r/Glasgow Tools

I’ve possibly got quite a unique viewpoint. I studied Fashion Business (the course is called something else now) at Caledonian Uni and the course was split in two - half was design, garment construction, sewing, CAD etc and the other half was theory, business, marketing, history, finance.

After I left uni, I opened a shop selling Scottish designers’ work. I came up against the same issue time and time again with GSA students/alumni - they could make some amazing items, but they didn’t have the business knowledge so they couldn’t price their work appropriately for commercial sale. They also didn’t seem to understand that their items required to be presentable for the shop floor with clear branding - swing tags, cleaning instructions, a label with the name of the person who made it.

I had a few GSA folk selling in my shop who got it, or their work was so good and sellable, I worked with them to overcome the hurdles. But tbh it was a total pain in the arse to be running my own business and then help other people with theirs.

I guess what I’m trying to say is that if you are looking to make items to sell, rather than just fashion as art, you will need to do outside learning as the business side doesn’t seem to be taught or at least not emphasised.

This could have changed since I encountered these issues, so it would be a good idea to have a look at the curriculum before applying.