them determine the right clothing items for their needs. Fashion consultants often work with celebrities, entrepreneurs, and influencers to create timeless styles that reflect the personality of the client. Fashion consultants have many clients over their career. Some of the responsibilities include:
- Fashion advice, including recommendations for single pieces, outfits and styles.
- Working with clients to understand their requirements and to tailor styles and aesthetics to individual preferences
- To support sales goals, recommend clothing items to customers and assist them with their purchases in retail settings.
- Assisting clients in solving problems related to professional and personal attire.
- Keep up-to-date on the latest industry trends, clothing releases and seasonal trends so clients can choose the right outfits for them.
- To increase your business, network with fashion professionals and build relationships with clients
- Making phone calls, scheduling appointments and reaching out to leads online.
How to become a fashion advisor
Although it is not required for fashion consultants to hold a college degree, potential clients, employers and business prospects may prefer these credentials to show your skills and expertise. These steps will help you get started as a fashion consultant.
1. Consider a degree program
Although you can start your career as a fashion consultant with no degree, most employers prefer that consultants have at least an associate’s in fashion design, fashion marketing, art and textile design, or another fashion-related field. A lot of fashion professionals will complete a bachelor’s program at an accredited university. This degree can be focused on brand development, fashion design, textile research, fabric manufacturing and color theory.
2. Get professional certification
Although it is not required, professional certifications can be used to demonstrate your skills and qualifications in order to advance in the fashion industry. For consultants looking to progress in their careers, the Association of Image Consultants International offers three levels of certification. The Certified Image Consultant (CIC), credential, demonstrates your industry knowledge and credibility.
The Certified Image Professional credential (CIP), which focuses on networking, and building a professional consultancy business, is the next level of AICI certification. The AICI’s highest level of professional certification is the Certified Image Master credential. This certifies your industry knowledge and shows that you are constantly learning and developing in fashion and style concepts.
3. Do a internship
Consider completing an internship after you have completed your education or training program. Internships in design and retail are a popular option for fashion students. Employers help interns to develop their skills in order to succeed in their consulting career. Internships can be a great way to meet industry professionals and build relationships that will help you grow your career.
4. Retail experience
You can build your skills in creating seasonal displays, processing materials, and dealing with diverse customers by applying for retail merchandising jobs. This work experience will help you improve your customer service skills and communication skills. It can also enhance your business sense and employment potential.
5. Your professional network
You can gain valuable work experience by connecting with fashion industry experts and learning from them. Ask questions to improve your ability to communicate with customers, your attention to detail and your ability to provide fashion advice and suggestions to clients. It can be a great way to meet potential clients and find job opportunities.
Dropshipping allows you to sell products directly from third-party suppliers and manage your online store.
This allows you to avoid having to purchase inventory or invest in warehouse space. Dropshipping store owners usually pay only once they have made a sale. Customer orders are sent directly from the supplier.
This contrasts with regular retail arbitrage in which retailers buy bulk from suppliers and then sell the products at a markup.
Dropshipping has been a popular eCommerce model for many years and is expected to continue growing. In 2020, it was estimated that dropshipping will bring in $128 billion.
This post will answer the question, “What is dropshipping?” and show you how to set up a dropshipping shop. It will also help you decide if dropshipping is right for you.
Dropshipping: How does it work?
Let’s now get down to the details and discuss the steps involved in a dropshipping company.
Note We will continue to discuss this process from the perspective of a dropshipper rather than a dropshipping provider or any other party. This is because most of our readers are interested to learn more about the dropshipping model.
1. Add products to your online shop
As with all eCommerce businesses, the first step is to create an online store and fill it with products. First, you must decide what products to sell.
Dropshipping suppliers are available for almost any product you can imagine. It’s all about market research and identifying the best products to sell online for maximum profit margins.
You can always find the product range that you are looking for at multiple wholesalers.
Once you’ve created your online storefront, now it’s time for marketing and selling products.
2. Customers place orders
If everything goes smoothly, the customer will place an order. Before shipping, you must convince customers to purchase and process their orders.
As with all online shops, the customer simply browses through your product selection and adds what they like to their shopping cart.
Dropshipping is a term that most customers don’t know and will not realize. Dropshippers can still build a brand around this business model.
3. Customer pays
Customers are ready to buy once they have their products. Once they are ready to buy, they will go through the checkout process with the retailer.
The store owners are responsible to process customer orders. This means that the retailer will receive the revenue initially. Later, they will have to pay the supplier responsible for shipping.
Remember that the wholesale price of your goods will dictate the profit margins you can make. Shipping costs must be included before you sell. Usually, the supplier dictates these costs.
4. Forward order to supplier
Dropshipping is a way to differentiate from regular eCommerce shopping. Instead of sending an order to the retailer’s warehouse for fulfillment, they forward the order to their dropshipping supplier.
The traditional model was that the retailer would purchase a limited amount of a product and only order more when they are low. Dropshipping is different. Every order placed by customers goes through to the supplier.
Dropshipping suppliers must be specialized and not just wholesalers. Dropshipping suppliers must be set up to handle bulk orders and receive dropshipping orders.
5. Supplier ships product
Dropshipping’s final stage is called order fulfillment. Order fulfillment is simply the shipment of the products purchased from third-party suppliers to customers.
Dropshipping’s Supply Chain Key Players
We mentioned several parties involved in dropshipping in the previous section. We’ll now introduce you to these people in greater detail and discuss their roles and responsibilities.
Manufacturer
This is the person who creates the products. They may specialize in a particular product or have multiple factories that produce many types of products.
The dropshipping supply chain is where the manufacturer sells bulk to the wholesaler. Wholesalers will use their knowledge and experience to determine which products are most likely to sell and will buy as many as their retailers can sell.
This is the time when products are sold at their lowest unit price. It is important that the initial price doesn’t exceed the markup required by the wholesaler and the retailer.
Dropshipping is financed by wholesalers. Manufacturers get paid by wholesalers. Unless the manufacturer happens to also be the wholesaler the retailer and their customers will not have any dealings with them.
Manufacturers may offer new product lines based on the best-selling products.
Wholesaler
The wholesaler acts as the glue that binds the dropshipping process together.
Wholesalers buy bulk products from manufacturers and use their warehouse space to store them. The wholesaler will then inform retailers about the products that are available to them for sale on their websites.
Dropshipping wholesalers are different from regular wholesalers in that they don’t ship bulk orders to retailers. Instead, they receive individual orders from customers and then ship directly to them. They can ship anywhere in the world any day of the week, this is what dropshipping wholesalers do.
Retailer
Dropshipping is a great option for you if you are interested in selling dropshipping products.
The retail storefronts are where products can be sold. They also market and manage customer communications. The retailer receives orders from customers and forwards them to wholesalers for fulfillment.
Customers view the retailer as the entire buying process. Retailing comes with a few risks.
Dropshipping is a quick and easy way to make money. Dropshipping is legal as long as you only work with licensed suppliers and try your best to fulfill customers’ orders.
