When people say they want to work in fashion, they usually think of the designer and the boutique. The industry is far broader: it employs designers, pattern makers, buyers, product managers, sales advisors, press officers and image managers. Each of these jobs has its own level of study, its own daily routine and its own realistic first position. This article separates four families: design, product, sales and image. It is aimed above all at students who hesitate between a fashion school and a business school, and who want to understand where each path leads before choosing.
Design and fashion styling
Design covers the jobs that give a collection its shape: fashion designer, pattern maker, textile designer, accessories designer, fashion graphic designer, design assistant. The designer sketches the intention of the collection, the pattern maker turns it into patterns, and the sample maker or workshop head builds it in three dimensions. These jobs are fewer than people imagine, and highly competitive.
Level of study
Onisep 🔗, the French public guidance service, presents the landscape of fashion and luxury training: vocational secondary diplomas, BTS, DN MADE, specialised schools in styling and pattern making, then master’s degrees. The DN MADE fashion pathway 🔗 is today one of the main public diplomas for entering design. Recognised institutions such as the Duperré school 🔗 or ENSAD 🔗 also train students in applied arts and design.
Realistic first position
The first job is rarely “designer”. You usually start as a design assistant, assistant stylist, junior pattern maker or studio assistant, often after one or several internships. The daily work is made of inspiration research, trend boards, technical sheets, sample follow-up and trips to the workshop. The portfolio matters as much as the diploma: a studio recruiter wants to see an approach, clean finishing and the ability to work in a team, not only beautiful sketches.
Product, development and merchandising
Between design and the boutique, someone has to turn ideas into a collection that can be sold. That is the role of the product team. The product manager builds the range with the studio: number of models, split by category, price positioning, development calendar. The development manager follows manufacturing, suppliers and lead times. The product merchandiser analyses sales, adjusts the offer and prepares replenishment.
Level of study
This is where business school makes the most sense. Onisep describes the fashion marketing product manager 🔗 as a job approached through long training in business or marketing, and the merchandiser 🔗 as a job open through several levels of training, with a possible move up to product manager. Master’s programmes in fashion management, such as those of the Institut français de la mode 🔗, combine product culture and management.
Realistic first position
You start as assistant product manager, assistant merchandiser, assistant buyer or assistant product developer. Days mix tracking tables, sales analysis, exchanges with workshops and suppliers, and presentations for management. You need to enjoy numbers as much as materials. An internship in this function is the best business card: our article on the product manager role details the daily work, and the difference between product and visual is explained in product merchandiser or visual merchandiser.
Sales and retail
Sales is the broadest family. In the boutique: sales advisor, senior advisor, assistant manager, store manager. Outside the boutique: showroom sales to retailers, key account management, e-commerce, retail operations. In sales, the relationship with the client outweighs the diploma, and progression is clearer than elsewhere: from advisor to store manager, then to the region.
Level of study
Boutiques recruit at several levels: short sales programmes, bachelor’s degrees, business schools. Experience in demanding customer service, real command of languages and presentation often count more than a specialised diploma. For management, business schools speed up access to leadership positions, but many store managers come up through sales.
Realistic first position
The first job is most often sales advisor, sometimes after a student job or a work-study contract. The daily routine is made of welcoming, advising, selling, checkout, tidying and client follow-up. Targets are individual and collective. For what comes next, two articles detail the paths: becoming a sales advisor and becoming a store manager. To see what a CV for this profile looks like, an annotated sales advisor example is available.
Communication, press and image
Image is the most visible family and the one most sought after by young graduates. It covers communication, press relations, social media, content, photo styling, art direction, events and visual merchandising. These jobs give the collection a story and a face.
Level of study
You get there through communication, business, humanities, applied arts or journalism schools, sometimes through fashion-specific schools. The common denominator: writing, a visual eye, command of digital tools and a genuinely deep knowledge of fashion. Visual merchandising, which touches both image and sales, has its own path: our article on the visual merchandiser role details it.
