The Spanish fashion industry is made up of around 19,000 companies. It ranks fifth in Europe, after Italy, Germany, the UK and France, and accounts for 2.9 percent of national GDP and 4.3 percent of all jobs in Spain. This means that those who decide to work in the fashion industry have a wide range of options, both in Spain and in the rest of the world.
FashionUnited talks to three graduates about their experiences and their first steps on the job market.
Carmen Del Toro is 24 years old and graduated from the Seville Fashion Institute in Design. She has completed two internships, one as part of her studies at the up-and-coming Italian brand Defaïence and a second, extracurricular internship with Iris Van Herpen, the Dutch fashion designer known for combining advanced technology with the traditional craftsmanship of haute couture.
“Despite the long hours, I was doing a job I loved and I felt that as time went on I was given more responsibility. You see the results of what you do day in and day out and that motivates you to keep going.”
Carmen Del Toro says that during her internship she had the opportunity to work on the digital portion of the designs, which allowed her to explore a subject that she enjoyed and wanted to gain experience in. This motivates her to apply for other jobs where she can continue to grow in this area.
As for her internships, she says that she found more or less the same conditions in both, but that the workload and responsibilities were much more intense in the Netherlands. Working for a haute couture label, she was directly involved in creating the collection for Haute Couture Fashion Week in Paris. One thing that struck her the most is that there are many more job opportunities in the Netherlands. “In general, I’ve seen that young people are trusted there, especially if you compare it to Spain,” said Del Toro.
Julia González studied with Carmen at the Seville Fashion Institute. The two later worked together on Defaïence. Within this internship, although more focused on the design of the collections, they were able to participate in all the processes of the brand in an interdisciplinary way.
A few months ago Julia decided to start some projects of her own – so she launched her own company Gona – something she sees as fundamental to her personal development but which “isn’t really appreciated by companies when they see it on the CV”, as Gonzalez says.
Too many years of experience and vacancies “filled by networking”
González believes that finding a fashion design job for a graduate student can be “frustrating” because companies tend to require many years of experience and “fill most vacancies through networking contacts,” she says.
She feels that she meets the requirements for many positions and that she has gained experience from an interdisciplinary perspective, but that no one has given her the opportunity to prove it.
That’s why she decided to continue her education with a Masters in 3D Design and Metaverse, a degree that’s in high demand today, while trying to find an internship, “preferably a paid one,” to combine with her postgraduate studies.
For her part, Del Toro believes there are graduate opportunities, but that the industry is also very competitive today. “You have to work hard and be flexible. Speaking different languages is essential. And you shouldn’t be afraid to apply for positions with a lot of responsibility, even if you have little experience,” she advises young people and explains that although she personally has not yet found her “dream job”, she has found something out of every job learned and feel one step closer to the goal.
On this last point, she agrees with González, who says: “I didn’t think I would have certain first-hand experiences so quickly, but I also thought that I would be working now, and that wasn’t the case. Because when you’ve finished your studies, you first have to look around to find what you like. It’s frustrating when you don’t get hired in the field you studied.” It would be a great help, especially in the beginning, she thinks.
She believes that the years of college education “not only don’t prepare students for rejection, they also don’t prepare them for how to apply for a job. If you want to start a business, you don’t learn anything about business there. What’s more, in the autonomous region of Andalusia, unlike in other parts of Spain, our design studies are not considered equivalent to a university degree, which closes some doors for us.”
“For me, the task of creating my own brand was a reality check as I felt I was unprepared in many ways.”
Lucía Monge graduated in fashion design and after working as an assistant in a clothing store for a few years to save some money. With this she founded her own brand Sissú, which she now dedicates full time to. She creates unique designs for her clientele for a variety of occasions, with a particular focus on party guests and the world of flamenco. Her studio is located in the Dos Hermanas district of Seville.
Lucía Monge says that during her internship she learned to understand parts of fashion that she didn’t know existed. This prompted her to start her own company. She leveraged her experience through her work behind the scenes of various fashion brands and at various fashion shows. Her last job was as an assistant at Dior’s Cruise Fashion Show in Seville.
If she could tailor the job “to her own needs”, she would like to continue with the fashion label she founded: “I want to create and design exclusive clothes for my customers. Because I love connecting with them, putting myself in their heads and merging their tastes with mine, adding my own personal touch to each design,” says the young designer, although she’s also keen to create guest collections and a streetwear line would launch.
Monge tells FashionUnited that she doesn’t feel that the education system fully prepared her for the job market because after completing her fashion design degree, she had to take various courses and do a lot of research to figure out how to make her own brand, especially from a legal point of view.
Carmen del Toro thinks the education system “could benefit from offering a little more digital education,” she says. “A lot of brands work with advanced programs that never showed up in my curriculum and I think it’s a great opportunity for new graduates because digitization is something that’s still relatively new that can be a real asset to our CVs and young professionals can open the door to many opportunities,” as she notes.
This article was previously published on FashionUnited.es. Translated and edited from English by Barbara Russ
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