Abstract

FRY, Aaron; FAERM, Steven  and  ARAKJI, Reina. Achieving the new graduate dream: building sustainable business success at a small scale. Cuad. Cent. Estud. Diseñ. Comun., Ensayos [online]. 2014, n.48, pp.153-175. ISSN 1853-3523.

Fashion graduates are increasingly electing to direct their professional ambitions towards small business entrepreneurship rather than traditional corporate modes of practice. These fashion entrepreneurs must engage with business development and management, skills that are normally not required of designers within the corporate business model. How can the fashion entrepreneur of the future be prepared? What knowledge and skills are required for becoming a fashion entrepreneur? Is there a disco-nnect between what graduating fashion entrepreneurs think they need to know, and the practices that will actually best prepare them for starting and maintaining a fashion design start-up business? The authors summarize fashion entrepreneurship in New York City, discuss the logistics of the globalized mass-market, and the current challenges in fashion design pedagogy with regard to preparation for this global fashion context. The authors then highlight the counter-trend of the small-scale local venture. Finally they propose broad strategies directed toward the fashion entrepreneur who wishes to create a sustainable small-scale fashion business venture in New York.

Keywords : Creative entrepreneurship; Fashion and business; Fashion and sustainability; Fashion business strategy; Fashion entrepreneurship; Fashion pedagogy; Incidental entrepreneur.

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