Realistic first position
You start as press relations assistant, communication assistant, community manager, events assistant or assistant visual merchandiser. Tasks are concrete: sending samples, tracking coverage, editorial calendar, event logistics, window installation. An internship in this field is almost always essential, and applications are numerous: you stand out through visible achievements, such as an account, a final-year project or an events experience. An example CV in press relations shows how to present them.
Routes into each career
The choice between fashion school and business school comes down to one question: do you want to make the object, or make it exist commercially? Here is a reading grid, keeping in mind that the two paths cross.
- You want to draw, make patterns, build. Fashion school, the DN MADE or a pattern-making programme is the normal route. A business school will open few doors in design, and you would lose practice time.
- You want to build a collection and follow its performance. Business school or a fashion management master’s is the most direct path. Creative training can also lead to product, with a management complement.
- You want to sell and manage. Both routes work. Business school speeds access to leadership roles, but boutique experience weighs very heavily.
- You want to work on image. The paths are the most varied: communication, humanities, applied arts, business. Internships and achievements make the difference.
For a comparison of institutions, our guide to fashion schools in France reviews the types of programmes, and the overview of luxury management programmes complements the business school side. When choosing a business school or a programme, checking accreditations is a good reflex: the Conférence des grandes écoles 🔗 publishes the labels it awards.
Three points apply to every route. Internships are the real key, often more decisive than the name of the school. Work-study lets you fund your studies while building experience. Bridges exist: a creative can move to product, a business profile to image, provided they prove what they can do.
Presenting a first fashion career on your CV
A first CV in fashion has a classic flaw: it lists internships without saying what was done there. A few principles help fix that.
Aim at a job, not an industry. A title such as “Assistant product manager, leather goods” says more than “Student passionate about fashion”. Passion is proven by achievements, not by an adjective.
Describe each internship through a deliverable. Compare two wordings. Before: “Helped prepare the collection.” After: “Updated the collection’s technical sheets, followed samples with two workshops, prepared the weekly tracking table.” The second says what you can do.
Place the employer by its activity, without presenting it as a target. Write the type of company, the segment, the team size. The recruiter should understand your environment, not read a prestigious name. A CV that repeats the name of a coveted brand looks like a mass spontaneous application.
Quantify what depends on you. A number of items followed, a deadline met, a volume of scheduled posts, a sales target reached: simple markers, without confidential data.
Show the dual skill. For a student hesitating between design and business, it is an asset: a profile that understands both drawing and figures interests the product team. Mention software (drawing tools, spreadsheets, analysis tools), languages and portfolio, with a link.
Mind the form. One page, sober, without complex columns or text inside an image: many companies first sort applications with recruitment software, which reads an overloaded document poorly. This is precisely what the LuxeCV editor handles: you choose the content, it takes care of the layout and of a PDF that sorting software reads correctly. You can create your CV for free, starting from an example such as the graduate programme CV. If you have no experience yet, our article on the CV without experience offers ideas.
Sources
- Onisep, Fashion, luxury, textile industry: careers and training 🔗.
- Onisep, DN MADE fashion pathway 🔗.
- Onisep, fashion marketing product manager 🔗.
- Onisep, merchandiser 🔗.
- Conférence des grandes écoles, labels and accreditations 🔗.
- Duperré school 🔗, ENSAD 🔗 and Institut français de la mode 🔗: presentation of their programmes.
Questions fréquentes
Do you have to choose between fashion school and business school?
Not always. For design, fashion school is the natural route. For product, sales or marketing, business school is effective. Many paths combine both: creative training followed by a management master’s, or the reverse. What matters is knowing which job you aim at before choosing.
Can you work in fashion without a specialised diploma?
Yes for sales and several support functions, where experience counts a lot. It is harder in design and pattern making, which require technical training and a portfolio.
What is the most common first job?
Boutique sales for commercial profiles, and assistant positions (product, communication, design) after an internship for head office profiles. Job titles vary by company.
How many internships do you need?
There is no official number. Two or three coherent internships for the targeted job, described through deliverables, weigh more than a list of scattered ones.
Should a fashion CV include a portfolio?
For design and image, yes: a clean, up-to-date link. For product and sales, a portfolio is useless; quantified results are better.