Dear Glendy,

I’m sorry to bother you with this, but I read an interview of you conducted by Xenia from limecrime and it hit me quite deeply internally. I am a politics student and while I love my subject, I have always had a hidden passion for fashion. I’m almost done with my first year of university and I’m not as happy as I feel I should about my major. Upon reading your interview, I’m seriously considering switching to either fashion forecasting or managing. My questions are what courses did you take at the Fashion Institute of Technology? How did you become a trend  forecaster? And is there anything that you can say about the  job? Is it a competitive field to get into? What would a typical work-week would be? Again, I’m sorry to bother  you with this, but for some reason I haven’t been able to find much information about the career anywhere online.

Sincerely,

Derya Songur

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Hi Derya,

Thank you so much for writing to me, when I decided to switch my major I didn’t know what field to choose but I knew I wanted to work in fashion. As a start, I would recommend taking fashion history and becoming an intern at a fashion company or a trend forecasting and consulting company, like Stylesight, WGSN or Doneger. I took several courses at F.I.T but most importantly you should take courses that focus on the psychological impact of fashion and the psychology of color. Trend forecasting does not only focus on trends but asks the question, why do people like what they do? And what will they like next based on everything around them such as, politics, literature, art etc.

To become a trend forecaster there isn’t a specific major in F.I.T, I graduated from international trade and marketing which is more business oriented but at the same time, it helped because my marketing courses showed me how to do research based on consumer tastes and culture. Also merchandising courses focus on trend spotting and are very helpful since these classes can initiate you into researching business and style trends.

As for a career in trend forecasting, the salaries start very low. In average about 30k per year for an entry level candidate and then gradually increase but don’t expect to make a lot of money in this field until you have 5 or more years of experience.

A day in trend forecasting includes, reading as much newspapers as you can, on fashion or business updates (WWD, NYT, Reuters) art and lifestyle sections and finding what sectors are thriving. You can then look at other sources such as blogs, magazines and fashion forums. Lastly, you can read trend updates on other trend subscriptions if available, such as WGSN (but these subscriptions are over 20k per password). The rest of the day can be spent on researching retail trends and street spotting. However,  you must also be ready to cover market week, this is when the trade shows come into large cities such as New York and Milan,  at the shows you can get a glimpse of what’s coming up next season. Another long project is fashion week, where you must predict what will be the most influential pieces, accessories, makeup and colors from the runway.

Ask yourself if you would like to be in a field where you will always do research, not only about fashion but about general cultural tastes, another thing to remember is that this field is extremely competitive, trend forecasting is very secretive and these positions are very hard to come by. I would suggest doing internships and find if it’s something that will work for you, or you can major in management and then take some courses that will help you with a career in trend forecasting. I hope my answers help you with your career decisions and please feel free to contact me with any questions you may have.

Much love always,
Glendy

Have you thought about changing your career or switching to a different major lately?