2020: A Decade in Handbags!
I wanted to pop in here and share some updates:
- I hit a decade working in the fashion industry this year working as a handbag and accessories design professional!
- I'm newly available for freelancing or full-time job opportunities- hit me up!
- I also took a course in UX/UI design that I finished last year. I am excited to add that to my skills!
- I have added some new images to the portfolio AND designed a UX/UI portfolio
10 years in quite a milestone! I would like to take a minute to talk about how much the handbag industry has changed since I first began; which is a lot!!!! For one thing, consumer behaviors have changed drastically since smartphones and internet (there was no instagram or snapchat!). Consumers are buying less and they have more choices than ever. Competition is stiff. Recently, the import tariff increase to 25% made it even more difficult for those companies still with us. Now add in the COVID-19 outbreak in China and things are really getting dicey for everyone. Most handbags are made in China and surrounding areas.
All this is one reason I decided to start adding to my skill sets outside of handbag design. Enter UX/UI design! I completed the Skillcrush course at the end of last year and I am ready to start gaining work experience in this area. This is also why you will see I have added another portfolio for prospective employers to view. I am thinking I will also add coding at some point as well. I encourage all my peers in the handbag design industry to add to their skills in this uncertain time.
Personally, I have felt the handbag world shrinking for some time now, especially for those entering the designer level and higher. Senior design positions are certainly fewer and it has become harder to maintain a foothold on the middle rungs of the career ladder. It has more difficult to gain overseas experience or to get invited to travel on an inspiration trip with your boss simply because company'a want to save on cost. Sample shopping budgets are lower. Some of my peers have been victims of companies 'powering up' from the bottom. This happens when companies let more experience, mid tier employees go and hire at the assistant level to cut salary costs. Some have been kept on but lost their teams and end up doing 2 or 3 peoples jobs.
Many companies in the accessories design space are- let's face it- old school and slow to change. This has been the downfall of many over the last ten years. When you couple this with how much work culture is changing at large, you see a big shift that needs to happen for any company to survive. I am talking about how millennial's are redefining the work life, inmost cases, to how it really should be. Asking for the ability to work remotely, more health benefits, and for flextime. With the millennial demographic soon becoming the dominant one in their prime working years, you can be sure these changes are coming fast. I am hopeful.
My vision and plan for myself has changed so much since that first year I graduated from FIT. I thought I would be designing my own lines by now and mentoring a new generation of handbag designers. I didn't think the industry would change so much that I would need to think about pursing other professional avenues. At this point I am choosing to stay positive. I have a range of design skills I can use to find new work, which I am so grateful for. I am luckier than most in many ways, so I feel I must honor that by continuing to exercise my abilities to reach my highest potential. So if you have a moment, I invite you to peruse my portfolios and reach out if you would like to work together!
