Ask Fashion Girl

Dear Sarah:

Having your own store is a great dream! But what does it take, on a practical level, to develop the skills necessary to be the captain of your own ship, so to speak?

First, begin to get all the experience you can in retail. Begin working in stores part-time or during the summer. Learn all you can about how a retail store works from the ground up. Work the register and make sure your totals add up at the end of the day. Get experience in customer service and learn about your"target customer."Watch the Visual Merchandisers and learn the tricks of displaying merchandise in appealing ways. Talk with the Buyers and find out how they budget for and buy each season's trends. Get insights from higher-up on how profit margins are maintained. Become an Assistant Manager and then a Manager, and learn to handle staff, scheduling, and all the day-to-day calamities that come up in the life of a boutique.

Then, when it's time to go to college, choose a specialized degree program such as the Merchandise Marketing Associates of Arts degree from The Fashion Institute of Design&Merchandising. FIDM's degree teaches you the inner workings of the fashion industry. You'll get instruction on buying, specialized retail math concepts, marketing, and more. There are specific classes at FIDM about the retail environment. In just two years, you'll be well on your way to having the know-how to launch your own venture!

Click to see information on FIDM's Merchandise Marketing degree. To see a FIDM grad who took her Apparel Manufacturing Management degree and opened the store of her dreams, read about Barkley Hope.

Sincerely, Fashion Girl