Do you remember where you were when the news of emergency lockdown in the city of Toronto was first announced? How about the announcement from George Brown College’s President regarding the school’s closure for the rest of the winter semester? I clearly remember reading the email at work. Back then, I thought it was the perfect time because I can avoid all my final class presentations. However, that sense of relief did not last long. I’m sure I wasn’t the only one saddened by the sudden change of career plans. The summer of 2020 was supposed to be the time where we can fully navigate the career paths we chose, but it only ended up hindering most of us.
While the pandemic’s effect on the fashion industry can be considered as a wake-up call to slow down and lean towards a more sustainable approach; it’s no surprise that this reflects the future opportunities for fashion students for an industry that is already considered as ‘cut-throat’ and challenging. The pandemic definitely heightened the uncertainty most students feel.
As a Fashion Techniques and Design student, Selina Wong is worried for her future as a student. Most internships have been cancelled, and her curriculum is now compromised. As a design student, prior to the pandemic most of their classes are practical and hands-on. Currently, their construction classes are condensed to a five-week period workshop compared to the usual fifteen weeks. “Just the fact that they’re trying to condense everything into five weeks is just ridiculous because there’s a lot to learn” said Mark Agulan, who is in the same program. Disappointed and worried, both students did not feel the need to finish school on time. Wong said that since the current layout of the program does not align with what she wants for her education, she is willing to take a year off and see how it would recover. As for Agulan, he has taken the Fall semester off, he feels that he is not getting the quality of education he wishes. When asked about the biggest shift in their plans after graduation, both of them shared the same sentiment of having their plans pushed back and their chance of working for a designer is comparably harder now than before.
Fashion Management students are in the same unfortunate boat. They are required to work an internship the past summer. Students were looking forward to working in the coveted fashion industry—whether it is in production, editorial, marketing, or buying. After the lockdown, the school moved all field internships remotely. Unfortunately, around this time most companies have withdrawn their internship opportunities. This was definitely the icing on the horrifying cake of the plummeting fashion industry. Stephanie Coombs is one of the fortunate ones to acquire an internship last April. She feels happy with her placement and said that though she learned a lot, there is a slight disappointment in not learning all aspects of the company, especially the production side, “I think I could have learned more but I also can’t be pessimistic and say ‘oh, I didn’t learn anything, it was horrible!’ but I definitely did learn a lot.” When asked about the careers in fashion post-Covid, she said “I think now it’s gonna be even harder to find a career, so I think it’s really important to think about fostering your own.” This last summer, Coombs launched her own brand, KYRA&CO in which she creates hand crafted sustainable masks made out of hand-dyed linen. Unfortunately for some students, acquiring an internship was unattainable. Riley Walsh, who is also a Fashion Management student, struggled to find an internship in relation to his field. Initially, he wanted to work in production but that was immediately scrapped because most companies closed their doors to students and are opting for remote work. Just like Coombs, Walsh launched his own apparel brand Everything’s Fine earlier this year. When asked about the future of fashion he said, “seeing companies going more and more online, my physical style of production and work environment makes me more nervous for the future.” He admits that he feels doubtful. However, he feels more optimistic for his business due to “the recent push for supporting local and small businesses.” As for the biggest shift in his graduation plans, he said he is trying to find a new path in the industry and working on his online skills to move forward with the rest of the industry.
What we thought a summer full of opportunities turned into something completely unexpected and disappointing. The struggle of finding employment for recent and future graduates are collectively felt by the industry. Though new skills are acquired by work from home, the new generation of graduates are fostered by remote learning and only time will tell how this will directly affect the industry. A thought-provoking and heartbreaking statement by Selina Wong resonates with me, “is our degree going to be looked at as lesser than compared to the previous graduates?” Will recent graduates be viewed as having received a lower quality of education OR will employers view recent graduates as incompetent due to the lower quality of education provided during the pandemic?
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