Fashion Career in Orlando

Orlando is home to big retail and merchandising opportunities for design school graduates.

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Fashion Career in Orlando
What Orlando Offers New Fashion Design Professionals
by Joe Cooper

Over 45 million tourists visit Orlando every year, making tourism and the associated retail industry prominent in the region. For fashion design, Orlando offers both fashion design school and numerous positions in retail management, fashion merchandising, and more. Read on to learn more about them.

Retail and the Opportunities it Affords Fashion

Besides design, retail is another huge area of fashion in Orlando. Like other popular Florida cities, Orlando is a top tourist destination, drawing millions to its beaches and theme parks each year. Shopping malls and retail centers all over the country are growing, and Orlando is no exception. Behind all of this growth is a strategy designed by fashion and retail management professionals to expand stores, develop new malls, and create new opportunities for fashion retailing.

Fashion Merchandising in Florida

Boutique fashion retailers also find success in Orlando. Melisa Belinger is a merchandising director at a store called "Everything But Water" in Orlando. She told the Palm Beach Post that branding is essential to fashion design in Florida. A brand that "speaks to a true lifestyle" is what is successful. Positions in fashion merchandising like the one Ms. Belinger holds are great career path ideas for graduates of fashion design school, where fashion merchandising is a popular major.

Fashion Writing

Jean Patteson, a fashion writer in Orlando, has created a career giving fashion advice to readers in the Orlando area. Most recently, she wrote about hemlines, prom dress fashion, and shares ideas for innovative fashion trends and how to source specific fashion needs.

Ms. Patteson also writes about fashion for elderly people too. Florida is a big state for retired citizens, and although this demographic isn't the first thought in fashion, it is a large target audience for many savvy design houses. Finding a fashion niche like Ms. Patteson often does in her fashion writing is a great way to grow a career.

Whether it's a management position at a bustling retail center, or the owner of a smaller boutique, or even a traveling merchandising position, Orlando definitely has opportunities for new fashion designers.

Sources
The Orlando Sentinel
CoStar.com
Palm Beach Post
City-Data

About the Author
Joe Cooper writes fashion and design articles and edits medical literature. He holds a bachelor's in American Literature from UCLA.


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